Budget wishlist from agriculture & MSMEs stakeholders: Sops, infra push, easy loans and PLI schemes
investment in agricultural infrastructure, easing loan terms, and implementing employee-centric production-linked incentive schemes were some of the key suggestions made by stakeholders from the agricultural sector and Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) as part of the pre-budget consultations with finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday.
The Agriculture Industry sought a new agriculture policy with focus on investment on Agriculture infrastructure, rationalisation of subsidy, increased investment in allied agri based food processing Industry and a substantial hike in allocation for agriculture research and innovation. The stakeholders asked to boost farm exports and create district hubs to support agriculture exports, sought launch of national Goat and Sheep Mission and increased the budget allocation for the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) to ₹800 crore from ₹80 crore.
«All the stakeholders unanimously sought rationalisation of fertilizer subsidy and using the direct benefit transfer route to plug any leakage,» said a person aware of the meeting proceedings. They also asked the government to revise the retail price of urea, which has remained unchanged since 2018, and to incentivise the use of bio-fertilisers and foliar fertilisers.
The meeting was crucial as the rural and agriculture sector will be the key focus area in the first full budget of the Modi government which came back to power for the third term.
In the interim Budget for 2024, the
