agra members of agras leather and firozabads glass industries said that they have been completely left out by finance minister arun jaitley who presented the union budget on thursday both small and big traders claimed that after being hit by demonetization and 18 gst they were looking for some relief from the central government in this years budget shoe and glass exporters said that barring some big corporates and farmers no one will benefit from the budget nothing has been done for small businesses they said president of agra shoe factors association gaagan das ramani told toi we were hoping to get some relief for the leather industry but that hasnt happened the association members were demanding an increase in the annual turnover audit limit from rs 15 crore to 2 crore besides a hike in investment exemption limit from rs 15 lakh to rs 2 lakh ramani said that they are now hoping that in the next gst council meeting the government will reduce the tax rate to 5 for footwear up to rs 1000 and 12 for footwear costing more nazir ahmad chairman of park export and former president of agra footwear manufacturer exporters chamber afmec also expressed similar views he said we were expecting gst refund to be simplified by saying that footwear industry will get all facilities will not solve our problems however puran davar president of agra footwear industry said that 30 income tax allowance on new employment will reduce the labour cost and enhance transparency in employment it will also enhance competiveness he said hanuman parsad garg chairperson of firozabad glass industrial syndicate said the union budget has brought no relief to the 10 lakh men and women who are directly or indirectly associated with glass and bangle industries here we were expecting at least a change in tax slab and easy access to loans after demonetization and gst the bangle industry had reported a 30 dip in overall business thats because the production cost increased and customers shifted to metal and plastic bangles which are far cheaper than glass bangles added garg he said that before gst they were paying 5 tax on raw material and a set of glass bangles would cost rs 3040 but now after 18 gst our production cost has risen to a whopping rs 100 for the same set of bangles the process doesnt end here these bangles are then decorated with various kinds of design work using artificial stones or with gold and silver metal work by the time the finished product comes to the retail market a set of dozen bangles costs rs 500rs 3000 he said if the government still does not understand our problem the glass industry will completely vanish in the next two decades there is no other state in the country that is engaged in glass products said garg rajkumar mittal chairperson of uttar pradesh glass manufacturer association said the government has in fact raised the cess on our industry