Nirmala Sitharaman says new AIDC will support development of farm infrastructure

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said Sunday that the new agriculture cess announced in the last week's union budget will provide the central government with additional funding to support farm infrastructure. Sitharaman, while speaking to the press, said the money collected via the new Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess (AIDC) will go towards developing agriculture infrastructure. She assured that the new AIDC will not add additional burden on consumers in her Feb 1 budgte speech.

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Sitharaman said that with reduced customs duty, the agriculture cess has been brought to collect additional funding for the development of farm infrastructure. The minister added that since states are responsible for the development of agriculture infrastructure, the money collected via AIDC will go back to them for agriculture infrastructure development activities. Sitharaman unveiled the union budget for the financial year 2021-22, in which the government has announced 100% agriculture cess on alcoholic beverages. 

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"There is an immediate need to improve agricultural infrastructure so that we produce more, while also conserving and processing agricultural output efficiently. This will ensure enhanced remuneration for our farmers. To earmark resources for this purpose, I propose an Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess (AIDC) on a small number of items. However, while applying this cess, we have taken care not to put additional burden on consumers on most items," Sitharaman had said in her budget speech on February 1. 

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Union Budget 2021-22

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday presented the first-ever paperless budget in a post-COVID India. The Budget was based on six pillars - health and well-being, physical and financial capital and infrastructure, inclusive development for aspirational India, reinvigorating human capital, innovation, and R&D, minimum government, maximum governance. The budget was being closely watched by experts due to the ongoing farm protests in the country against three farm laws introduced by the government last year. (With inputs from ANI, Image Credit: PTI)

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