India Inc reacted to the announcements of stand-in Finance Minister Piyush Goyal’s budget presentation in the election year.
Rahul Jain, EVP, Edelweiss Wealth Management
Overall, it is a positive and balanced budget for all the sectors concerned. As expected, it is set to enhance the rural economy and cheer the middle class. The higher exemption for tax payers will increase the purchasing power of the individuals and the buying power of the growing section also suggests that it will become a driving force within the Indian economy, with creation of more investment, thereby providing a further boost to economic growth
Sahil Kapoor, Chief Market Strategist, VP- Edelweiss Investment Research–
“The budget is a typical pre-election budget. The income support for farmers may help in alleviating some distress and sops for income tax payers are also positive on margins. Cumulative impact could support growth. Govt borrowing and IEBR numbers paint a sober picture for the bond markets. In totality it’s a budget which reflect the current political economy.”
Mehernosh Tata, Head- SME, Edelweiss Retail Finance
“Happy to see concrete steps taken by the GOI in this budget to ease the process of doing business for the micro and small enterprises especially filing quarterly returns for entities less than Rs 5 crs. The interest subvention of 2% on loans upto Rs 1 Cr for GST registered MSME is also a good move and brings down the debt burden of these small entities. I hope that more entities register themselves for GST and avail of these benefits.“
Mr. Amit Saxena MD & CEO, Unimoni India
“This is a truly universal budget, which puts extra capital in the hands of people across every income bracket and social segment. Increase in tax rebate slabs, increase in standard deductions and other tax benefits put extra money in the hands of tax payers. The government also announced a pension scheme for workers in unorganized sector. There is also some relief for farmers with a 2% interest subvention.
Much of the segment that benefits from these measures tend to spend a large portion of their income. All this will culminate in extra demand for small business owners who in turn will need extra working capital. This is good news for retail NBFCs who lend to such small business owners. There is direct support for NBFCs as well with the 2% interest subvention for GST registered MSMEs.With this budget, the government has re-iterated its commitment to help ease access to credit as well as equitable and inclusive growth for an equal and progressive India.”
Ms. Saba Adil, Chief People and Operating Officer, Aegon Life Insurance
The mega tax relief is a noteworthy move as with this, the limit significantly increases from Rs. 2.5 lacs to Rs. 5 lacs. Also, no tax for people earning a gross income of up to Rs. 6.5 lakhs managed with the right kind of investments will give an impetus to life insurance industry as insurance is an important tax saving tool.
Mr. Rikhil Shah, Chief Financial Officer, SBI General Insurance
“From the very start we’ve seen this government focusing on insurance and social security, and even in the budget, the same was prevalent. From social security schemes like ‘Pradhan Mantri Shram-Yogi Maandhan’ to Ayushman Bharat, this budget is very positive towards ensuring a larger penetration of insurance in our country. The proposals in sectors like infra and MSME, both of which are seeing fast growth can be very well backed by insurance. The 10-dimensional approach envisioned by the government to grow India into a large economy is ambitious, it would be interesting to understand the future towards implementation. Overall the budget has been encouraging and we believe that its implementation could have a positive impact in the coming fiscal”
Shreeraj Deshpande, Principal Officer and Key Managerial Personnel, Future Generali India Insurance
“The Interim Budget was well planned and appropriately directed towards middle-class taxpayers of the nation. The small farmers will also get relief giving a boost to the agriculture sector. This budget would increase consumption by giving more disposable income for the middle class to spend. We can expect the overall economy to move ahead. The focus on Ayushman Bharat continues and overall a good budget.”