New budget to bolster economy, push exports: Industry

The major takeaway from the Narendra Modi-led government’s third Union Budget was its focus on strengthening the rural economy and agriculture besides ushering tax relief for the country’s salaried class The Dollar Business Bureau

The government has widened duty drawback scheme to include more products and countries besides minimising the transaction costs of EXIM trade, as additional measures to support the country’s dwindling exports

After Finance Minister Arun Jaitely laid out a roadmap about how the Indian economy will shape up during the financial year 2016-17 in his third Union Budget speech earlier this week, several industry analysts praised the budget as pragmatic and progressive and said the announcement will put the Indian economy in a better place besides opening myriad opportunities for the country’s diminishing exports. “The government’s commitment for retaining the fiscal deficit at 3.5% will have sobering effect on the interest rate and on the yields of government and corporate bonds in particular. This will place our economy in the double digit growth trajectory. Coupled with agriculture, rural and infrastructure spending including roads and highways, the economy will have a resultant effect of bottom-up demand generation and job creation,” said Ashok P Hinduja, Chairman, Hinduja Group (India). The major takeaway from the Narendra Modi-led government’s third Union Budget was its focus on strengthening the rural economy and agriculture besides ushering tax relief for the country’s salaried class. Of late, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been criticised by the opposition parties, who have accused him of running a pro-rich government and ignoring the country’s agriculture sector and the farmers. The Finance Minister identified nine key pillars i.e. rural sector, agriculture, education and job creation, social sector, infrastructure, financial sector, fiscal discipline and tax reforms, and governance and ease of doing business, while briefly touching upon initiatives such as Startup India and Make in India. In addition, the government widened the duty drawback scheme to include more products and countries besides minimising the transaction costs of EXIM trade, as additional measures to support the country’s dwindling exports. “Exports will come under the EXIM policy which will be out later. It will give a thrust to exports. The manufacturing sector should get a boost based on how well the infrastructure piece is executed. If the infrastructure growth really happens, the country should witness some improvement in the manufacturing side,” said Harsh Pati Singhania, Vice Chairman & Managing Director, J K Paper. Singhania said the government has also attempted to ease tax complexities through simplification of taxes and litigation. He, however, cautioned that it’s too early to comment on its cascading effects.

March 02, 2016 | 04:09pm IST

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The Dollar Business Bureau - Mar 02, 2016 10:11 IST

New budget to bolster economy, push exports: Industry

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