Budget 2013: Agro-based companies happy

Mumbai: Even as the annual budget brought cheers to Agro-based companies, the edible oil extraction industry expressed disappointed over their issue of import duty structured anomalies on crude and refined palm oil not being addressed. "Total withdrawal of export duty on de-oiled rice bran oil cake will help the industry, as such a duty had made our exports uncompetitive. Non inclusion of agro commodities for the CTT (commodity transaction tax) on commodities trading again will help the sector," Ruchi Soya Industries Managing

Director Dinesh Shahra said here.

Setting up storage tanks, silos, godowns in rural sector will certainly boost agriculture sector in India. Higher allocation to agriculture and rural sector will have a ripple down effect on the Indian economy and agro-based companies, she said.

Investment allowance at the rate of 15 per cent in plant and machinery made after April 1 will also boost the industry. Low cost of financing and generation-based incentives will encourage investments in renewable energy projects, Shahra said. "Implementation of goods and services tax (GST) is a welcome move and I am sure, it will be backed by immediate concrete steps. All in all, the Finance Minister seems to have achieved a balancing act of fiscal prudence with emphasis on both growth and stability.

"We were expecting the Finance Minister to raise import duty on crude palm oil to 10 per cent and refined palmolein to 20 per cent thus maintaining a healthy differential of 10 per cent that could have benefited farmers of India and the domestic refining industry," he added.

Tariff Commission, chaired by V Lakshmi Ratan, in its report to the Centre had recommended that the tariff differential between crude palm oil, palmolein and refined palm oil and palmolein should be kept at 10 per cent. Last month, when the government announced imposition of an import duty of 2.5 per cent on CPO, the duty differential was reduced to 5 per cent as there was no corresponding change in the duty of 7.5 per cent on refined palmolein.

The industry as a whole has invested over Rs 5,000 crore and employs over 5,00,000 people.