Vijayawada: The AP Chambers of Commerce and Industry Federation urged the 16th Finance Commission to extend its support to AP’s economic and industrial progress and help in the overall development of the state.
AP Chambers president Potluri Bhaskar Rao submitted a representation to the Finance Commission chairman Dr Aravind Panagariya at a meeting organised with industry associations in Tirupati on Thursday.
On the occasion, Bhaskar Rao urged the finance commission chairman to increase the proportion of central tax revenues given to states in tax devolutions to 50% to states like Andhra Pradesh, which is industrially a backward region and where economic progress remains low. He further requested the finance commission to earmark a certain percentage of the additional tax devolution towards industrial infrastructure development in the State and to liberally grant funds to set up the MSME parks in all assembly constituencies as envisioned by state govt.
Subsequently, the Chambers suggested the Union govt to extend tax exemptions like CGST and give additional grants for infrastructure development to the seven backward districts of Andhra Pradesh, as mentioned in AP Reorganisation Act.
Furthermore, the Chambers urged the finance commission to allocate necessary funds for the establishment of central research institutions like CFTRI, NIFTEM, and others to support the industries in providing new technologies for locally available commodities. It also urged funding for setting up mango, banana and palm boards in the state.
Moreover, the finance commission was urged to allocate funds for the development of ports, industrial corridors, logistics hubs, and integrated connectivity between road, railways, and ports to help the State become the gateway to southeast Asia.
Additionally, the Chambers requested the Finance Commission to introduce a scheme like NREGA to make unskilled and semi-skilled labour available to micro and small industries operating in rural areas to drive the rural economy.
It further suggested the finance commission to extend the PLI scheme to small and medium industries in the targeted and priority sectors and recommended earmarking a certain percentage of the additional tax devolution towards PLI scheme to small and medium industries.
