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Professors are thought to be dreamy, living in their own academic world. But not here. Practical economics professors have “no great expectations” from the Budget, unlike industry players who are hoping for reforms to boost development and sustain growth.
A call for fundamental restructuring of the economic policies to achieve 7-8 per cent was reiterated at a panel discussion on Budget expectations organised by the Calcutta Management Association here recently.
“The Union Government is tied up with variety of reasons. Fiscal deficit is a concern. I have no great expectations. Some of the fundamental structural problems (of Indian economy) are coming back again. Without fundamental restructuring of the economy, it is difficult to achieve a 7-8 per cent growth,” said Anup K. Sinha, Professor of Economics at IIM Calcutta.
Sinha added that the Government should also look into the pricing and distribution of the agricultural products in the Budget.
Another economist, Abhirup Sarkar of the Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta, too, did not aspire much from the Budget. He said the recent change of guard in the Finance Ministry could bring a “market-oriented approach” in the economy. According to him, the Government should devise strategies to “reduce the number of government interventions” to allow the money market to function more independently.
Aniruddha Lahiri, President of The Chatterjee Group, expects this Budget to usher in a lot of reforms in the fields of land acquisition and infrastructure funding.
“One of the big constraints is land acquisition and it is affecting the manufacturing sector. Funding infrastructure sector is also a concern,” he said. Industry players have also urged the Government to avoid implementation of retrospective tax and extend the Interest Subvention Scheme in this Budget to benefit the small-scale industries.
Sanjay Budhia, MD, Patton India, said: “The Government should try to avoid retrospective taxation and extend the Interest Subvention Scheme.” The export benefits for Special Economic Zones should be continued, he added. Entrepreneur and CEO of Saraswati Online Parthasarathi Ganguli said the SME sector and entrepreneurs need to be acknowledged to achieve inclusive growth.
> ayan.pramanik@thehindu.coi.in
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