Non plan expenditure should have been curtailed in Union budget'

Mangalore, March 17: Containing non-plan expenditure should have been one of the top priorities of Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in the Union budget, said Anantha Krishna, Chairman, Karnataka Bank.

He was speaking at an interactive programme 'Budget Talk' organized by The Hindu – Business Line in Mangalore on Saturday.

Mr. Krishna was of the opinion that the union government can find ways of curtailing expenditure. “They can do it by avoiding by-elections. Do we require a by-election every six months? Other than a genuine reason such as death of a member of the House, it should be seen that by-elections are not held. Also, is there a need for the number of escorts that MLAs and other people in authority have? Containing non-plan expenditure should have been considered by the Finance Minister”, he said.

He also said that successive governments have conveniently chosen to ignore than levying service tax is only according to the residuary clause of the constitution. “I really hope someone goes to the court and takes up this matter”, he said. He also said that tax free bonds are a 'misnomer' in our country.

On the Education Loan Guarantee Fund, he said that earlier it was difficult for the banks to track the borrowers and would hesitate in lending money to students as most of them would not repay it. But now, with this Fund, banks will be more eager to provide educational loans, Mr. Krishna said.

Responding to a question on the increase of fare in railway budget, Mr. Krishna said that it was not wrong to increase prices this year as such as no increase in rates had been made for the last 9 years.

Walter D'Souza, Chairman of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations, and Murali Mohan, Chairman of the Mangalore branch of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India also presented their analysis of the Union budget.