“The government should have investment and job creation targets,” Pashupati Murarka, vice president of the FNCCI, said speaking in a pre-budget discussion program here on Sunday. "The government so far has been setting target revenue target which seems to be faulty." [break]
Murarka said the government imposes unnecessary burden on businessmen in the name of meeting revenue target. "This trend should be changed. The government should focus on increasing development expenditure in the upcoming budget for fiscal year 2013/14," he added.
Urging the government to put required level of effort to develop projects that already in the pipeline on a fast track mode, the FNCCI officials suggested to the government to address energy crisis.
“The budget should focus on overcoming the problems emanating from energy crisis,” Jagdish Prasad Rathi, chairman of FNCCI´s Revenue Committee, said.
Presenting FNCCI´s recommendations to the government, Rathi said the government should make investment on development of transmission lines to evacuate power generated by different hydropower plants. “Focus should also be laid on developing cross-border transmission lines.”
Rathi also said the government should take different policy initiatives for balanced development of different sectors such as agriculture, infrastructure, export, revenue management and tourism.
The FNCCI has also asked the government to discourage import of products that do not have labels in English language and have expiry date of less than three months.
“The government should also take strong action to discourage under-invoicing at customs offices,” Rathi said in his presentation.
Speaking at the program, Suraj Vaidya, president of the FNCCI, said the government should focus on capital expenditure and let the private sector lead the economy. The FNCCI has asked the government to focus on drafting different rules and acts that ensure policy consistency.
On the occasion, representatives from different districts chambers requested the government to be thoughtful about the development of different sectors of the economy.
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