The Hindu Business Line : ‘Budget focus is more on inclusive growth’

Mumbai, July 9 The Budget focuses on more inclusive growth though at the cost of fiscal consolidation, according to Mr Neeraj Swaroop, Regional Chief Executive, India & South Asia, Standard Chartered Bank.

Continued investments in the social sector and in infrastructure will facilitate the development of rural India, which represents a vast repository of untapped resource. Education and healthcare promote the employability of this sector, while infrastructure enhances mobility of resources between rural and urban centres.

‘Framework for future’

Mr V.Vaidyanathan

According to Mr V. Vaidyanathan, CEO and MD, ICICI Pru Life Insurance, the signals that emerged from the Budget speech are more important than the proposals themselves.

To begin with, the talk of 9 per cent growth sets the framework for the future. Once this is set as the agenda, all policy initiatives will align to it. Policy on FDI, attracting FII, the capital market reforms, divestment norms, governance etc will all align.

Mr Kamesh Goyal

Mr Kamesh Goyal, Country Manager, Allianz & CEO, Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance, said while no Finance Minister can propose a “please all” Budget, the current proposals have a mix of good and bad. The scrapping of FBT is in the right direction. The tax structure which has been left unchanged is also understandable.

Few things which the Finance Minister could have done to show seriousness of this ritual are identify ten infrastructure projects with timelines for project clearance before the bidding process; few steps which would monitor the impact of outlays to rural sector and check to reduce leakages; named at least five PSUs where disinvestment process would have started in four months time and few concrete steps to reduce size and hence Government expenditure. However, the insurance industry had a lot of expectations like exemptions and benefits for insurance premiums or separate section in Section 80 C, so that it could have provided a boost for long-term investments like life insurance.

Sustainable growth

Mr Rana Kapoor, MD & CEO, YES Bank, said: “Expectations were riding high; disinvestment was the panacea for deliverance and market reforms the way forward. The Union Budget can be best consolidated in one word — sustainable growth. The Budget addresses bottlenecks that impede investment and focusing on infrastructure and the farm and rural sector as growth accelerators for crystallising 4 per cent agriculture and 9 per cent industry growth.