Image Source : INDIA TV Representational image.
Budget 2022: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday announced Union Budget 2022-23 and laid out the country’s vision for the next several years. Many experts said that it was a growth-driven, futuristic budget of the Modi government that is aimed at infrastructure growth. Introduction of digital currency, investments in the construction of roads, railways, airports, ports, 400 new Vande Bharat trains, rural housing, and no change in income-tax slabs were among key announcements. Let’s take a look at what different businesses have to say on the Modi government’s latest budget.
Avneesh Kumar Agarwal Founder & CEO, SpeckyFox
“In my view, the best part of today’s budget is that it is not focused on the elections that are due to happen in the five states. This budget is a balanced one focussed on long-term growth for the country’s economy and infrastructure. In the whole of the speech, it was evident that our Finance Minister was highlighting on “Make in India” regime, sectors like agriculture, digitization, eCommerce, defence. Huge capital expenditure in these sectors is proof of the government’s thought process. The decision to provide 60 lakh jobs under the Make in India is a welcome move. Reserving Rs 2.7 lakh crores under MSP for the farmers will boost the agriculture sector. The government has also reserved 65% of the stake in defence manufacturing for our national manufacturing companies, rather on imports, helping them to create more job avenues and playing a vital role in our defence sector. Increasing the budget to Rs 1500 crores for road infrastructure and other digital as well as telecom channels for the eastern states will help the border states to develop at a fast pace. The plan to bring the bidding process in 5G tenders this year will boost this further. Bringing eBanking, ePassport, connecting post offices with the banks and all these similar measures will bring a lot of digitization. As far as cryptocurrencies are concerned and as expected, the government is seen strict in levying 30% flat tax on the income. RBI will bring its own digital currency this year and clearly gives the signal that the government is looking to regulate its use. Though it was not clear how they are going to levy this 30% tax on gains that people earned in the past years. But this decision also shows positively that the government recognizes crypto as an asset. As far as GST is concerned, it is proving as one of the best revolutions that this country has brought. This year, the GST collections are the maximum. Maybe the government could have brought some sops and benefits for small scale industries and MSMEs in its rate and flexibilities but I am sure this will be taken care of in future budgets.Now coming to tax slabs for the common man, there is no change seen. This could have been better if the tax rates were reduced for the first 10L as most of the people in this bracket have lost their jobs or have got lower earnings during the pandemic. But overall, it is a balanced budget aiming to achieve long term benefits for the economy and the country.”
Krishnan Ramachandran, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, Niva Bupa Health Insurance
“It is encouraging to see the Government’s focus on healthcare, particularly on mental health and for people with disabilities. The launch and adoption of tele-mental health program is a pragmatic step as mental health will no longer be seen as a taboo and people can come out in the open to seek professional guidance and support, eventually leading to decrease in depression cases in the country. The provision of tax reliefs to people with disabilities is yet another boost as it will help the affected people and their parents or guardians to live a stress-free life with less fear of financial burden.
Besides, rolling out the National Digital Health Ecosystem can transform the healthcare scenario in the country as it will help to provide universal access from a unified platform. This will help streamline the healthcare process and enable people to secure tertiary and secondary care from a single point interface. These steps will also provide job creation opportunities in the healthcare market and help India march towards the ambition of a 5-trillion economy since health care ultimately impacts the capacity and the ability of any country to become a fast-developing economy.
Anshuman Panwar, Co-Founder, Creditas Solutions
Union Budget 2022-23 has laid focus on promoting fintech and technology-based developments which will play a major role in boosting the digital economy. The introduction of 75 digital banking systems in 75 districts by scheduled commercial banks will empower the population digitally in a consumer-friendly manner, supporting inter-operability and financial inclusion. This will enable many consumers to experience digital banking for the first time at their convenience. When customers are empowered by digital experiences specific to their needs, the repayment process also becomes seamless and pain-free.
Srividya Kannan Founder, Director-Avaali Solutions Pvt Ltd.
The second paperless budget at a time of India’s recovery from the pandemic is neither too populist nor a big bang. The budget focuses on infrastructure spending, thrust on investments, and Capex outlay. This is great because it could further fuel demand. The additional infusion of funds to CGTMSE and extension of ECLGS to March 2023 will be helpful for the MSME segment. It is encouraging to see the announcement on central bank digital currency using blockchain as it will further reduce dependency on cash and could potentially give significant impetus to the digital payments ecosystem. The announcements concerning the focus on digital banking are also encouraging. The tax topic has seen hardly any tinkering, other than the corporate surcharge reduction to 7%. While the devil is in the details, based on the announcement today, it appears overall a stable budget that is likely to give further impetus to demand.”
Saurav Kumar, Founder and CEO, Euler Motors
Proud as an Indian and energised by the forward-looking mood of the budget. The Government continues to also keep fundamentals in mind for collective progress for India to set examples for the world. The focus on clean energy is a critical measure that will benefit both citizens as well as the planet.
The budget 2022 is pragmatic that brings thrust on clean technology, encourage a shift in mobility, and achieve decarbonization. These steps will help accelerate growth of EVs across segments.
An EV standardization framework and the formulation of new interoperability standards will allow a faster market penetration for EVs. Further, the proposition towards special mobility zones with a zero fossil fuel policy is a potent initiative towards EV adoption in addition to expansion of charging infrastructure and innovative business models for battery and energy as service in India.
Many organized players and e-commerce companies have realized the benefits of the electrification in last-mile connectivity. With encouragement from the Government, we expect greater demand for e-vehicles in the light commercial space.
The continued impetus to boost start-up sector growth, with tax extension reforms is also encouraging and welcome, and will aid growth of small businesses, fostering innovation and employment.
Overall, we believe the Government’s thrust towards clean-tech and e-mobility in this year’s budget are defining steps, the results of which will be crucial in realising India’s EV vision for 2030.
Dayapatra Nevatia, COO and President at Infogain
As expected, thanks to digital tech’s incredible support in helping India Inc. brave the pandemic, this year’s budget takes a ‘digital first’ stance. A significant focus on new initiatives and progressive policy interventions, such as opening defence R&D, promoting drone start-ups, digital university, giving datacentres infra status will propel further adoption of technology across industries.
The budget highlights the Governments’ focus on digital inclusion, quite evident with the introduction of the Digital Rupee. This progressive move will give a big boost to India’s digital economy. This also reaffirms our vision and approach to leverage emerging technologies like blockchain to build future-ready solutions.
I believe digital literacy will be the key to realizing India’s 5 trillion-dollar economy dream. To create a digital ecosystem for skilling and focus on digital inclusion through 5G and investment in technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and infrastructure, the government will continue strengthening the development of entrepreneurship, productivity, and quality of IT talent in the country, thereby scaling the adoption of new-age technologies across industries.
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