American corporate sector has hailed the maiden Budget of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, noting that it is not only inclusive but also attractive for foreign investments.

President of US India Strategic and Partnership Forum (USISPF) Mukesh Aghi said the budget opens up the Indian market and encourages US companies to invest more, at the same time it ensures prosperity and growth for the lower sections. He said the budget is trying to make positive structural changes.

US India Business Council president Nisha Desai Biswal said budget delivers a forward-looking and reform-minded approach for the Modi government’s second term.

She said, Goals like transforming India into a global space and aviation hub also demonstrate the longer-term thinking of the new government.

US-India Chamber of Commerce President Karun Rishi said
the mission to provide housing to all by 2022 has the potential not just for growth in downstream sectors such as cement and steel but also for overall job creation in these vital industries.

He said the budget strikes a reasonable balance between addressing the objective of inclusivity and laying the path for Prime Minister Modi’s vision of a 5 trillion dollar economy by focusing on infrastructure spending incentivising affordable housing and providing growth capital for PSU banks.

Rishi said, setting up the National Research Foundation (NRF) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and co-chaired by Principal Scientific Advisor K Vijay Raghavan to fund, coordinate and promote research in India will be a game changer.

Singapore Bank said the Budget marks a sense of continuity but also carries winds of change.

In her reaction to Union budget, Radhika Rao, Economist at DBS Group Research says, the broader fiscal consolidation path was adhered to along with a continuation of emphasis on improving infrastructure and welfare construct.

About monetary policy, she said, as the government maintains fiscal restraint, this reinforces the view that another 50 basis points cuts are likely in rest of the current fiscal.