The Hindu Business Line : `Kerala Budget lacks in thrust to industrial sector'

The Kerala Finance Minister, Mr K Sankaranarayanan, has embarrassed the laymen and the learned alike by presenting a largely populist Budget 2002-03, offering a variety of new welfare programmes and without taxing anybody much.

Probably the Finance Minister had meant "to tax the Kerala economy'' as a whole, rather than antagonise the individual voter, Dr P M Mathew, Director, Institute of Small Enterprises Development (ISED) here said. The Budget professed a reform programme for the economy. For the industrial sector, it claimed to make an investor-friendly climate, and enhanced competitiveness. It spelt out a three-fold strategy such as reforms in labour laws, infrastructure development and restructuring of the public sector. The programmes announced by the Budget included restructuring of the directorate of industries and commerce, self certification by SSI units, restructuring of the public sector, promotion of private industrial estate, Budgetary support for industrial parks and zones and establishment of new ones of the kind, restructuring of KSIDC, setting up of a food processing mission etc. It also envisaged initiation of 50,000 micro enterprises under the "Kudumbashree'' programme. It gave top priority for employment creation. The five lakh jobs to be created during the next five years needed to be largely in the unorganised industrial sector, because that sector alone had any worthwhile employment potential, he pointed out.

``But, unfortunately, the Budget lacks a vital thrust which everybody is looking for, especially in the present crisis situation of Kerala'', he said. The average citizen was willing to tighten his belt and he looked up at the Finance Minister that something would come out from him -- a way out from the present crisis. "What is really lacking in the Budget is a clear vision and direction on the objectives of industrial development in the State''.

In fact, the Economic Review had made some casual references like cluster-based industrial strategy etc.; but the Budget did not even say that.

Dr Mathew said that the administration of the industrial sector was in disarray and a restructuring was overdue.

The Finance Minister, of course, had golden opportunity of using IT as an important instrument to introduce transparency in governance. "He talks about it piece by piece, department by department, but where is the holistic approach?'' he asked.

The malaise of industry in Kerala now was one of complete stagnation and what the entrepreneurs really needed was removal of several of the bottlenecks and greater speed in decision-making by the government machinery.

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