Enhancing Human Capital, Innovation And R&D Rightly Identifies The Core Areas For Sustained Growth

Union Budget FY21-22 Reactions from Mr. Anil Chaudhry, CEO- Schneider Electric India Pvt Ltd. & Zone President, Greater India.

With its extensive focus on infrastructure and healthcare, the Budget FY21-22 clearly focuses on reviving the economy. The key pillars such as health and wellbeing, capital and infrastructure, inclusive development, enhancing human capital, innovation and R&D and minimum government and maximum governance rightly identifies the core areas for sustained growth and provides considerable thrust towards an Atmanirbhar Bharat. The emphasis on further expanding the National Infrastructure Pipeline by creating dedicated financial institution, monetizing operating assets, and raising the share of capital expenditure in central and state budgets is commendable.

The proposal to offer more choice to consumers by introducing competition in the power distribution space by kick-starting Rs 3 lakh crore reforms-based result-linked power distribution sector scheme for state power distribution companies is likely to address the long hanging Transmission & Distribution (T&D) issues and give relief to the power producers, thereby ensuring health for the entire value chain. It is also good to see the government government’s focus towards ensuring smart metering, which will help cut the commercial losses in power distribution.

Further, the proposal to double the MSME allocation with Rs 15,700 crore for medium and small enterprises in FY22 will give the necessary push to the sector.

Considering that India is well poised to play an important role in the global supply chain, the PLI scheme in 13 sectors to create manufacturing global champions for an Atmanirbhar Bharat is expected to play a crucial role. This will encourage growth in these sectors, apart from creating ample employment opportunities for the youth. Overall a growth oriented budget to support the Indian economy to bounce back in the post COVID world.

Setting Up Of Higher Education Commission Will Add Structural Reform And Streamline Higher Education Scenario

 

Budget 2021 reaction - Prof Mahadeo Jaiswal, Director, IIM Sambalpur

“Since the last Budget, the size of India’s economy has reduced from Rs 2.24 lakh crore nominal GDP to Rs 1.94 lakh crore. There has been lower-than-budgeted revenue growth and higher expenditure to tackle the negative impact of the pandemic. The very fact that Hon’ble Finance Minister delivered her budget speech with the help of a 'Made in India' tab to deliver India’s first paperless Budget address, accentuates the move from traditional to modern, yet keeping the essence alive. Overall Budget 2021 has been constructive considering the economy is in the revival mode. After a year of economic contraction, the Union Budget rightly focused on capital expenditure which was much needed. It needed to be more investment oriented rather than an income generating one. Laying emphasis on development of infrastructure across the country was essential to contribute to the growth and create employment. Boosting the healthcare infrastructure is a welcome move as there was a yawning gap and a 130% jump in provision for the sector bears testimony to the fact that health of the nation is a priority. Privatisation of the public sector banks will increase efficiency in the banking sector and help in funds reducing NPAs. The MSME sector also required heightened allocations as this sector can help India reach its full potential. I am glad Hon’ble Finance Minister doubled the allocation to this sector. Tax holidays and incentives given to start-ups will also bolster progress for the country and reinvigorate vocal for local. Focus on the manufacturing, automobile sector was much needed because India’s core strength lies in these sectors. Automobile sector has been reeling under low demand and INR 5.54 trillion infusion in developing infrastructure around the country, which is expected to boost the demand for heavy and medium commercial vehicles is a welcome move. Overall Budget 2021-22 has the much needed financial impetus to augment India in becoming a $5 Trillion-dollar economy. From Education standpoint, as was predicted, this Budget has also stressed upon the implementation of NEP 2020 with the setting up of new educational institutions across the country, in the remote corners and focusing on strengthening the quality of education in existing schools. The setting up of the Higher Education Commission will also add a structural reform and streamline the higher education scenario of the country. Allocation of funds towards upskilling of the youth was an imperative. As Hon’ble Finance Minister rightly mentioned, channelization of the skill of our youth is of utmost importance which can fillip our economic development. The learning that we received from the pandemic has also been properly implemented by earmarking funds to support the research ecosystem of our country. This can create more job opportunities and reduce dependency on other countries. Setting up of the National Digital Educational Architecture (NDEAR) is a positive step. However, some more stress had to put on the development of digital infrastructure of the country for the implementation of NEP 2020 and mitigating the challenges institutions are facing in remote learning.  A substantial step towards lessening the digital gap that exists would have helped make the education sector become future ready.” -  Prof Mahadeo Jaiswal, Director, IIM Sambalpur

Budget Clearly Prioritises Job Creation, Rural Development With Allocations For Various Developmental Schemes

Union budget 2021 reactions from Supria Dhanda, Vice President and Country Manager for India

Budget 2021 announcement from Supria Dhanda, Vice President and Country Manager for India, Western Digital says, "We congratulate the Government’s initiative in amplifying Atmanirbhar Bharat. Wonderfully captured by our Finance Minister, Atmanirbhar Bharat is an expression of 130 crores Indians who have full confidence in their capabilities and skills. Digitisation, Skill Development and Job Creation are necessary to lead India towards high growth and be self-reliant. With rapid digitisation across industries over the last year, it is an opportune time to enhance our spending in training imparting digital skills to the youth. The budget clearly prioritises job creation and rural development with generous allocations for various developmental schemes. The focus around National Apprenticeship Training Scheme (NATS) with an allocation of INR 3,000 crores will empower a new wave of talent transformation and adequate employability opportunities for the Indian youth."

The Investment Outlay Towards Digital Payments Is A Welcome Step: Accenture India

Accenture Union Budget Reaction | Digital payments | 

Sonali Kulkarni, Lead – Financial Services, Accenture in India says, "Given below is a quote from Sonali Kulkarni, Lead – Financial Services, Accenture in India. At Accenture, Sonali leads the Financial Services business in India, with expertise in driving digital transformation and change projects to deliver business value and market impact for her clients. Basis the announcement of investment in Digital payments in the union budget today, please find below her thoughts:  

“The investment outlay towards digital payments is a welcome inclusion in the Union Budget. As per a recent Accenture research report, in India, 66.6 billion transactions worth USD 270.7 billion are expected to shift from cash to cards and digital payments by 2023. This shift is expected to intensify the existing competition in the Indian payments space and ultimately, enhance consumer experience and convenience. However, the exact nature of the scheme of the outlay and its implementation will be instrumental in its success.

We are seeing some notable innovation coming out of India’s fintech ecosystem – be it for digital payments, credit and risk management, underwriting or security. The initiative  to set up a fintech hub in Gujarat International Finance Tech-City (GIFT) will spur investment and innovation designed to help financial institutions not just meet compliance requirements but also build more-personalized customer products and services.

The move to set up a new asset reconstruction company and an asset management company to take care of stressed assets of banks will facilitate more options for banks to manage their NPAs as the true impact of the pandemic on NPAs is still unclear, and is expected to be fully known only by Q1 FY2022. The disinvestment and privatization related announcements related to the banking and insurance sectors will enable much needed capital infusion, and thereby, unlock new growth opportunities in FY 22.”

FADA Is Happy With The Much Awaited Scrappage Policy, Though Voluntary To Phase Out Old Vehicles

Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) President Mr. Vinkesh Gulati on post budget reaction, “FADA is happy to note that the Hon’ble Finance Minister has finally announced the much awaited Scrappage Policy, though voluntary to phase out old vehicles. If we take 1990 as base year, there are approximately 37L CVs and 52L PVs eligible for voluntarily scrappage. As an estimate, 10% of CV and 5% of PV may still be plying on road. We still need to see the fine prints to access the kind of incentives which will be on offer and thus have a +ve effect on retail.

The 6,575 km Highway works proposed in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal and Assam and another 19,500 km work for Bharat Mala project will definitely add fillip to much needed revival of Commercial Vehicles especially M&HCV segment.

Government’s reduction of customs duty on steel products to 7.5% will benefit Auto OEMs. We hence expect the benefit to trickle down to end customers thus helping in boosting of demand.

While we expected disposable income for individuals to increase with enhancement of IT slabs and depreciation benefit on vehicles for individuals, the same has not been taken into consideration.”

Greater Impetus To India’s Manufacturing Sector Is Indeed A Welcome Move: Dr. Keshab Panda

Union Budget 2021reactions from  Dr. Keshab Panda, CEO & MD, L&T Technology Services 

 Dr. Keshab Panda, CEO & MD, L&T Technology Services on the union Budget 2021 says, "The move to provide greater impetus to India’s manufacturing sector with outlay of almost Rs 2 trillion over the next five years is indeed a welcome move. We are hopeful, this will pave the way for enhanced adoption of digital engineering capabilities by domestic players, especially in the Industry 4.0 segment, to give them a global edge. With patents and innovations being at the core of our proposition as a pure-play engineering services provider, it was encouraging to know that Innovation and R&D was classified under the six pillars of focus for this year’s union budget. Unlike last year where explicit mention to initiatives such as National Mission on Quantum Computing and Technology were announced, one would have hoped that this year’s budget would have made provision for further focus."

Privatization Of PSBs Will Make Banking Sector More Agile And Oriented Towards Digital Growth

Lalit Mehta, Co-founder & CEO of Decimal Technologies from a fintech startup perspective:

“The budget presented seems to tick most boxes that India needs today post COVID. The promise on CAPEX should help in generating employment and also solve for long-term growth objectives. The six pillar focus will set the foundation for growth in coming years and make us better prepared for difficult situations like the COVID.

Some of the items that would see effect faster than others would be the FDI cap increase for Insurance, which will surely lead to a better capitalized Insurance sector and better reach of Insurance to the masses. Privatization of PSBs is a welcome move. It should help in make the banking sector more agile and oriented towards digital growth. This should lead to a few acquisitions of PSBs by private lenders. Hopefully, this will increase reach of the private sector to rural markets and will enable these markets with new products and a digital ecosystem. The fintech hub in the GIFT city is a great step towards enabling the fintech industry and shows the government's recognition of FinTech as a significant play in the financial sector. This should set the road for creation of the required regulations and frameworks for FinTech to work with conventional lenders and banks.

Fiscal deficit and achievement of divestment targets is something that needs to be under close watch. Any slippage on any of these can put a spanner in some other initiatives. Overall a positive budget that tries to balance between long term and immediate needs.”

Ashraf Rizvi, Founder & CEO of Digital Swiss Gold & Gilded, from a fintech, wealthtech and personal finance perspective:

“The Sensex witnessing a rise of over 4.5% signals the positive sentiment towards the Union Budget 2021. The gold and silver market received good news with a rationalization of import tariffs. The reduction in import duty on gold and other precious metals from 12.5 percent to 10 percent, will make jewelry cheaper in the domestic market for the buyer, as India continues to be the second-largest buyer of gold in the world. Moreover, the announcement of SEBI as the regulator for gold exchanges in India, is also a welcome move as it hints at deeper regulation of digital transactions of the yellow metal, which is a critical to earn consumer trust. Overall, a very positive shot in the arm for the Indian economy that looks to help India and its citizens recover in 2021 after a very difficult 2020. We at Digital Swiss Gold and Gilded will continue to ensure savings to our customers, so that more investors consider gold as a critical asset in their investment portfolio.”