Amaravati, Feb 1 (PTI) Though there were expectations regarding changes to direct and indirect taxes, the interim budget for 2024-25 presented by the Union government on Thursday did not make any such announcements, said the Andhra Pradesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry Federation (AP Chambers).

The AP Chambers noted that the Centre gave a lot of importance to infrastructure development and allocated Rs 11 lakh crore for the development of roadways, railways, airports and ports, which will in turn generate immense employment and boost trade.

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"As 2024 is an election year, there were a lot of expectations on some changes to direct and indirect taxes. But contrary to expectations, the Union Government did not announce any changes," said AP Chambers' president P Bhaskar Rao and general secretary B Raja Sekhar in a joint statement.

Earmarking a corpus of Rs 1 lakh crore with 50-year interest-free loans in sunrise domains will scale up research and innovation, they said.

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The announcement of three major railway corridors covering ports, energy, mineral and cement corridor, and high traffic density corridor will reduce logistics costs.

Further, the AP Chambers said that the decision to offer training to MSMEs, Skill India Mission's initiative to train 1.4 crore individuals and reskilling of 54 lakh youth, along with the establishment of 3,000 new Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) will reduce the skill gap faced by the industry.

Moreover, they highlighted that Sitaraman's announcements to improve value addition in the agriculture sector by promoting private and public investments in post-harvest activities, along with other synergies, will present the potential of reducing wastage in the agricultural and food processing sectors.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)