Guwahati: Ranging from a little anxiety about a new industrial policy for the Northeast and dampening of hopes for income tax sops to elation about a huge raise in capital expenditure to Rs 11.11 lakh crore, a spectrum of reactions came from the region after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the interim budget on Thursday.

The interim budget is a stop-gap financial plan that will come into effect from April 1 until a new government presents a full-fledged budget after the general elections this summer. The full budget can be expected by July to be presented by a newly sworn-in government.

The Federation of Industry and Commerce of the North Eastern Region (FINER), a leading business association in the region, sought swift implementation of an Industrial Policy for the Northeast in the wake of the budget. “Despite the expiration of the NEIDS policy in 2022, the formulation of a new industrial policy for the region appears to be taking longer than anticipated," it noted in a statement. At the same time, however, FINER commended the budget for lowering the fiscal deficit target for FY25 to 5.1 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) Northeast Advisory Council and Assam State Council welcomed the budget announcements and asserted it could catalyze sustainable development, economic growth, and social well-being.

“By bringing together growth, climate, and social empowerment while addressing the need for balancing investment and fiscal prudence, the interim budget has continued the pro-development initiatives of the government," said Ranjit Barthakur, chairman of the FICCI’s Northeast Advisory Council.

Ravi Kr. Patwa, chairman of the FICCI Assam State Council, lauded the emphasis on the blue economy, EV ecosystem, tourism, multimodal logistics, and the creation of the corpus of Rs 1,00,000 crore and opined that Assam could benefit a lot from these initiatives.

Joydip Gupta, co-chairman of the FICCI Assam Council, lauded the budget's emphasis on rooftop solarization and said, “This could be a transformative initiative, and besides substantial savings for households, this will go a long way in ensuring India’s energy security.” Under the budget, rooftop solarization of 10 million households will generate 300 units of free electricity every month.

Dr Palin Khundongbam, co-chairman of the Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CII) North East, noted that the government's focus on vaccination against cervical cancer for girls aged 9 to 14 reflects a “proactive and preventive approach” to public health. At the same time, Pankaj Goswami, Chairman of the CII’s Assam State Council and Managing Director of Oil India Ltd. observed that the budget is focused on unprecedented growth that will transform India into a developed nation. 

The mantra of development featured heavily in the Indian Prime Minister’s address to the nation shortly after the budget was announced. He termed the budget a “reflection of the aspirations of a young India.” He said the budget gave the “guarantee” of making India a developed nation by 2047.

The interim budget 2024–24 is very inclusive and takes all categories of citizens along with all the basic economic parameters, Mahesh Kumar Saharia, Chairman of the Indian Chamber of Commerce, North Eastern region, shared hours after the announcement.

"The Finance Minister specifically mentioned in her budget speech that the development of the eastern part of India is a priority for the government. This perspective of the government will boost new economic activities and opportunities for the Northeast, noted Saharia.

Sarat Kumar Jain, Chairman of the Assam and Meghalaya chapters of the ICC, also endorsed this new vision of the government. "The government has lifted 25 crore people out of poverty in the last 10 years and is focused on more comprehensive 'governance, development, and performance' ('GDP'). Rooftop solarization to give 1 crore households 300 units of free electricity per month and the formation of a committee on technology to strengthen deep technology for defence are also noteworthy commitments," Jain asserted, adding that the latter will boost a new start-up network in the country.

Meanwhile, Sabyasachi De, spokesperson for the Northeast Frontier Railway (NEF), said the decision to upgrade 40,000 bogies to ‘Vande Bharat’ standards will ensure comfort and safety for passengers.

“I believe the experience of a railway journey will be improved and inadvertently lead to the generation of more revenue. We are also focusing on high speed and high acceleration capabilities for our trains, and work to upgrade tracks in the Northeast is already  underway, he said.

In her breakdown of the budget, Guwahati-based chartered accountant Antima Sarawgi observed that the budget has not announced tax relief for the salaried person or changed the threshold limit for taxation or tax rates. “With inflation and rising cost of living expenses, it is yet again a disappointing budget for the salaried class.”

Sujit Roy, the Secretary of the All Tripura Merchants Association, echoed Sarawgi and the middle class's concerns. He said that while the overall budget was good, income tax has remained unchanged. Many hoped for higher rebates in their annual income tax.

Some experts noted that the budget lacked a massive increase in funding for welfare schemes or a change in taxation policies and was high on rhetoric. Still, hopes will hinge on the full budget.

In neighbouring Tripura, former finance minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Jishnu Dev Varma said the budget lays a strong foundation for building a prosperous and inclusive India, in line with the vision for development.

“Empowerment for every section of society, particularly the poor, women, youth, and farmers, is echoed in this budget. Their progress is linked with the nation's advancement, he said. “The recently released World Economic Outlook report of the IMF calls India a bright spot and has increased our growth estimates," Dev Varma further pointed out.

The centre’s revision of the target to create ‘lakhpati didis’ (millionaire sisters) has struck a chord here. The plan is to improve the financial incomes of women by fostering employment opportunities and skill development, from 20 million previously to 30 million.

Roy also expressed appreciation for the introduction of new schemes aimed at benefiting women. "Loans for women and core training for skilled workers are indeed commendable steps.”

(With inputs from Priyanka Chakrabarty, Pankhi Sarma and Rana Pratap Saikia in Guwahati and, Tanmoy Chakraborty in Agartala)