1 February 2017, Bengaluru: “The budget reflects the large volume of financial resources that have been collected by the Government due to demonetization. Hence, the liberal proposals on taxation and high capital expenditure. But this is a routine budget and given that five states are going to polls in the next few weeks, the aim seems to please every segment of society,” said Prof. Charan Singh, at a panel discussion at IIM Bangalore on the day of Budget 2017. He also observed that recapitalisation of banks should not be automatic but follow some strict eligibility conditions.
The panellists included V K Viswanathan, Chairman, Board of Bosch Limited; S Raghavan, who is on the Board, L&T Finance Limited; Dr. Jacob Crasta, Founder and Chairman, CM Envirosystems Pvt. Ltd.; S. Sampathraman, Chairman and Managing Director, DPK Engineers Pvt Ltd., and B.P. Rao, Founder and Senior Partner, B.P. RAO & Co., Chartered Accountants.
“There is a strong focus on job creation, rural and agri development and infrastructure and to cheer the equity markets, the much-feared capital gains exemptions have not been tightened,” observed V K Viswanathan, who described the budget as a mix of hits and misses. “The misses included, not many steps being taken to encourage manufacturing in India, and no fundamental shift of economy towards innovation and R&D,” he said.
Focussing on domestic industry, S Raghavan stated: “Overall the budget is neutral for industry. Over the last 12 months, the construction industry has been the worst affected and the sops on housing announced today may somewhat lift sentiments of this sector. However, the auto and engineering industries have nothing exciting. The proposed increased outlays for Railways are unlikely to translate into demands for industrial growth or employment. In this era of protectionism in developed nations, a strong dose of protecting Indian industry would have helped generate employment.”
Dr. Jacob Crasta said that the focus on MSMEs or on the revival package for them was ‘paltry’. “The need of the hour is to provide better educational and skill development opportunities for the rural youth,” he added.
S. Sampathraman observed that the budget has not adequately addressed the issues faced by MSMEs, which are the backbone of our economy. “The level of sickness in MSMEs is very high as they lack technology, and because they do not receive payments on time from industries that they serve. Ease of doing business is another area that needs focus,” he explained.
Tax expert B P Rao called it a “populist budget” and remarked that the fundamentals of the economy were not analysed well nor were solutions talked about. He said that some tax proposals would not significantly bring about relief to the individuals, especially pertaining to tax bracket of INR 2.5 to INR 5 lakh.
In concluding the panel discussion, Prof. Singh suggested that the budget could have a road map on fighting corruption in continuation of demonetization, and stringent measures to curb flow of unaccounted money.
The discussion was followed by a Q&A session which lasted almost an hour.
1 February 2017, Bengaluru: “The budget reflects the large volume of financial resources that have been collected by the Government due to demonetization. Hence, the liberal proposals on taxation and high capital expenditure. But this is a routine budget and given that five states are going to polls in the next few weeks, the aim seems to please every segment of society,” said Prof. Charan Singh, at a panel discussion at IIM Bangalore on the day of Budget 2017. He also observed that recapitalisation of banks should not be automatic but follow some strict eligibility conditions.
The panellists included V K Viswanathan, Chairman, Board of Bosch Limited; S Raghavan, who is on the Board, L&T Finance Limited; Dr. Jacob Crasta, Founder and Chairman, CM Envirosystems Pvt. Ltd.; S. Sampathraman, Chairman and Managing Director, DPK Engineers Pvt Ltd., and B.P. Rao, Founder and Senior Partner, B.P. RAO & Co., Chartered Accountants.
“There is a strong focus on job creation, rural and agri development and infrastructure and to cheer the equity markets, the much-feared capital gains exemptions have not been tightened,” observed V K Viswanathan, who described the budget as a mix of hits and misses. “The misses included, not many steps being taken to encourage manufacturing in India, and no fundamental shift of economy towards innovation and R&D,” he said.
Focussing on domestic industry, S Raghavan stated: “Overall the budget is neutral for industry. Over the last 12 months, the construction industry has been the worst affected and the sops on housing announced today may somewhat lift sentiments of this sector. However, the auto and engineering industries have nothing exciting. The proposed increased outlays for Railways are unlikely to translate into demands for industrial growth or employment. In this era of protectionism in developed nations, a strong dose of protecting Indian industry would have helped generate employment.”
Dr. Jacob Crasta said that the focus on MSMEs or on the revival package for them was ‘paltry’. “The need of the hour is to provide better educational and skill development opportunities for the rural youth,” he added.
S. Sampathraman observed that the budget has not adequately addressed the issues faced by MSMEs, which are the backbone of our economy. “The level of sickness in MSMEs is very high as they lack technology, and because they do not receive payments on time from industries that they serve. Ease of doing business is another area that needs focus,” he explained.
Tax expert B P Rao called it a “populist budget” and remarked that the fundamentals of the economy were not analysed well nor were solutions talked about. He said that some tax proposals would not significantly bring about relief to the individuals, especially pertaining to tax bracket of INR 2.5 to INR 5 lakh.
In concluding the panel discussion, Prof. Singh suggested that the budget could have a road map on fighting corruption in continuation of demonetization, and stringent measures to curb flow of unaccounted money.
The discussion was followed by a Q&A session which lasted almost an hour.