SGT - Agriculture & ITES

8/2/2019 SGT - Agriculture & ITES

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Agriculture and

ITES

Group 1


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Introduction

India ranks second worldwide in farm output.

Agriculture and allied sectors like forestry and fisheries accounted

for 16.6% of the GDP in 2009, about 50% of the total workforce.

India is the world's largest producer of many fresh fruits and

vegetables, milk, major spices, select fresh meats, select fibrous

crops such as jute, several staples such as millets and castor oil seed.

India is the second largest producer of wheat and rice, the world's

major food staples


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Agricultural Sector The total plan outlay for the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation is

being increased by 18 per cent from ` 17,123 crore in 2011-12 to ` 20,208crore in 2012-13.

The outlay for Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) is being increased from` 7,860 crore in 2011-12 to ` 9,217 crore in 2012-13.

The initiative of Bringing Green Revolution to Eastern India (BGREI) hasresulted in a significant increase in production and productivity of paddy.

States in eastern India have reported additional paddy production ofseven million tonnes in Kharif 2011.

It is proposed to increase the allocation for this scheme from ` 400 crorein 2011-12 to ` 1000 crore in 2012-13.

They also propose to allocate ` 300 crore to Vidarbha Intensified IrrigationDevelopment Programme. This Scheme seeks to bring in more farmingareas under protective irrigation.


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The Government intends to merge the remaining activities into a set of missions to address

the needs of agricultural development in the Twelfth Five Year Plan. These Missions are:

National Food Security Mission which aims to bridge the yield gap in respect of paddy,

wheat, pulses, millet and fodder.

The ongoing Integrated Development of Pulses Villages, Promotion of Nutri-cereals and

Accelerated Fodder Development Programme would now become a part of this Mission

National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture including Micro Irrigation is being taken up as

a part of the National Action Plan on Climate Change.

The Rainfed Area Development Programme will be merged with this

National Mission on Oilseeds and Oil Palm aims to increase production and productivity of

oil seeds and oil palm

National Mission on Agricultural Extension and Technology focuses on adoption of

appropriate technologies by farmers for improving productivity and efficiency in farm

operations

National Horticulture Mission aims at horticulture diversification. This will also include the

initiative on saffron.


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Agriculture Credit

Farmers need timely access to affordable credit. I propose to raise the target for agricultural credit in2012-13 to ` 5,75,000 crore.

This represents an increase of ` 1,00,000 crore over the target for the current year.

The interest subvention scheme for providing short term crop loans to farmers at 7 per cent interestper annum will be continued in 2012-13.

An additional grants of 3 per cent will be available to prompt paying farmers.

In addition, the same interest grants on post-harvest loans up to six months against negotiablewarehouse receipt will also be available.

This will encourage the farmers to keep their produce in warehouses.

A Short term RRB Credit Refinance Fund is being set-up to enhance the capacity of Regional Rural

Banks to disburse short term crop loans to the small and marginal farmers.

It is proposed to allocate 10,000 crore to NABARD for refinancing the RRBs through this fund.

Kisan Credit Card (KCC) is an effective instrument for making agricultural credit available to thefarmers. KCC scheme will be modified to make KCC a smart card which could be used at ATMs.


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Agricultural Research

Food security and agricultural development in the coming decades would

depend upon scientific and technological breakthroughs in raising

productivity.

We have to develop plant and seed varieties that yield more and can

resist climate change.

I propose to set aside a sum of ` 200 crore for incentivising research with

rewards, both for institutions and the research team responsible for such

scientific breakthroughs.


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Irrigation Unless we recognise water as a resource, the day is not far when water stress will start

threatening our agricultural production.

Focus on micro irrigation schemes to dovetail these with water harvesting schemes isnecessary.

To maximise the flow of benefits from investments in irrigation projects, structural changes inAccelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) are being made.

The allocation for AIBP in 2012-13 is being stepped up by 13 per cent to ` 14,242 crore.

To mobilise large resources to fund irrigation projects, a Government owned Irrigation andWater Resource Finance Company is being operationalized.

The Company would start its operations in 2012-13 by focusing on financing sub-sectors likemicro-irrigation, contract farming, waste water management and sanitation.

A flood management project for Kandi sub-division of Murshidabad District has been approvedby the Ganga Flood Control Commission at a cost of ` 439 crore, to be taken up for fundingunder the Flood Management Programme.


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National Mission on Food Processing

The food processing sector has been growing at an average rate of over 8 per centover the past 5 years.

In order to have a better outreach and to provide more flexibility to suit localneeds, it has been decided that a new centrally sponsored scheme titled "NationalMission on Food Processing" would be started, in cooperation with the StateGovernments in 2012-13.

The Government has taken steps to create additional foodgrain storage capacity inthe country.

Creation of 2 million tonnes of storage capacity in the form of modern silos hasalready been approved.

Nearly 15 million tonnes capacity is being created under the Private Entrepreneur'sGuarantee Scheme, of which 3 million tonnes of storage capacity will be added bythe end of 2011-12 and 5 million would be added next year.


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Carrying forward the initiatives taken for agriculture

and agro-processing in the previous Budgets

To reduce basic customs duty from 7.5 per cent to 2.5 per cent on:

Sugarcane planter, root or tuber crop harvesting machine and rotary tiller and weeder

Parts for the manufacture of these;

To reduce basic customs duty from 7.5 per cent to 5 per cent on specified coffee

plantation and processing machinery

To extend project import benefit to green house and protected cultivation for

horticulture and floriculture at concessional basic customs duty of 5 per cent

To reduce basic customs duty on some water soluble fertilisers and liquid fertilisers,

other than urea, from 7.5 per cent to 5 per cent and from 5 per cent to 2.5 per cent

To extend concessional import duty available for installation of mechanized handling

systems and pallet racking systems in mandis or warehouses for horticultural produce.


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Impact

Positive+

The Budget FY13 is positive for agriculture and rural development.Raising the target for agricultural credit is a welcome step as it hasplayed a critical role in supporting agriculture production in India.

There were several gaps in the present institutional credit deliverysystem which the Budget has tried to address.

One such measure being the setting up of a short-term RRB creditrefinance fund which will facilitate provision of credit to small andmarginal farmers.

The extension of recapitalization scheme of weak RRBs is also a positive

development as they extend credit mostly to small and marginalfarmers, agricultural laborers and rural artisans operating in a fewdistricts in a state.

The tax proposals for cold chain facility are in line with theGovernments policy shift towards incentivizing investments.


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The present strategy of pumping credit into agriculture will not, by

itself, translate into commensurate increase in agricultural output.

It needs to be accompanied by investments in other supportservices.

The Budget has remained silent regarding the reforms in the APMC

Act, which is critical for improving the quality and quantity of farm

yield and better remuneration.


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IT&ITES Sector

The booming technology sector is set to cross the $100 billionmark this year with $69 billion from exports and $32 billionfrom the domestic market.

Despite the big boom in the IT sector, the government hasannounced nothing cheerful whatsoever in this budget

Union Budget 2012-13 is likely to be a non-event for theIndian IT sector as the wish list remains extremely small.

In the last budget, MAT was imposed on SEZ units. As permedia reports, industry body NASSCOM's wish list includesremoval of MAT on SEZ units;


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In addition, the Indian government has started focusing on e-governance

lately, with its various initiatives such as RAPDRP, UIDAI and Sarva Shiksha

Abhiyan

this is also a space to look out for if the government decides on increasing

the outlay related to these schemes towards modernization.

A few of the Indian IT companies have bagged some crucial deals underthese schemes and have started setting up SBUs to tap the domestic

market.

Also, increased emphasis onon PPP in education and incremental

allocation for ICT implementation in schools would benefit companiescatering to the K-12 segment, including Educomp Solutions, NIIT and

Everonn Education.


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The telecom sector, too, felt disappointed with the Budget.

Beyond the exemption of mobile phone parts from basic customs duty and

the provision of viability gap funding for phone towers, there's no good

news for the currently-troubled telecom operators.

The only cheer comes from the government spending on IT that is likely tocross a new high with the unique identification authority of India (UIDAI)

and other technology driven projects in various arms of government

getting special attention in Budget 2012-13.

The FM is banking on technology-driven projects to plug leakages in thesystem.


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Introduction of advance pricing agreement (APA) in

the Finance Bill of 2012.

Central plan outlay by the Department of Information Technology (DIT) increasedby 86.7% to ` 53.6 bn.

` 391.1 bn to be spent on modernisation of signaling system of railways.

A National Information Utility (NIU) for the computerization of Public Distribution

System (PDS) is being created. It is expected to become operational by December2012. Introduction of advance pricing agreement (APA) in the Finance Bill of 2012.

Central plan outlay by the Department of Information Technology (DIT) increasedby 86.7% to ` 53.6 bn.

` 391.1 bn to be spent on modernization of signaling system of railways.

A National Information Utility (NIU) for the computerization of Public DistributionSystem (PDS) is being created. It is expected to become operational by December2012.

I t


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Impact

Neutral Provision regarding implementation of APAs to be introduced in Finance Bill

2012 will help in addressing concerns over the certainty of transfer pricingarrangements.

Proposal to improve service tax refunds process as well as enhance the scopefor input credits for service tax will benefit the IT-ITeS sector since substantialamount of cash flow is tied up in refund claims.

The central plan outlay for DIT growing by 86.7%, allocation of funds formodernizing signaling system of railways and creating a NIU forcomputerization of PDS will have a positive impact on the IT sector.

The industry was expecting to see the revival of tax benefits under the STPI

scheme.

However, there was no mention in respect of extension of this clause. Thus,the overall Budget has a marginally positive impact on the sector.


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