SME Times News Bureau | 02 Feb, 2018
India Inc on Thursday welcomed the Union Budget 2018-19 -- the
last full budget of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley before the 2019
general elections -- and praised the populist approach of focussing
on infrastructure and rural India.
However, what came as
disappointment for the industry was that the government did not
provide any relief in the income tax rates for 2018-19, along with
the imposition of long-term capital gains (LTCG) tax on equities
exceeding Rs 1 lakh at 10 per cent.
Here is what the
industry players have to say:
Sandeep Jajodia, President,
Assocham: "Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has placed a huge
emphasis on agriculture and rural India, allocating bulk of resources
to interior landscape, while helping the middle class, salaried
employees along with relief to senior citizens, measures which would
boost consumer demand and help revive economic growth."
Chanda
Kochhar, MD and CEO, ICICI Bank: "The wide-ranging measures
announced for various segments of the rural economy will boost income
levels and create gainful and sustainable employment. This, in turn,
will help increase consumption levels in the economy."
Anshuman
Magazine, Chairman, India and South East Asia, CBRE: "It is fair
to say that this year's budget is populist, focusing on providing
social security at the grass-roots level. The various announcements
and funding provided are towards promoting further growth of
small-scale industries as well as improving infrastructure,
particularly across rural India."
Neeru Ahuja,
Partner, Deloitte India: "On the taxation side, industry and
individuals are a little disappointed that no significant tax relief
has been provided in spite of increased compliance by taxpayers. Even
the standard deduction given is in lieu of two other deductions that
have been taken away."
K. Suresh, President,
Association of National Exchanges Members of India: "While the
tax (LTCG) will adversely affect serious investors funding the India
Growth story, it won't have any impact on short-term traders. Instead
of introducing LTCG in its current form, the government could have
done better by changing the tenure of this tax or given the
corresponding benefit by re-introducing 88E to take the deduction of
STT (Securities Transaction Tax)"
Joy Rankothge, Vice
President, Credit Strategy, Moody's Investors Service: "The
direction of the fiscal deficit announced in the Budget is in line
with our forecasts. The government continues to aim for a gradual
narrowing of the central government deficit to 3.5 per cent and 3.3
per cent in fiscal 2018 and 2019. We expect that the fiscal deficit
targets will be broadly achieved.
"This year's
divestments exceeding targets marks a break in a recent trend of
missing ambitious targets. Moving forward, increased divestments
could contribute to higher government revenues, greater efficiencies
within state-owned enterprises and help reduce the government's high
debt burden."
Manish Agarwal, Partner and
Leader-Infrastructure, PwC India: "Rs 50 lakh crore for
infrastructure is welcome as it reaffirms continued funding of
various initiatives in roads, railways and urban infrastructure.
Quantum leap in airport capacity is a key requirement to keep pace
with the rapid growth in aviation.
"Other
initiatives, outside the Budget, to revive private sector play in
these sectors, will complement and further the impact of the Budget
allocations."
Ashishkumar Chauhan, MD and CEO, BSE:
"Overall, this is a positive budget, with continued focus on
fiscal prudence, boosting the manufacturing sector, augmenting
MSME's, improving healthcare and skill development. Impetus to GIFT
City IFSC, Gold Exchanges, Disinvestment, ETF's for debt financing
and measures to reviving corporate bond markets augers well for the
capital markets."
Subho Ray, President, Internet and
Mobile Association of India: "For the second year in running,
the Union Budget recognises the importance of digital services and
gives a direction. It is now up to the relevant departments to act on
these directions and help realise the targets envisaged in Budget
2018."
Nilaya Varma, Partner and Head, Government and
Healthcare, KPMG in India: "The Union Budget 2018-19 focuses on
an integrated social reform agenda. Proposals on agriculture, gender,
rural infrastructure, when implemented, can help bridge the income
and gender divides. While people can have views on the long-term
implications of demonetisation, the 12.6 per cent increase in direct
tax collection along with 85 lakh new taxpayers is a good sign and
can help widen the direct tax base."
C.P. Gurnani,
Managing Director and CEO, Tech Mahindra: "Budget 2018 is
overall positive and 'common man-centric' with clear boost to rural,
health and insurance sectors. Specific to the information technology
industry, the steps taken to strengthen the presence of Fintech in
the MSME space and the plans for Smart Cities such as Smart City
Command Centres, Smart Roads and Solar Power shows that we are on our
way to achieving our goal of being a trillion-dollar digital economy
by 2025."
Ramesh Mamgain, Area Vice President, India
and Saarc Region, Commvault: "Doubling allocations towards
Digital India and enhancing the National Mission on Cyberspace
Security sets the tone to protect the data of India Inc and its
citizens. Unique IDs for companies will definitely go a long way in
contributing towards interest of the nation and increasing
transparency by corporates."
Gopal Srinivasan,
Chairman, Indian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association
(IVCA): "We welcome the decision towards parity on long-term
capital gains (LTCG) between listed and unlisted stocks. The 10 per
cent rate is a first step. We hope that eventually, risk taking, long
term capital invested in unlisted companies will ultimately be taxed
at the same rates as public market equity."
Sunil
Duggal, CEO, Dabur India: "Overall, the Union Budget 2017-18 is
on expected lines and is focused on improving the quality of life in
rural India. The Budgetary allocation for cultivation of specialised
medicinal and aromatic plants is another big positive and will help
promote India's ayurvedic heritage."
Arun Gupta, CEO
and Founder of MoMagic Technologies: "This budget has recognised
the importance of artificial intelligence, machine learning and
robotics as tools to further growth at national level. NITI Aayog's
plan to establish a national programme to direct efforts in
artificial intelligence is a welcome move which will push investments
and research in this space and will put India on the right path for
tech innovation."
Gautam Kalani, Director Corporate
Finance, Lotus Greens India: "There are indirect benefits
through major announcement in infrastructure but it lacks any direct
benefit for the real estate vertical. Once again, major
disappointment was the non-granting of the industry status to the
sector."
Harsh Pati Singhania, Director, JK
Organisation: "The Finance Minister has also duly addressed the
current job situation in the country. Besides extending the
fixed-term contract hiring to all sectors, the government will also
contribute 12 per cent of the wages of the new employees in the
Employees Provident Fund for all the sectors for the next three
years."
Vivek Nirmal, Joint Managing Director &
CEO, Prabhat Dairy: "We are glad at the government's proposal
for funds allocation which would help dairy farmers involved in
animal husbandry. This move is a boost to dairy farmers as it will
further enhance the yield from animals, quality milk and hence, more
income for farmers."
Anand Kandadai, Executive Vice
President, Cleartrip: "The Budget does seem to have some
promising measures and provisions for the Indian tourism and
hospitality industry that has emerged as one of the key drivers of
growth. It is heartening to see the government backing up the
ambitious UDAN plan with budgetary provisions for airports. What is
noteworthy is that the thought process has been comprehensive, and in
addition to connectivity there is a separate mention of expanding
airport capacity by five times, which is a pressing problem, for many
congested airports of the country.