APAI Welcomes Union Budget-2017
New Delhi : Welcoming the Union Budget for 2017-18, Mr D Sudhakara Reddy, Founder & National President, Air Passengers Association of India (APAI) said the Finance Minister had done a fine balancing act with the Union Budget. “He should be complimented for presenting a budget, which among other things, has laid emphasis on infrastructure development including aviation sector,” he observed.
The budget proposal to enhance infrastructure outlay to the record level of 3.96 lakh crore is commendable and will give a critical push to the sector. He hoped that a sizeable chunk of this allocation should go to aviation sector. Specifically referring to some of the proposals which will have direct or indirect bearing on the civil aviation sector, Mr Reddy said focus on airports in tier-II cities, coastal economic zones, introduction of five special tourism zones, emphasis on last mile connectivity etc will augers well. However, the stress should be on implementing these projects on time.
Adoption of public private partnership model, emphasis on cleanliness will go a long way in meeting the aspirations of the people and in unbundling development stimuli. Particularly, the proposal to amend Airports Authority of India (AAI) Act will pave the way for more meaningful public private partnership in the civil aviation sector. This is critically important since some of the airport projects are stuck on account of procedural delays, lack of interest shown by the bidding partners etc., Coupled with these, an early roll out of the regional connectivity scheme is critically important. This initiative will provide for strong hub and spoke model for ferrying air passengers to different economic and tourist zones across the country.
APAI President also welcomed the proposal to give tax relief to middle class who have been bearing the brunt on account of steady increase in cost of living. “I feel that cut in income tax rates can lead to higher air passenger traffic in the country since people will be left with more disposable income to spend on comforts like air travel. However, he felt that the government should have reduced the corporate tax rates since India has one of the highest rates.