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Monday July 6, 01:20 PM
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INDUSTRY VIEW - Union budget eyes infrastructure, farmers
MUMBAI (Reuters) - The new government outlined measures on Monday to speed infrastructure development and increased spending for farmers and the poor in its first budget.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee pledged to return the country to the high growth rate of 9 percent a year as soon as possible, while estimated growth in 2008/09 at 6.7 percent.
Following are comments from industry officials on the budget.
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RAVI RAMU, DIRECTOR, PURAVANKARA PROJECTS LTD
"He's forgotten how to spell 'real,' forget about 'estate'. There's absolutely nothing. It's bone dry. Affordable housing, he doesn't seem to concerned about, whereas India needs homes. He only talked about housing below poverty line, lower income group. But what about the group just above that? That group is also
screaming for decent housing."
RAJENDRA HINDUJA, EXEC DIRECTOR, GOKALDAS EXPORTS
"Nothing very great for the textile sector so far. Everybody was looking out for some immediate relief...the main demand (for apparel exporters) that export profits be made free did not come through. We were expecting an increase in subvention (to 4 percent). That also did not come through."
S K GOEL, CHAIRMAN AND MANAGING DIRECTOR, UCO BANK
"Overall the budget has been very good as it has addressed the sectors such as agriculture and small and medium business. There might not be any big announcements for the corporate sector, but it would give relief to the sectors which were under stress like export."
For a complete coverage of the budget, please click http://in.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/budget2009
