FIA Global –

“As budget 2019 is fast approaching, expectations of the industry have started to surface. In the last budget progressive policies have made the environment favorable for entrepreneurs, it is believed that this budget will lay down reforms to boost start up ecosystem in India. Also, seeing the current scenario of Banking in India, the Union Budget for 2020-2021 is likely to spell out roadmap for banking reforms.  FIA Global, a leading fintech company in digital payment & distribution systems for last mile financial inclusion in Indian and Nepal, would like the government to outline solutions to support fintech startups. With this budget, we expect that the government in the 2019 Union Budget will introduce measures to ease working capital blockages, with possible reduction in compliance burden.

Fintech companies expect this government to come up with measures to ease out the funding procedure and wants them to increase reach of already available government funds under the corpus such as Financial Inclusion Funds. We also believe that like in past, the government’s focus will be on deepening financial inclusion and formulate policies to strengthen the PMJDY program. Digitising the cash ecosystem, easing MSME lending especially allowing alternate lending models and focus on removing barriers to adoption of mutual funds and insurance will be key focus areas. We also hope with this budget a special focus on areas like artificial intelligence, Robotics etc.” – Seema Prem, CEO and Co-Founder, FIA Global.

 

Indian Metals & Ferro Alloys Limited (IMFA) –

“I look forward to a budget which supports ongoing economic recovery through measures to stimulate demand such as personal tax cuts for the lower / middle income groups and infrastructure spending. Further, in continuing with ‘Make in India’ theme, domestic value addition of minerals should be incentivised. Finally, it is also very important to ensure adequate credit flow to industry and transmission of rate cuts.” – Subhrakant Panda, Managing Director, IMFA

SBI General Insurance

The Indian insurance industry is at an inflection point. Having shown a considerable improvement in almost all areas over the last few years, the industry is all set to play a major role in bridging the vast “protection gap” of that exists in the country today. A workforce that is increasingly getting younger, higher life expectancy, greater awareness, better disposable income and savings will drive demand for almost all insurance products, especially motor and health insurance.

 

Amid this, the insurance sector – growing at a healthy pace – is also bustling with activity; higher growth rate, new product launches, newer distribution models, increase in capital infusion, and new players entering the market. The most notable achievement in recent times has been the launch of mass insurance plans like PMJSBY, PMSBY and PMFBY. Ayushmann Bharat has also helped raised awareness on the crucial need to cover the risks of working class and under privileged categories

 

Having paved the way for growth so far, we hope the Govt will utilize the forthcoming Union Budget to incentivize the end users for enhanced insurance awareness and penetration. These steps are critical as it falls within the purview of legislature and administration. First of all, the industry is hoping the Tax Rebate cap for medical insurance Under Sec. 80D to be increased further from Rs. 25,000 to Rs. 50,000/- for self, and from Rs 50,000 to Rs 75,000 for dependent parents. This will be a huge relief for those who are struggling to meet rising healthcare costs.

 

Second incentive will be the abolition or at least a substantial reduction in the GST on all Personal Lines of Products – from the existing 18% to 5%. Alternatively, the Govt may consider making all personal lines – Health, Accident and Home – GST exempted to make the insurance affordable and available to a larger populace. While the GST remains outside the purview of the Budget, the Govt may find some innovative steps to improve the penetration of the personal lines.

 

Third incentive is highly critical given the recent incidents of building collapses and fire. The Govt must bring in regulations making it insurance mandatory for housing societies (With just 1% home insurance penetration, the gap is alarming), AOG insurance by municipal corporations, townships, etc.

 

Considering the growing incidences of NatCat across the country, the government could consider a universal CAT cover which is funded by the government for the BPL category from the National Disaster Relief Funds while for all others, the premium could be built into their property taxes. This will seed ‘social insurances’ which will help achieve a reduction in uninsured losses, making available capital for the reconstruction and free the Govts from footing relief bills during natural disasters. This would help in minimizing the protection gap and increase the overall insurance penetration- Pushan Mahapatra, MD & CEO of SBI General Insurance

 

Dvara KGFS-

“The government measures to provide partial credit guarantee to PSBs for asset purchase having a minimum pool rating of BBB+ and doing away with the requirement of Debenture Redemption Reserve for issuing public NCDs has really benefited the NBFCs. The revised PSL guidelines by RBI enabling NBFCs to have access to PSL funds to lend to small business and agriculture activities has helped the NBFC sector to access more bank funds for growth and we hope that the facility continue till the liquidity stress is eased out. We are hoping that government comes up with more structural reforms to strengthen the bond market and continuous liquidity requirement of the NBFC sector.” Mr. Joby C O, CEO, Dvara KGFS.

Anmol Feeds Pvt Ltd

If the Government aims to double the income of farmers by 2022, then certain measures should be taken in the upcoming Union budget. Firstly, for the poultry sector, the charge for growing a chick, in case of contract farming should be increased from Rs 6 to Rs 12 per chick. This will help the farmers make some profit for their efforts. Farmers in the poultry and aquaculture sector should be given access to capital. Moreover, loans given to aqua farmers should be considered as secured loans as there is guaranteed returns in fish farming.The Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana which was announced in the last Union budget is yet to get approval from the cabinet. As the scheme aims to boost fish and aquatic products through appropriate policy, marketing and infrastructure support, it will be highly beneficial for the aqua farmers if the scheme gets implemented. The budget should take concrete steps to ensure the scheme gets cabinet approval at the earliest.

 

The newly formed fisheries ministry is already drafting an INR 45,000 crore budget for the next five years that would cover all aspects of fishing. Fish is the highest and easiest profit-making commodity and it is a sector that can provide employment. Returns are almost guaranteed in fish farming. At least, for the next five years this sector will not see any setback. Hence, an overarching policy that would promote marine fishery, aquaculture and mariculture will be favourable for the sector. The livestock sector has been incurring losses from the past year due to shortage of raw materials, especially maize and soya. The Government should allow import of Genetically Modified maize and soya for feed manufacturers which will help to bring down the price of the raw materials considerably and in order make feed more affordable to farmers. Also, it will be useful, if under the Export Promotion Capital Goods scheme, a waiver is given to shrimp/fish feed plants on retrospective basis against the import of equipment- Mr.  Amit Saraogi, Managing Director, Anmol Feeds Pvt Ltd