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Congratulating and thanking the Finance Minister for yet another forward-looking Union Budget, Dimitrov Krishnan, President ICEMA and Managing Director, Volvo CE India, said, 鈥淭he finance minister has delivered an investment oriented budget that will drive infrastructure development with over 35% increase in capex outlay covering highway expansion, five river linking projects, last mile delivery of drinking water under Nal se Jal scheme, investment in railways, digital healthcare, affordable housing scheme, infrastructure development in Northeast and many other new initiatives.鈥�

鈥淭he PM Gati Shakti Master plan for expressways for faster movement of goods and people especially the announcement of 25000 Kms of highway construction in 2022-23 will help ensure sustained demand for Construction Equipment industry鈥�, he further added. In the ICEMA Vision Plan 2030, sustained demand creation has been identified as one of the three pillars of growth for the CE industry which can help the sector increase its market size by three times to touch $25 billion by 2030.

鈥淭he CE industry looks forward to speedy implementation of the announced measures that will then regenerate strong demand for construction equipment, which has been witnessing a slackening pace in the current fiscal year鈥�, said Krishnan.

The industry also welcomed the government鈥檚 efforts to mitigate the financial challenges of the MSME sector which has been amongst the worst hit from the ongoing  pandemic. "The pandemic induced slowdown has posed severe liquidity challenges for the MSMEs which are an important stakeholder of the CE industry. The extension of the ECLGS scheme till March 2023, revamping of Credit Guarantee Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) and rolling out of Raising and Accelerating MSME Performance (RAMP) programme will provide the much-needed support to this critical sector鈥�, added Krishnan.

While thanking the Government for addressing some of the key concerns of the CE industry in the budget, Dimitrov Krishnan highlighted the need to provide a robust ecosystem to the CE sector, enabling it to support the government鈥檚 ambitious infrastructure development plans. Towards this, he reiterated the request for granting priority sector status to the CE sector or treating it at par with the infrastructure sector to help attract long term funds, and also a dedicated PLI scheme which will help attract further investments, promote indigenisation, enhance production and boost exports. The industry also hopes that the State development fund of Rs one lakh crore would be utilised also for rural roads and infrastructure development. "We look forward to the Government鈥檚 support to our efforts of shaping India鈥檚 tomorrow and making India a global manufacturing and export hub for construction equipment."