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Press Release: 10th July, 2004 According to Mr. Mahapatra, uniform VAT before April 2005 too seemed to be a far fetched idea. Considering the response to it in the last year this seems another one of government's idea, which it has no idea how to turn into reality. He commented on the increase in defence budget saying that this was contrary to India's disarmament policy and talked about the possibility of short-term volatility in the market due to the changes in turnover tax. In the end the panel also fielded questions at the end of the discussion when the audience interacted with them. The question answer session was as enriching as the discussion itself with several faculty members and students from the audience pouring in their views.
Finally, Dr. Ramana emphasized the salient points that came out of the discussion:
The IT industry has taken off.
There are no incentives for the manufacturing sector in this budget.
Nothing has been done to boost employment and trigger faster and stable growth.
There have been no structural changes in the economy.
In the short term there may be volatility in the market.
The turnover tax may even be rolled back.
Therefore, in short, the main point, which came out as a result of this exercise, is that in spite of it being a friendly budget for majority of the sectors, major growth boosters for the economy are missing. And that the government needs to really spell out its plan to convert all the rhetoric about agricultural & infrastructural development, into reality. Concluded. Contributed by - |
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