The corporate and industries sectors embraced the new Union budget. They perceive it as a positive decision and booster to the rural economy as well as housing and infrastructure.
The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FICCI) president Pankaj Patel described the budget as “directionally correct and fiscally prudent”. He said it strengthen the governance fabric of the nation.
“I think the biggest takeaway from this budget is the reform introduced in the area of political funding. The demonetisation move of the government was an attack on the stock of black money and the measure announced in the budget on electoral funding will help attack the root cause of corruption in India. I give full marks to the government for this bold and pragmatic measure,” Patel said as per Indi Today.Foreign Investment Promotion Board as the institution was becoming increasingly irrelevant with as much as 90 percent of the foreign direct investment inflows coming through the automatic route.
Foreign Investment Promotion Board as an institution was becoming more and more irrelevant with almost 90% of the foreign direct investment inflows coming through the automatic route.
Here are a list of business sectors and their take on the Jaitley’s budget:
- Housing Sector: Rahul Nahar, founder of Xrbia Developers called it a dream budget for the housing sector. “It is a dream budget for affordable housing. Infrastructure status will transform the sector much like deregulation did to telecom in the 1990’s,” he said.
- Pharmaceutical sector: Bhavik Narsana, partner of Khaitan and Company is hopeful of changes. “The medical council had recently amended its guidelines to encourage doctors to prescribe generic names of medicines. In the budget speech, it has been indicated that changes may also be introduced to the Drugs and Cosmetic Rules along similar lines. This will be a significant change if introduced and pharma companies will have to alter their marketing strategies,” he said.
- Healthcare sector: Ritu Singh, co-founder of Ela, which provides medical solutions to women, hoped that the budget will bring a great boost to healthcare and digital economy. “Increased government focus on healthcare especially on women health which has been untouched for a long, will provide a strong foundation for startups,” she said.
- Food sector: Sanjana Desai, business development head of Mother’s Recipe, had mixed reaction. “The finance minister’s budget allocation for skill development in the rural areas will help job creation and will boost rural income and consumption. The focus on agri-based industries with incentives and credits extended to farmers would benefit us in terms of quality produce and increased the availability of supply,” she said.
“After demonetisation there was an absolute need to push consumer spending in the urban and semi-urban areas in the budget, which was not touched upon,” Desai added. - Education sector: Akshay Munjal, president of BML Munjal University, welcomed the proposals in the education sector. “The launch of Swayam platform, National Testing Agency and 100 skill centres across India will make up quality education accessible and available to the masses and will help empower a generation of future leaders. This will lead to an overall improvement of educational facilities across the country especially in tier two and tier three cities,” he said.
- Banking Union: Devidas Tuljapurkar, joint secretary of All India Bank Employees Association, called the budget a big disappointment. “Government has announced ambitious targets for agriculture credit, Rs 10 Lakh crore and Rs 1.40 lakh Crore for Mudra Loan. In the case of an agricultural loan, none of the banks is fulfilling target, for want of eligible borrowers. A large number of existing borrowers have already turned to NPA accounts. There is a need to take out farmers from debt trap before pursuing this ambitious target on which there is no initiative form the government,” he told India Today.
