Zee Media Bureau
New Delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday presented the Union Budget 2016-17, his third after taking over the helm of the Finance Ministry under the BJP-led NDA government.
The budget met with mix reactions from various sectors.
Here is what India Inc have to say about the Budget 2016:
Krish Iyer, President and CEO, Walmart India
"The Union Budget continues to rightly focus on rural and infrastructure sector. The planned investment in these two critical sectors will not only create jobs but also give impetus to demand generation and economic growth."
Harshvardhan Neotia, FICCI President
"Corporate tax rate reduction was something that we were looking at ... A clearer roadmap on how it is going forward... Going forward, we expect some clarity on how the exemptions will be eased out."
Sumit Mazumder, President, CII
"There was a lot of debate when Finance Minister Arun Jaitley talked about reducing it (corporate tax) to 25 percent. I don't believe anything has been done on that but he has got a four-year window for it.”
Naushad Forbes, President Designate, CII
"He (Jaitley) has not reduced corporate tax at all this year except for very small firms."
Rahul Bajaj, Chairman, Bajaj Auto Limited
"Overall, I would say (the Budget is) pretty good."
Ashtosh Rana, Head-FX, HDFC Bank, Mumbai
"Really excellent budget. The adherence to fiscal discipline, with emphasis on growth and development, increasing infrastructure spending... are key elements of this year`s budget."
Siddhartha Sanyal, India Economist, Barclays, Mumbai
"Sticking to the fiscal deficit target for the moment as compared to expectations of missing the target is a big positive. The support to the rural economy and tax benefits to lower segment of income people will help in supporting consumption growth. Adhering to the 3.5 percent fiscal deficit target will be seen as a clear positive by RBI. We expect RBI to cut rates by further 50 basis points by mid-June."
RK GUPTA, Executive Director, Bank of Maharashtra, New Delhi
"He has given a statement that they will be providing all sort of additional support wherever we require, that`s a great news. Of course we were expecting he will quote some number but I think this is a better statement."
"Secondly, the other sectors in the economy like agriculture, rural economy or SME sector - adequate attention and provision has been made. If those sectors grow definitely banking will also benefit."
Isaac George, CFO, GVK Group, Hyderabad
"It was a lacklustre budget for the infrastructure sector, except that roads got a fairly decent allocation. But there wasn`t much else on infrastructure."
"Irrigation projects also got quite a boost ... because he is adding another 28 million hectares of land that can be irrigated."
"I believe roads and agriculture got the best deal."
R.C. Bhargava, Chairman, Maruti Suzuki
"The vehicle manufacturers are being directed to get to Euro 6 by 2020 and vehicles contribute so little to pollution. Main pollutant in Delhi for example is PM 2.5, which is dust. Cars only contribute 2 percent to that according to IIT Kanpur study. So why only cars are being targeted for pollution, especially when they are being pushed to incur the higher cost for Euro 6 is something which is difficult to understand and accept as being fair and reasonable."
Anand Mahindra, Chairman, Mahindra Group
"In summary, despite our disappointment on the tax on cars, I see no reason for the mayhem in the market."
"The call for a shift to investment in general infrastructure such as highways has also been answered. And fiscal targets have been maintained."
Rajeev Talwar, CO-CEO, DLF
"He`s given a relief to affordable housing and that`s a big thing because he`s made that affordable housing almost an infrastructure status by giving 100 percent exemption on profits. That`s a great measure for affordable housing."
"Relief for the repayment of interest as well as principal should have been to all categories of housing. Because you need not only affordable housing but you need every segment to push up demand."
Manish Goel, Managing Director, Shilpi Cable Technologies Limited
“This is a progressive budget and Hon’ble Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has tried to addresses concerns of the industry through various initiatives announced in his speech. The budget reiterates the need and importance to accelerate growth in the manufacturing sector. Announcements regarding incentivizing domestic value addition towards the Make in India initiative has been well received. Also, changes in customs and excise duty rates to improve competitiveness and boost the domestic manufacturing has been seen as a welcome move by the industry. As a company which operates in the manufacturing sector, we believe that through this, there will be a spurt in the spirit of entrepreneurship, giving boost to the home-grown industries.
Overall, we welcome the budget and hope these are implemented in a time bound manner so that all stakeholders can gain from it and country can achieve its ambitious growth targets.”
George Alexander Muthoot, MD - Muthoot Finance Limited
“The union budget 2016-17 is for traditional Bharat to transform into modern India.
The current budget propels on the strong macro environment like rural push, infrastructure development, power and digital India. The government has focused on key social spending like education and healthcare thereby improving the quality of life of lower income group. So in all the budget aims at inclusive growth with its reforms, generate employment and support the bottom of the pyramid entrepreneurs.
The environment of easy lending and easy access to credit through setting up of MUDRA and PMMY will drive the rural entrepreneurship and growth of MSMEs.”
Manish Kumar, Co-founder & CEO, GREX
“We believe the Union Budget 2016-17 is well aligned with Prime Minister’s ‘Make in India’ and ‘Startup India’ campaign. The budget focuses clearly on growth, development, job creation and creating a better environment for doing business in India. Besides a particular focus on startups by giving them exemption on their profits for the first three years is a welcome move. The relaxation in capital gain tax for investment in Funds of Funds and reducing the time frame to two years from three for availing long term capital gain tax benefit in the unlisted space will further boost the investment in startups.
Also keeping the ‘Digital India’ momentum rolling during the budget, introduction of electronic auction platform for the private placement market in corporate bonds is a welcome move.”
Aqua Mobiles
Apart from 30 - 35 percent relaxation in the corporate tax and a reduction in the import of IT and Hardware products, there is nothing to boost the mobile phone industry of India. We were expecting some good reforms in the structural changes, easy registrations and approvals, etc. The budget is not in the line of ‘Start-up India, Stand up India. It is good for the Agriculture sector, but nothing has been offered to the manufacturing and trading businesses.
Innefu Labs
Up to 35 percent of corporate tax relaxation and 100 percent hike in the exemption limit for the MSMEs are good incentives by the FM, but it is not in the line of promises made by Mr. Jaitley on January 16, at the launch of Start-up Indian Campaign. Rather, the most admirable decision is the incorporation of integrated data analysis system in the financial sector, that will really expedite the banking and financing activities. In addition, decreasing custom and excise duty on IT and hardware will definitely boost the industry.
Indiaonline.in
As finance minister describes Indian Economy a bright spot in a gloomy global landscape, the proposed Digital Literacy Scheme for Rural India and allocation of Rs. 1,700 crore for 1500 multi skill development centers and increase in the exemption limit from 1 to 2 crore for the MSMEs are really the initiatives that will help motivate the small businesses even in the smallest towns and villages. The benefits of growth to more wider shared.
Naveen Surya, MD, ItzCash
“The Finance Minister has managed to carve out a well-balanced budget proposition with a good spread of focus across major sectors while addressing issues of business and economic relevance. The 9-pillar approach lays specific focus on industry sectors while slicing out timely and feasible objectives with clarity for execution.
The current budget lays tremendous focus on rural development and resource mobilization for the rural economy while endorsing technology as a key platform for ensuring accountability and ease of operations.
Moreover the digital literacy scheme proposed to cover 6 crore additional rural households comes in as a very welcome move. Targeting more than 70% of the country’s population and enhancing digital literacy in this segment will ensure deeper penetration of the digital platform in rural India while driving the macro scheme of ‘Digital India and Digital Money’ with a renewed vigor.”
Shashi Kiran Shetty, Founder & Chairman of Allcargo Logistics
“The Indian government’s vision of ‘Transforming India’ was very well articulated in today’s budget speech of Finance Minister. On one hand the measures announced in agriculture, rural and healthcare sectors will increase the confidence of rural India while on the other financial and tax reforms will increase the confidence of investors. Besides, the government’s focus on skill development, job creation, infrastructure development and higher education will help create more job opportunities.
From a common man's perspective too, the budget has presented some good news. Measures such as increase in HRA and lesser tax burden on individuals with income less than Rs 5 lakh will surely be welcomed.
The government’s impetus on increasing the efficiency and modernizing of ports and improving the road infrastructure will definitely provide a fillip to our sector. Overall this is a realistic budget with more focus on rural and infrastructure development while keeping the fiscal deficit in check.”
Bhavish Aggarwal, Co-founder and CEO, Ola
"We are excited to have an inclusive, forward-looking budget, that lays a strong foundation for growth and development in the country. Focus on skill development will have a domino effect on employment, financial independence and GDP growth. It was quite encouraging to see the Hon'ble FM also address some key road transportation issues and set aside a requisite budget for infrastructure development. Creating inroads for entrepreneurship in the public transportation space and amendments in the Motor Vehicles Act to allow for innovations will provide a strong impetus towards enabling mobility for citizens. These proposed initiatives give us immense confidence as we work towards our mission of building mobility for a billion Indians"
Gautam Adani, Chairman, Adani Group
"The focus on improved infrastructure through network of roads, rail, ports and airports will provide impetus for enhanced growth and in turn generate employment.
"Targeted focus on affordable housing with tax exemptions for developers and individuals will auger well for the sector. Incentive to small tax payers will result into more savings which would provide funds for growth."
Chandrajit Banerjee, Director, CII
"Given the current global context of slowing growth and threat of financial turbulence, the Budget needs to be commended for giving a boost to growth and investment without disturbing the path for fiscal consolidation.”
Sunil Duggal, CEO, Dabur India
"Budget is a balanced statement that seeks to move away from offering freebies to promoting investments. It is highly encouraging to see that fiscal discipline has been given priority in this year's budget, with an emphasis on improving the quality of life in rural India," Dabur India CEO said.
Aditya V Agarwal, Director, Emami Group
"Focus on infrastructure and rural sector, which are the backbone of the economy and society, provides major impetus to the industries in the long term. Overall this year?s budget can be termed as a good effort.”
Adi Godrej, Chairman, Godrej Group
"The additional personal tax on dividends above the Rs 10 lakh limit may lead to lower investment in the long term stock market, as high rates of taxes have always in the past lead to lower investment and growth".
Ashok P Hinduja, Chairman, Hinduja Group of Companies (India)
"The government's commitment for retaining the fiscal deficit at 3.5 per cent will have sobering effect on the interest rate in general and on the yields of government and corporate bonds in particular. This will place our economy in the double digit growth trajectory.
"Amnesty window announced for unaccounted money is a good initiative. However, tax on dividend above Rs 10 lakh is a big disincentive for promoters/large investors."
