MADURAI: The Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industry has lashed out at the Union Budget 2022-23 for ignoring the common man and for going ahead to sell the shares in Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) besides failing to make any announcements for southern districts of Tamil Nadu- no additional fund allocation for AIIMS Madurai and setting up of NIPER in Madurai.
In a strongly worded press statement issued here on 1st February 2022 on the union budget presented in the Parliament, the Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce president Mr.N.Jegatheesan has said that the budget has given a great disappointment to the people of southern Tamil Nadu.
“There is nothing for southern Tamil Nadu including the formation of National Institute of Pharmacology Education and Research (NIPER) at Madurai, implementation of metro rail project for Madurai and additional fund allocation for construction of Madurai AIIMS. Various trade and industry organisations, political parties and others took up the issue to New Delhi and to the Parliament several times. It is all in vain,” he observed.
The announcement for sale of stake and sale of shares in the LIC was also objected by the TN Chamber as it is a shock for the people. Similarly, the announcement of auction of 5G spectrum in the telecom sector is contradictory in the current situation when already the BSNL has been weakened and various parties’s opposition to the privatisation of government undertakings.
CRYPTO CURRENCY:
The TN Chamber also questioned the rationale of introducing a digital currency by the RBI and a 30 per cent tax on the income from crypto currencies currently in use. “Everyone is insisting abolishing of crypto currency. Now the announcement of a digital currency leaves the common man unsure of what good is there in crypto,” Mr.Jegatheesan has raised a question.
Mr.Jegatheesan has also questioned in the press statement on whether the schemes announced in the Union Budget 2022-23 such as 400 Vande Bharat trains in the next three years, 60 lakh new employment opportunities in the next five years, wi-fi services under Bharat Net in the next three years etc will be possible to fulfill when there is no major infrastructure development plans for this year in the budget.
TAX RATES:
Disappointment was also expressed on the Union Budget 2022-23 because there was no announcement on raising the personal income tax ceiling and thereby a huge disappointment for the salaried and middle class.
