The Union Budget of 2016-17, presented in Parliament recently by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, has under new foreign direct investment policy(FDI) declared that 100 per cent FDI will be allowed through the Foreign Investment Promotion Board(FIPB) route for manufacturing processed food products in India.
The processing sector, the main sub-sector of Indian agriculture has been given due importance in this Budget and will indeed offer impetus to the food processing industry and create larger employment opportunities for the unemployed rural youth. The coastal areas, including the hill and the main lands offers ample opportunities for processing sector e.g., fisheries development has remained unexploited many years .
This shift in the Government’s strategy will help to create value added products in the agricultural and processing sector in large quantities and the surplus production thereafter can be exported to earn valuable foreign exchange for the country. The Government’s efforts to inculcate “Start-UP” ventures in rural areas will also offer more opportunities to nationalised banks to advance loans in rural areas and make rural population more productive.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s decision of redirection of finances towards rural development in the Union Budget 2016-17 is a breath of fresh air. Funds to the tune of Rs. 87,765 crores will certainly bring about remarkable change in rural scenario moving it towards prosperity. It is gratifying to note that the Budget 2016-17 has allocated Rs. 35,000 crores for agriculture and farmer’s welfare.
Strengthening the equity base of public sector banks with Rs. 25,000 crores will allow extension of credit facilities to the farmers and processing industries based on agriculture. These credit facilities together with introduction of the “Skill Development” program will enable the promotion of new level of entrepreneurs/service providers in the Agriculture and Rural sector and creation of new level of employment opportunities for the unemployed rural population thus generating income in rural areas.
The Reserve Bank of India is playing stellar role in building up a sound network of financial structure. India has been placed in “creditworthy nation” for investment and return by International Credit Rating Agency, in January 22, 2004. Since agriculture is our basic industry, Government’s decision to capitalize on agricultural and processing sector in the current Union Budget of 2016-17 is extremely welcoming. The entrepreneurs need to seize this opportunity and harness the vast potentials in agriculture and non-farm allied industries e.g., food processing, livestock, transportation etc. to generate revenue and consequently increase the growth rate.
This will not only alleviate our dependency on global economy for obtaining higher economic growth rate but will also enable us to increase the economic growth rate from 7.6 per cent per annum and agricultural growth rate at 2.5 per cent per annum as presented in the present Budget to 8 to 9 per cent per annum (as recorded in the past) and possibly to 4 per cent per annum respectively.
Although substantial amounts of money have been allocated for agriculture, irrigation, rural sectors including health, child development, welfare of scheduled caste and scheduled tribes, minorities, etc. in the Union Budget of 2016-17, the timely release and judicious utilization of these allocations is crucial to reap the benefits. Based on our past experience, the farmers have been deprived of this money.
To ensure allocated resources reach the schemes and targeted beneficiaries and instead of getting divulged unnecessarily, the Government should implement following suggestions: NABARD in collaboration with Panchayats should be the sole authority to implement the programs and schemes suggested in the present budget of 2016-17. All the Panchayat offices should adequately staffed (technical & non-technical) and equipped to implement these schemes and programs. Effective co-ordination, regular monitoring and supervision, re-evaluation for improvement and periodic training will be key to success thus preventing failure of these schemes and programs.
Finally, I strongly feel agriculture including the allied industries is one of the largest industries which if developed thoughtfully will be able to provide employment, remove poverty (we have about 230 million people below the poverty line to date although many poverty alleviation programs have been implemented by previous Governments) and achieve higher economic growth rate for our country.
The processing sector, the main sub-sector of Indian agriculture has been given due importance in this Budget and will indeed offer impetus to the food processing industry and create larger employment opportunities for the unemployed rural youth. The coastal areas, including the hill and the main lands offers ample opportunities for processing sector e.g., fisheries development has remained unexploited many years .
This shift in the Government’s strategy will help to create value added products in the agricultural and processing sector in large quantities and the surplus production thereafter can be exported to earn valuable foreign exchange for the country. The Government’s efforts to inculcate “Start-UP” ventures in rural areas will also offer more opportunities to nationalised banks to advance loans in rural areas and make rural population more productive.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s decision of redirection of finances towards rural development in the Union Budget 2016-17 is a breath of fresh air. Funds to the tune of Rs. 87,765 crores will certainly bring about remarkable change in rural scenario moving it towards prosperity. It is gratifying to note that the Budget 2016-17 has allocated Rs. 35,000 crores for agriculture and farmer’s welfare.
Strengthening the equity base of public sector banks with Rs. 25,000 crores will allow extension of credit facilities to the farmers and processing industries based on agriculture. These credit facilities together with introduction of the “Skill Development” program will enable the promotion of new level of entrepreneurs/service providers in the Agriculture and Rural sector and creation of new level of employment opportunities for the unemployed rural population thus generating income in rural areas.
The Reserve Bank of India is playing stellar role in building up a sound network of financial structure. India has been placed in “creditworthy nation” for investment and return by International Credit Rating Agency, in January 22, 2004. Since agriculture is our basic industry, Government’s decision to capitalize on agricultural and processing sector in the current Union Budget of 2016-17 is extremely welcoming. The entrepreneurs need to seize this opportunity and harness the vast potentials in agriculture and non-farm allied industries e.g., food processing, livestock, transportation etc. to generate revenue and consequently increase the growth rate.
This will not only alleviate our dependency on global economy for obtaining higher economic growth rate but will also enable us to increase the economic growth rate from 7.6 per cent per annum and agricultural growth rate at 2.5 per cent per annum as presented in the present Budget to 8 to 9 per cent per annum (as recorded in the past) and possibly to 4 per cent per annum respectively.
Although substantial amounts of money have been allocated for agriculture, irrigation, rural sectors including health, child development, welfare of scheduled caste and scheduled tribes, minorities, etc. in the Union Budget of 2016-17, the timely release and judicious utilization of these allocations is crucial to reap the benefits. Based on our past experience, the farmers have been deprived of this money.
To ensure allocated resources reach the schemes and targeted beneficiaries and instead of getting divulged unnecessarily, the Government should implement following suggestions: NABARD in collaboration with Panchayats should be the sole authority to implement the programs and schemes suggested in the present budget of 2016-17. All the Panchayat offices should adequately staffed (technical & non-technical) and equipped to implement these schemes and programs. Effective co-ordination, regular monitoring and supervision, re-evaluation for improvement and periodic training will be key to success thus preventing failure of these schemes and programs.
Finally, I strongly feel agriculture including the allied industries is one of the largest industries which if developed thoughtfully will be able to provide employment, remove poverty (we have about 230 million people below the poverty line to date although many poverty alleviation programs have been implemented by previous Governments) and achieve higher economic growth rate for our country.