Unmentioned but not unnoticed: Here’s how Union Budget 2024 benefits Tamil Nadu

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman did not have anything specifically for Tamil Nadu, but the state is likely to benefit from some of the measures announced in the Budget. Here are five of them.

AGRICULTURE
Farmers in Tamil Nadu too can reap the benefits of the Budget’s push to enhance productivity and resilience in the agriculture sector. For example, the launch of 109 new high-yielding and climate-resilient varieties of 32 field and horticulture crops, missions for pulses and oilseeds, and promotion of natural farming.Setting up digital public infrastructure f o r agriculture helps too. S Chandramohan, director and group president, finance & investment, TAFE said, “The digitisation of agri records will help farmers; proper land records will also help them get loans.”
MSMES
The range of measures for MSMEs will help Tamil Nadu, which is home for the second largest number of such units in the country. The employment-linked incentive scheme
for hiring freshers will encourage MSMEs to recruit young graduates, said T T Keshav, co-convenor, CII Tamil Nadu CEO forum. “In Tamil Nadu, MSMEs offer the first job for most freshers hailing from smaller towns. With MSMEs facing shortage of employees and financial constraints, this announcement will be a booster to absorb more new graduates,” he added.
MARINE PRODUCTS EXPORTS
Financial support for setting up a network of nucleus breeding centres for shrimp broodstock and reduction in basic customs duty on certain broodstock, polychaete worms, shrimp and fish feed to 5% will help coastal states such as Tamil Nadu. Seafood Exporters Association of India president Pawan Kumar G said, “We welcome the announcement because the govt has started focusing and recognised it is an important sector. Implementation must be expedited.” In 2023-24, Tamil Nadu exported marine products worth $484 million.
ELECTRONICS MANUFACTURING
The budget has slashed basic custom duty (BCD) for mobile phones, chargers and printed circuit board assembly of mobile phones. It also removed BCD for specified goods used for manufacturing connectors and resistors and duty on critical minerals including copper, lithium and silicon. This is expected to increase localisation of the electronics supply chain.
Tamil Nadu has a major share in the country’s $14 billion Apple iPhones manufacturing. Dr Veerapan, chairman of Indian electronics and semiconductor association (IESA), said, “Funding for product development and creation of the electronics ecosystem will play a crucial role in building the component ecosystem.”
TEXTILES AND LEATHER
BCD for spandex yarn raw material has been cut from 7.5% to 5%. Tanned leather, wet white leather, crust leather and finished leather included under the duty-free scheme for leather product exporters. Export duty on wet blue and crust leather also cut.
“This step will help increase leather and footwear exports to $13.7 billion by 2030 from $4.70 billion at present,” said Rajendra Kumar Jalan, chairman of council for leather exports (CLE). Textile exporters say reduction of customs duty and credit guarantee for purchase of machinery for MSMEs will help the textile industry.
K Venkatachalam, chief advisor of Tamil Nadu Spinning Mills Association, said one has to wait and see whether some of these benefits will be passed on to the customers. “Some long-pending demands for removal of import duty on cotton, withdrawal of quality control orders on viscose and polyester fibres were not met.”