State Finance Minister lauds Union Budget
AJAY Walimbe appreciated the govt’s efforts to improve banks’ non-performing assets while Vinayak Kulkarni spoke about how globalisation brought about an attitudinal change among people towards savings
State Finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar lauded the union budget for having output-based planning instead of expenditurebased planning and requires the highest form of co-ordination between government and bureaucracy.He was speaking at a budget discussion organised by the Free Press Journal and Navshakti at the Cricket Club of India.
“How can the bureaucracy be blamed for flawed decisions of the past? The bureaucracy is like a sunflower. If there is a leader like Modi, the bureaucracy will automatically be disciplined,” the BJP leader said. He hailed the central government’s Mudra bank initiative for being a symbol of class equality.
Also present on the occasion was NCP leader and former state Finance minister Sunil Tatkare. In his speech, he stressed the need for having a pro-poor budget where basic needs have to be provided for.
“Maharashtra is the first state to reserve funds in the budget for the socio-economically backward. The new government will have to take into consideration local factors and not impose infrastructure projects on the rural residents. Sudhir Munagantiwar recently made a statement about abolishing LBT but that will burden the common man,” he said.
The other panellists who discussed the union budget at length included defence expert Brig. Hemant Mahajan, investment counsellor Vinayak Kulkarni, Chairman of Jankalyan bank Chandrashekhar Vaze, Company Secretary and Economist Ajay Walimbe, Chairman of Saraswat Bank Satish Samant, Director of Forward Markets Commission Supriya Devsthali, Corporate Lawyer Nitin Potdar and ex-president of Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Mohan Deshmukh.
Kulkarni spoke about how globalisation brought about an attitudinal change among people towards savings. “I think this budget’s biggest achievement is that it tried to regulate land and gold deals like no budget in the past did. Large number of agricultural land dealings has traditionally been happening in cash, this budget has tried to regulate that. Plus, the gold monetisation scheme will allow conversion of gold into currency. It will save valuable foreign currency for importing gold,” he said.
Vaze appreciated the budget for removal of a separate wealth tax. “Besides, there was a lot of controversy over tax deduction on fixed deposits of shareholders of a Co-op bank. That arbitrariness has been removed. But the medical insurance scheme for senior citizens requires payment of cheques for amounts as small as Rs 30,000. That is not right,” he said. Walimbe appreciated the government’s efforts to improve banks’ non-performing assets. “Also the changes in bankruptcy law is good because the legal system was taking undue advantage of sick companies,” he said.
On the other hand, Samant spoke about how the budget will encourage private sector investments. Devsthali said that this budget must be appreciated for its increased allocation for MGNERGA. “Besides, the accommodation of the commodities’ market into agricultural produce markets will prevent exploitation of farmers. But we need more schemes for better risk-assessment in agriculture.”
Nitin Poddar listed the retrospective taxation of Vodafone last year as the only bad economic decision the country has ever taken.
He hailed Modi for concentrating on the concept of “Ease of Doing Business” so seriously. “My one suggestion for the Maharashtra government is to forget the one-window system and have an open-door policy for businesses,” he said.
Deshmukh analysed the budget’s implications on the housing industry. “Our two important demands were not met. We wanted the housing industry to be given infrastructure status and we wanted the budget to encourage first-time property buyers.
Only when people’s financial status will improve will the housing industry get a boost,” he said. Prakash Kulkarni, Editor of Navshakti moderated the discussions.