The Singhbhum Chamber of Commerce and Industry welcomed the Union budget on Monday presented by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

SCCI, the leading trade body of Kolhan region termed it a bold budget.

"Bold because, inspite of a huge deficit, spending has not been curtailed, rather it has been qualitative spending. Welcome because unexpectedly the deficit has not been tried to fill up by way of tax,” said Bharat Vasani, general secretary of SCCI to The Telegraph Online.

Vasani said the biggest announcement for Jamshedpur in the Union budget has been the Voluntary Vehicle Scrappage Policy.

"This was in discussion for a long time. Auto sector was relying heavily on this to fight the cyclical nature of their industry. This will help Tata Motors, and this will enable the demand of more steel too. This will give a fillip to the entire economy of this region, as ancillaries too will benefit," he explained.

The senior functionary of the trade outfit said that the healthcare spending of Rs 35000 crore on vaccine would mean affordable vaccine for all.

Referring to the announcement of seven textile parks, he hopes they are put up where there is abundance of labour.

"In a state like Jharkhand where cheap labour is available this would mean lesser migration of labour, and cost effective production," he pointed out.

In response to Rs 18000 crore allocation for urban public transportation he said, " Every city of Jharkhand has very little public transportation. People have to rely on their own vehicles for commuting, which means increase in traffic density and paying huge fines for small errors. Jharkhand should get the best of this scheme. We had made a pre-budget demand that prices of industrial metals like steel, aluminium, copper etc should be checked, as they are the raw materials for many manufacturing industries."

CEO and managing director of Tata Steel T.V. Narendra said the finance minister presented a very progressive and growth oriented budget while retaining the government’s focussed approach on infrastructure-led economic revival.

"We welcome all the proposed reforms. However, the implementation of these reforms will be critical for the benefits to percolate across the economy.

The increased Capex in the infrastructure sector, including the healthcare infrastructure, will have a multiplier effect as it will create demand across product categories, including steel, " he said adding that overall, it can be called a reformist budget as it recognises and emphasises the participation of private players in all key areas, including the financial sector.

Commenting on the budget Prof. K. R. Shyam Sundar of HRM Area at XLRI said the Union budget is rather disappointing for the income-earners and the working people.

"The two labour market outcomes from the Covid-19 hit economy are, unemployment and underemployment and diminution in incomes. The Union Budget does not address either, " he said.

According to him, the economic survey did not acknowledge the problem of unemployment during the Covid-19 situation and skirted the whole issue.

"Rather it sought to create a feel good factor by relying on annual and quarterly data unrelated to Covid-19 period," he added.