'A reformist and growth-oriented Budget'

The Government’s continued focus on ‘Ease of Doing Business’ will help the industry tremendously. "I am sure this move will also encourage State Governments to bring in similar provisions and help in driving investment-led growth,'' said Krish Iyer , President and CEO Walmart India.

Reffering to the provision of providing social security measures for the middle-class and bottom of the pyramid, Iyer said: “It will help improve the consumer confidence and sentiment. Over a period of time, the middle-class will be able to live in the present without the worry of the future and this should drive domestic consumption and retail growth.”

Holistically looking, this Budget by Finance Minister Jaitley is reformist and growth-oriented. The measures outlined in the Budget for giving boost to investment in infrastructure (rail, road, freight corridors, energy etc) will surely benefit the economy and retail sector in the medium to long-term. In addition, moving towards making India a ‘cashless society’ will help facilitate retail trade too.

Fiscal deficit target

Fiscal deficit at 3.9 per cent of GDP vs 4.1 per cent for last year is a marginal improvement and reduction in interest rates may have to be calibrated more carefully. As mentioned by the Finance Minister, the clear roadmap to 3 per cent deficit by fiscal year 2017-18 is very encouraging.

'Black money'

The focus of the current government on dealing effectively with ‘black’ money is excellent.

The Finance Minister’s proposed roadmap to reduction in corporate tax from 30 per cent to 25 per cent over four years while at the same time removing plethora of exemptions, which led to complexity and litigation, is a very welcome step towards simplification and will also be received well by all investors.

The Government’s announcement about MUDRA bank with Rs 20,000 crore corpus will give a significant boost to the SME sector and small entrepreneurs.

Deferment of GAAR by two years, commitment to charge any tax only with prospective effect, focus on ease of doing business and general long-term focus as evidenced by the boost to infrastructure investment and expectations of double-digit growth will further renew the confidence of global investors in the country.

In addition, proposal to establish ‘Unified National Agricultural Market’ is a step in the direct direction. This will help farmers realise better prices. This coupled with implementation of GST from next year will not only bring relief to the end consumer, but also help retail sector in a big way.

Anil Valluri , President, NetApp India & SAARC, said: A number of steps have been announced to improve the ease of doing business; creation of Micro Units Development Refinance Agency (MUDRA) Bank, with a corpus of Rs. 20,000 crore, and credit guarantee corpus of Rs. 3,000 crore is a positive step to encourage young, educated, and skilled workers who aspire to become first generation entrepreneurs or expand their activities. With robust growth in the Digital India initiative announced last year, it is heartening to see that the government wants to further expand it and increase the network connectivity to more rural areas.

COMMENT NOW