Shri. Shanti Lal Jain, MD & CEO of Indian Bank
‘It’s a growth-oriented Budget on the backdrop of the pandemic. It is laudable that the focus is centred on Clean energy, Infrastructure, Agriculture, MSME, Education, Digital Economy, Hospitality, transportation & logistics and increasing capital expenditure for overall development of the economy. The government’s thrust has also been to relieve the supply-side bottlenecks.
The reforms namely the issuance of Digital Rupee, Green bonds, Extension of ECLGS up to Mar’23, increase the allocation in ECLGS and CGTMSE, announcement of 75 digital banking units and 1.5 lakh post offices to be connected to Core Banking for ease of financial transactions especially in the rural and semi-urban areas, are the hallmarks for a healthy financial sector that will accelerate the financing and augmenting credit flow to the economy.
Mostly unchanged direct tax regime has led to stability in the tax environment and gives us confidence that the economy is on the path of recovery. The implementation of the proposed steps and also the reforms will help in raising demand, create jobs and augment India’s economic growth’.
Mr. Raghvendra Nath, Managing Director – Ladderup Wealth Management Private Limited.
“The Budget has rightly focused on the broad agenda for Economic growth rather than unnecessarily tinkering with the structures. The fiscal deficit of 6.9 percent in the revised estimate for the current FY is a tad higher than what was expected but considering that the last twelve months have been extremely challenging for the economy, it is not a big negative. The projected fiscal deficit of 6.4 percent of GDP gives enough head room to the government to bolster Economic activity. The highlight of the budget was the announcement to increase the Capital Expenditure by the government to Rs 7.5 lakh crores a growth of 35% over the previous year. This indicates the government’s intent to act as the prime-driver to support Economic growth. The announcement of launching the digital rupee by RBI based on the blockchain technology is an extremely forward-looking move which should curb the speculations in the cryptocurrency space. On the taxation front, capping the surcharge on capital gains to 15 percent is a good move, especially for unlisted companies and Start-ups. The government is rightly promoting Production Linked Incentive Schemes (PLI) and continues to expand its scope as this scheme is now becoming the key driver of growth in the manufacturing sector. Overall, the budget has been extremely balanced and should support Economic growth in the next year.”
Mr. Niraj Kumar, Chief Investment Officer, Future Generali India Life Insurance
“Budget 2022 is a ‘Pro-Growth and Capex oriented Budget‘ yet again exemplifying the government’s unflinching resolve to nurture nascent growth and providing the coveted panacea for reeling sectors bruised due to Covid. While these pro-growth measures have entailed slightly higher than anticipated fiscal deficit and higher market borrowing, the government has clearly given more importance to growth at this juncture and has focussed on holistic infrastructure development as a key catalyst to growth. The budget has touched upon the key chords in terms of infrastructure spend, support for micro, MSME’s and hospitality sector in the form of credit guarantee schemes. However, it has indeed missed on the imperative changes on capital gains tax of FPI’s on bonds for bond inclusion in global indices and housing impetus and has under-promised on the divestment front and revenue estimates. Overall, the Budget intent and rhetoric is positive from a growth standpoint and will surely help in creating a multiplier impact to boost the overall economic growth trajectory.”
