Budget 2020: India Inc hails new tax regime; boost to purchasing power

Gautam Hari Singhania, Chairman and Managing Director, Raymond Ltd:
“In this Budget, the Government has provided stimulus to the economy in the form of liquidity and consumption related interventions in the backdrop of visibly slowing global economic growth, including India. 

It is very encouraging to note that the Budget clearly laid out the Government’s roadmap to position the economy for future sustainable growth – which will resonate well with both domestic and international stakeholders. 

We welcome setting up of the National Technical Textiles Mission with an estimated outlay of Rs 1,480 crore. 

While the overall outlay and incentives for Textile and Garmenting sector,  which is one of the highest formal employment generation industry, could have been significantly more – it is a well balanced budget addressing many challenges and opportunities across sectors to give fillip to economic revival.” 

Abhishek Ganguly, Managing Director, Puma:
“India currently does not have the infrastructure, capability, skillset and technology to manufacture higher end footwear. Therefore, increasing customs duty of footwear from 25-35 per cent may not have a significant impact on imports. Presently, at the entry price, we anyway manufacture 30 per cent of our footwear in India, and we will continue to do so. The Government should proactively promote and enable footwear factories which can handle more technical manufacturing. This is a huge opportunity as India can definitely take share from China and Far East – not only for domestic, but also international consumption.” 

Rajesh Ramakrishnan, MD, Perfetti Van Melle:
“The income tax reduction could be seen as an indirect measure to increasing the purchasing power of the lower and middle income groups. The trickle down flow of the same into the FMCG sector is something to be hoped for. The Union Budget, however, leaves the entire sector wanting more in terms of revival of consumption.” 

Mukesh Kalra, Founder & CEO, ETMoney:
“The Finance Minister’s proposal to introduce new tax regime is a great step towards giving equal chance to every Indian in lower income segment to maximise their post tax incomes. In the old regime, an individual supporting a larger family and negligible savings was forced to pay higher tax, compared to an individual supporting a smaller family or one with no dependents. This created disparity when it came to effective taxation for the former group. In the new regime, the disparity ends and also frees up income in hands of individuals to give a boost to consumption.” 

Mahendra Singhi, President, Cement Manufacturers Association & Managing Director and CEO, Dalmia Cement (Bharat) Ltd:
“The cement industry welcomes the Government’s intent to push infrastructure development. The emphasis on highways and roads development is well placed. This captures the priorities of economic development and an aspirational India. We would hope that rural demand gets revived and it assists in job creation. We are actively engaged in dialogue with the Ministry of Commerce on the National Logistics Policy and would expect some of our considerations for upgradation and modernisation of rail infrastructure are particularly carried through. Thirdly, the Cement Industry has also been an active partner to the Government in the Swachh Bharat Mission. Reference and priority in this context being accorded to source segregation and processing should add to creating a more facilitating environment for the role expected of the Cement Industry in waste management given that Polluter to Pay principle has been outlined in the National Resource Efficiency Policy. Overall, good to see Budget 2020-21, which reiterates the priorities for economic development. We would look forward to these taking shape. The reaffirmation of commitment towards clean air, Climate Change mitigation efforts are most welcome. More policy interventions to revive real estate and housing would be welcome. Infrastructure development, new 100 airports and emphasis on road would go a long way to revive cement demand.” 

Rajesh Uttamchandani, Director, Syska:
“We welcome the steps taken by the Government in the Union Budget towards boosting electronic manufacturing in the country. The electronic industry has huge potential both in terms of manufacturing in India and job creation and will provide a major impetus for growth. This will further enhance the exports of networked products. Another important step taken is the further push provided by the Government for its smart cities mission. It aims to create 100 cities with state-of-the-art infrastructure that includes intelligent lighting, Wi-Fi access points, leading to enhancement of the quality of life of every citizen while building efficient living spaces for future generations. As a company, Syska has been striving towards developing technology-driven, energy-efficient and affordable solutions that positively impact the lives of our customers. With India heading towards mass urbanisation, we are aligned towards promoting sustainability, enhancing social development and creating new employment opportunities through rapid digital innovations.” 

Ullas Kamath, Joint Managing Director, Jyothy Labs:
“The Union Budget FY20-21 seems to be a sincere attempt in boosting the much needed demand scenario in both the rural and urban economy. The announcements related to revising individual tax structure, proposed 16-point action plan for agriculture and farmers’ welfare, coupled with the strategy to doubling farmers’ income by 2022, is the step in the right direction. We expect overall impact of the Budget will boost consumption and revive consumer sentiments.” 

Sanjay Vakharia, CEO, Spykar Lifestyles:
“The FY20 Budget has delivered what best it possibly could. The industry had requested the Government to bring in measures that would grow demand and spur consumption. But beside a few changes to the personal income tax rates, not much is seen impacting the demand and consumption story. The big gun announcements that the industry was expecting to stimulate the economy were missing. The absence of feel-good measures has left the Budget falling short of expectations.” 

Sanil Jain, Co-founder, CupShup:
“The start-up ecosystem in India is not more than a decade old and has come a long way to become the third largest in the world after USA and China. 2019 was a not what we can call a good economic growth year, but this Budget has definitely brought some relief to start-ups. The implementation of the Investment Advisory Cell will aid new start-ups. Deferring the Taxation on ESOPs is definitely a big win as it will go long way in acquiring and retaining quality talent. 

While on the other hand, decreasing direct tax to a historic low of 22 per cent will boost export opportunities and drive growth across various industries.”