India Inc. has welcomed the announcements made in the Interim Budget on Friday and called it forward looking, primarily due to the enhancement of income tax rebate, measures to boost rural economy and the SME sector.

According to the industry, proposals made in the Interim Budget will increase the levels of consumption and in turn provide a fillip to the domestic manufacturing sector.

The Budget presented at the Lok Sabha by Finance Minister Piyush Goyal contained proposals to aid small farmers and the middle class.

Welcoming the budgetary proposals, industry body Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)President Rakesh Bharti Mittal said: "The measures announced in the Budget are likely to provide a significant impetus to consumption spending in the economy, which will boost growth in the near to medium term."

"In an astute balancing act, the Finance Minister has presented a budget, which addresses issues of every segment of society. This a true peoples budget".

Reacting to the Interim Budget 2019-20,  Sandip Somany, President, FICCI said, "It is a progressive budget that addresses both the current challenges being faced by the economy as well as presents an outline of the vision the government has for the future of India ten years ahead."

The budget contains several comprehensive proposals that would benefit each of these sections of our society and this is in line with government's philosophy of 'sabka saath, sabka vikas'," he said.

"FICCI had suggested the need for Direct Income Support for farmers and is happy to see its inclusion in the budget. This is critical as through this measure the government will be able to cover all the small and marginal farmers as compared to the MSP scheme which benefits just about 30% of such farmers. By also committing funds upfront from the central pool, any resistance from states will be avoided," added Somany.

Another high point of the budget is the announcement of a mega pension program to provide social security to workers engaged in the unorganised sector, said Somany.

The proposals related to direct tax now offer a full tax rebate to individuals having an annual taxable income of up to Rs 5 lakh. This would be extremely beneficial for the lower middle-class taxpayers comprising self-employed, small businesses, small traders, salary earners, pensioners and senior citizens.

In addition to this, the increase in the standard deduction limit, the threshold for TDS on interest income from bank and post office deposits, upward revision of TDS threshold for tax on rental income, exempt of levy of income tax on notional rent on second self-occupied house and extension of exemption of capital gains to second residential property of up to Rs 2 crore, are all noteworthy measures.

"The above, we feel, would improve demand in the economy and support investments going ahead. We see a positive momentum building for the housing and real estate sector which has major forward and backward linkages. All of these are positive for growth, will have a multiplier impact and improve the outlook for the economy in the coming years," said  Somany

Ganesh Kumar Gupta, President, FIEO commenting on the Interim Budget said that direct income support to farmers at the rate of Rs.6,000/- per year and the mega Pension Yojana for unorganised sector workers at the rate of Rs.3,000/- per month would meet the objective of social justice which coupled with Ayushman Bharat will provide modest livelihood to  our people in poor strata of the society.

MGupta said that creation of a separate “Department of Fisheries” will put further focus on marine exports which has already crossed over USD 7 billion to move to USD 10 billion by 2020-21.

The single window clearance for ease of shooting of films will help in augmenting foreign exchange through film/animation industry. The introduction of comprehensive digitalization of export/import transactions and use of RFID technology will not only reduce the time taken in movement of exim cargo but will also help in identifying the bottlenecks so as to plug them for seamless movement, he said.

Gupta welcomed the comprehensive 10 dimensional vision, focussing on sustained development, which provides a road map for the country as well as its economy.