Chennai: Cement manufacturers representing southern India on Tuesday said the steps announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the budget to boost the realty sector would give a fillip to cement demand in the country.

The South India Cement Manufacturers Association (SICMA) said the budget also addressed the various requests made by the cement producers from the South.

Terming the budget as ‘historic’, the association said, for the first time, infrastructure spending going deep into Southern parts of the country was ‘extremely welcome’.

SICMA said it already made representations to the Commerce Ministry that the road and infrastructure projects need special variety of cement.

Meanwhile, Omkar Rai, Director General, Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), has welcomed the Union Budget 2021.

He said, “A series of policy initiatives such as broadening the definition of startups, providing income exemptions and setting up ‘Fund of Funds’ has had a cascading effect in not only providing an impetus to startups but also generating employment and encouraging innovation”.

There are many announcements in the budget that are going to have a significant impact in the future. The product linked incentives and National Research Foundation, for which 1.97 lakh crore and 50k crore have been announced respectively, are going to fuel indigenous production by promoting ‘Make in India’ and ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ schemes.