It is indeed a welcome budget and we hope and pray it gives desired results and help both backward and middle class grow up confidently in a step by step way and we witness reforms, performances and a transformation that is good for the country. This is a very good budget. It is beneficial to every section of our society and to boost the growth of the Indian economy.
A grand move by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has been the relaxation provided on angel tax for start-ups, who can now focus on intensification and modernisation. The government’s allocation of Rs 400 crore to craft a world-class higher education ecosystem is also commendable. For a very long time, there has been a huge gap between the skill set required by the industries and what has been provided by the engineering colleges in our country. The government’s push will advance the skills of youth in areas like 3D printing, Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, cybersecurity, and Big Data.
The Union Budget 2019-20 is not the only farmer- and industry-friendly, it also addresses the concerns of the youth, women, middle class, poor, and the common man. This Budget would expedite India’s forward march towards progress and prosperity. The target to take the Indian economy to $5 trillion is worth appreciating. Union Budget will take the country towards greater transparency through greater use of technology and accountability. All earlier development schemes are more strengthened. It is a bottom-up, inclusive budget.
The foreign countries in response to the US policies are going to protect markets. Foreign flow of funds and technology in the future will be restricted by governments. It is safer for Bharat to depend on its own resources by offering higher savings and bond rates while investing in physical infrastructure, education and research institutions. Develop local appropriate technology. ISRO is a good example. The proposal to let FIIs and FPIs invest in debt securities issued by NBFC would provide a much-needed boost of capital to a sector now starving of capital; an important prop to several sectors, particularly, real estate and automobile which are reeling for lack of finance to purchasers/buyers. It would be interesting to see the extent and form of relaxation that is announced to local sourcing norms in relation to FDI in single brand retail. This relaxation would certainly encourage more foreign players to explore setting up stores in India.
The boost for MSME, affordable housing and infrastructure sector is expected to generate the growth in the bank credit and that will lead to profitable lending and for increasing business profits in the best way possible. On the whole, the budget has been a positive one. The government has reaffirmed its trust on public sector banks as per the recapitalisation outlay. The NBFC liquidity problem is also addressed through the first loss guarantee on the pool buyouts by banks.
Encouragement of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and increasing the minimum public holding with widespread digitalisation like an electronic trading platform, non-human tax dispute settlements and disincentivisation for cash transactions by business entities are progressive steps. Overall it is a growth based budget a big bonanza in all.
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
