Financial Commissioner chairs Pre Budget discussions with business associations

Jammu, Nov 25: Finance Commissioner (Additional Chief Secretary), Finance Department, Atal Dulloo, Friday held Pre Budget discussion with the representatives of 12 delegations of Trade, Commerce and Industries sectors from Jammu and around 12 delegations from Kashmir who joined online at Excise and Taxation Complex, Rail Head, here.
Commissioner, States Taxes Department, Showkat Aijaz Bhat, Director, Expenditure Division-I, Finance Department, P. K. Bhat, Excise Commissioner J&K, K. S. Chib, Director General Budget, Finance Department, M Y Itoo, Additional Commissioner, (Administration and Enforcement) States Taxes Department, Jammu, Nitu Gupta, and Additional Commissioner, (Administration and Enforcement) States Taxes Department, Kashmir, Manzoor Ahmed, were present in the meeting.
The delegations said that J&K has suffered economically in the past and business has incurred huge losses which have also led to unemployment especially since the outbreak of Covid-19. They demanded special economic packages and conducive atmosphere to give boost to the trade activities.
Meanwhile, the representatives also flagged the issues confronting them and others ailing the industrial units in the division related to finance, banks, electricity, roll back of hike in GST rates applicable from January 2022, Comprehensive economic package, release of Covid relief fund, preference to local manufacturers on Gem portal, NPAs, besides many other issues pertaining to their respective business.
Financial Commissioner interacted with all the delegations and assured them that their valuable suggestions would be taken into account and their genuine grievances would be resolved in a time bound manner. He also said that the memorandums submitted by various delegations will be examined on merits and genuine issues will be resolved.
The meeting was attended by Chamber of Commerce & Industries (CCI) led by Arun Gupta, Chamber of Traders Federation led by Neeraj Anand, Federation of Industries Jammu and Bari Brahmana Industries Association led by Lalit Mahajan, Association of Industries Samba led by Vijay Aggarwal and Arjun Malhotra, Laghu Udyog Bharti J&K led by Parveen Pargal, PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industries led by Rahul Sahal, Confederation of Indian Industries led by Ravnish Gulati, All J&K Transporters Association led by Vijay Singh Chib, Jammu Association of Tour Operators led by Amrik Singh and Travel Agents Association of Jammu led by Jatinder Koul.
Also the delegations from Kashmir comprising Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industries led by Shaikh Ashiq, Federation Chamber of Industries Kashmir led by Shahid Kamili, Batamaloo Traders Federation led by Abrar Khan, Kashmir Industrial Revival and Developments Forum led by Muzamil Baba, Kashmir Traders and Manufacturers Federations led by Hilal Ahmed, Sadiq Baqal & Bashir Kongposh, Kashmir Economic Forum led by Showkat Choudhary, All Kashmir Transporters Welfare Association led by Shabir Ahmad Matt, PHD Chamber led by Mushtaq Chaya, KHARA led by Fayaz Ahmad Bakshi, Travel Agents Association Kashmir led by Mohammad Akram participated online.