Budget 2023: No New Policy For Northeast, But Industry Content With Push For Better Living

Industry captains of the Northeast, who were keenly anticipating the launch of a new industrial policy for the region to attract investments were left waiting.

The Budget 2023 gave the northeastern states hardly any new shemes, felt industry leaders of the region. However, it would be fine as long as the government continued to fund the existing schemes.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman did not renew the much-anticipated North Eastern Investment Development Scheme in the Union Budget 2023 on Wednesday. Overall, there was nothing specific for the bottle-necked region. Industry captains of the Northeast, who were keenly anticipating the launch of a new industrial policy for the region to attract investments and tourists, both domestic as well as foreign, were left waiting.

Moreover, some of the pan-India programmes, which Finance Minister Sitharaman sidelined, are likely to have a cascading impact on the Northeastern states.

Chairman of Assam State Council, Indian Chambers of Commerce, Sarat Kumar Jain, told ABP Live, “The Union Budget 2023 seems to be growth-oriented. It will stimulate investment in the infrastructure, manufacturing sector, and exports. The Budget in Amrit Kaal focuses on 7 priorities of growth."
"However, our expectations specifically for the Northeast have not been met by this Budget. The long-awaited industrial policy was absent. Investments from outside the region have become lean for the want of a pragmatic industrial policy,"

Speaking to ABP Live, former Chairman of the Federation of Industry & Commerce of North Eastern Region (FINER) and budget analyst R S Joshi said, “Seeds sown in the fields of the Indian economy over the last 8-9 years have turned out to be quite resilient. That's why it could face the onslaught of the Covid-19 pandemic and by and large survived. Now, it has started bearing fruits for the economy with good potential of delivering even more in time to come, barring unforeseen happenings of scale.”

“The Budget has outperformed on almost all counts. Saying that it 'over delivered' would not be an exaggeration. The government’s firm resolve and confidence in addressing the needs and concerns of all sections of society, including the burgeoning middle-class, is quite visible in this Budget,” Joshi said.

“Modinomics is what we see in the Budget for which the country is of course first. But vote bank interest is also at par. This nice balancing with requisite cushioning is the philosophy of this economics, which is still to be accredited by rating agencies. Some areas like the insurance sector and measures for savings etc need reconsideration,” Joshi said.

“Northeast may not have usual mention but that’s fine so long it’s very liberal in funding our infrastructure and socio-economic projects aimed at providing a better living to people of NER,” he said.

PK Bhattacharjee, secretary general of Tea Association of India (TAI), Kolkata, said, “Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's projected Budget proposals for the financial year 2023-24 are strong on capital expenditure, have provided fillip for certain sectors like promotion of tourism, clean energy and adopting a new policy towards upgrading digital infrastructures in various spheres such as agriculture etc. Although there is no specific “Tea” centric proposal in the Budget, it is observed that support for social infrastructure projects has been further consolidated. These include increased allocation under PM-Awas Yojana (from Rs 77,130 crore to Rs 79,590 crore), and Jal Jeevan Mission (increase in allocation from Rs 55,000 crore to Rs 70,000 crore).”