Disappointment over absence of relief to Covid-hit traders

Telangana State Federation of Chambers of Commerce & Trade (TSFCCT), president, Ammanabolu Prakash said the Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday disappointed the traders to a large extent. In a statement, he said traders expected that FM would announce some relief to them in this Budget, but they disappointed as no such announcements were made. Prakash said: "Covid pandemic has affected about 70 to 80 per cent of the business, but traders have not received any financial assistance from Rs 20 lakh crore package earlier announced by the Central Government".

He said that traders have given wide representations to the Prime Minister and Finance Minister regarding their grievances, but all their appeals have fallen deaf ears and no incentives/subsidies, or financial assistance was provided in this Budget. He further said that traders have not received any financial assistance from neither Central Government nor from State governments since Independence, in spite of paying taxes regularly. Traders expect inclusion of benefits from Atmanirbhar Bharat. However, he welcomed some of the announcements made by the Finance Minister in her Budget speech, like allocation of Rs 20,000 crore to banks for roads, Rs 35,000 crore for Covid vaccine, Rs1.10 Lakh crore for railways, tax holiday exemption of one more year for startups and reduction in reopening of assessments period from the earlier six years to three years.