The Hindu Business Line : Support sectors that show promise: MCCIA

Mr Kirloskar said privatisation of tourist destinations was a fail-safe way to guarantee the promotion as well as protection of tourist assets of the country. He said the Centre should provide guidelines to States to invite private promoters to identify, develop and operate these destinations.

Pune , June 23

KEEPING in line with an India-vision 2020, the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA) has proposed a few pre-budget recommendations, which is to be placed before the Centre before July 8.

Mr Atul Kirloskar, President, MCCIA, is of the view that the sectors that show promise and provide overall development in areas such as agriculture, infrastructure, information technology/biotechnology, manufacturing and tourism should be given thrust and support with a 10-year outlay and plan.

He has also suggested that the budget process should begin in December to help completion of the process before the financial year beginning. Now the process of preparation of Union budget usually begins in January and by the time everything is ready it usually spills into April.

Mr Kirloskar noted that in order to get public participation and build public confidence in the budget, the major issues should be thrown open for public debate in advance. This is especially true for all direct tax proposals, which are traditionally kept as a closely guarded secret before the budget but served little or no purpose.

He said that in the manufacturing segment, the Indian industry derived its strength from highly trained personnel, precision engineering and competitive pricing. He said research and development is a critical input to give impetus to the development of intellectual property and should be subsidised to encourage investments in technology.

Upgradation of machinery and marketing support should also be provided to the manufacturing industry and a marketing forum on the lines of Nasscom should be formed to help create a positive perception and proactively promote the industry to make India synonymous with quality manufacturing, he noted.

Mr Ravi Pandit, Vice-President, MCCIA, commenting on the IT/BT sector, said that it was essential that the Government proactively initiate research to identify into the sunrise industries of the next decade.

In order to stay on top of the growth curve, it was imperative that new growth areas were continually studied and explored.

He pointed out that investment in one particular sector was not of any help as the Government had to now look at a sector and invest in a holistic manner so that returns are visible.

There is a need for concentrated push for any development to take place, he added.

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