TRIVANDRUM, 10 July 2004 — Kerala’s opposition and ruling coalition, both supporting the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in New Delhi, sank their differences in the state legislative assembly yesterday and joined hands to deplore the central budget proposal levying tax on Non-Resident Indians’ bank deposits.
Chief Minister A. K. Antony, also a senior leader of the Congress party that leads the UPA, assured the house that he would register the state’s protest with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P. Chidambaram.
The assembly also unanimously adopted a resolution demanding a cut in the airfares on the Gulf sector.
In his budget for the year 2004-05 presented on Thursday in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of Parliament, the finance minister proposed to withdraw tax exemptions on interest earned from a Non-Resident (External) account and the interest paid by banks to a non-resident or not-ordinary resident on deposits in foreign currency saying they have outlived their utility.
“We were shocked by the proposal. The NRI remittances are the lifeline of our economy,” Antony told the assembly.
