Karnataka industry hails Union budget as development, infrastructure-oriented one

Industry bodies in Karnataka have termed the Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday as “development and infrastructure-oriented” and “one that has something for everybody.” Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FKCCI), an apex organisation of industry, trade and service sectors in the State, termed the budget as an overall developmental and infrastructure-oriented one.

Stating that this is a progressive, development-oriented and people-friendly budget, FKCCI president B V Gopal Reddy said the chamber welcomes several initiatives announced by the Finance Minister in the areas of millets, health sector, tourism industry, ease of doing business, and the income tax slabs.

Speaking about the credit guarantee scheme for the MSME support, he said, “Earlier also, the scheme was there but there was a delay in reaching the beneficiary. This time an additional corpus of Rs. 9,000 crore has been announced for MSME credit guarantee, but we have to wait and see how fast it will reach the beneficiary.” Highlighting the support to millet-based products which “exclusively benefits Karnataka State,” along with the Central assistance of Rs 5,300 crores to Upper Bhadra Project, Reddy said in addition to that, ancillary industries in millet-based products should be supported.