What they say...

Balancing the challenges

Mr Y.C. Deveshwar, Chairman, ITC, said: The Finance Minister has done a brilliant job of balancing the challenges confronting the economy and the opportunities that can ignite faster growth and progress of the country. He has sought to consolidate the fiscal deficit through growth stimulated by moderation in taxes thereby encouraging savings and investment.

The measures proposed in the Budget to expand the tax base would also provide a more robust source of future revenue accretion and competitiveness of the Indian economy. In addition, the Finance Minister has provided a strong impetus to inclusive growth by significantly investing in the long term drivers of the economy such as education, skill development, infrastructure and development of the rural economy.

Positive signals to industry

Mr Sajjan Jindal, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, JSW Steel, said the Finance Minister had resisted the temptation to increase the excise duty thereby giving out positive signals to the industry and to the India growth story. The re-assurance on the fiscal deficit trend as well as revenue deficit will go a long way in creating a positive frame of mind. By allocating Rs1,60,887 crore to the social sector, due cognizance has been taken of the growth potential of the Indian rural market and its integration with the urban economy.

The raising of the corpus of Rural Infrastructure Development Fund substantially sends out a strong signal for high growth in the coming years.

The divestment in PSU's will continue and a target of Rs 40,000 crore with 51 per cent presence of the Government is a very positive signal. By forming a task force of Group of Ministers for addressing the issues of corruption, state funding of elections, transparency in public procurement and contracts FM has shown the courage to tackle the root cause of the malaise of black money.

Amendment to GST positive

The Godrej Group Chairman, Mr Adi Godrej, said the decision to formally introduce the Constitutional amendment for GST is a very good one. The increase in limit for income tax exemption for tax payers will add to consumption, “which is desirable”. On reduction in surcharge for companies from 7.5 per cent to five, Mr Godrej said it is desirable though he would have liked to see it completely removed. “What I like the best is that the widely expected increase in excise duty was very sensibly not resorted to.”

No major announcement for export sector

The Tirupur Exporters' Association President, Mr A. Sakthivel, has expressed disappointment that the exporters' plea for fixing the export credit (in Indian rupee) at base rate and extension of the 2 per cent interest subvention for one more year for the knitwear garment sector found no mention in the Budget.

“While we welcome certain announcements, we feel that there is no major announcement for the export sector, required to face the stiff competition. We need a level playing field in the global market place to tide over the competition,” he said.

He further voiced fear over the proposal of allowing SEBI registered mutual fund to accept subscriptions from individual foreign investors. “While this will increase the flow of money into the Indian equity market, it would trigger the movement of the currency and adversely affect the export sector. Some protection is required in foreign currency exchange to the exporters,” he said and suggested that such investors should be required to keep the money in the country at least for a minimum period of three years.

(Mumbai, Coimbatore and Chennai Bureaus)

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