Debasish Acharya, OP
Bhubaneswar, Jan 31: With the finance minister Arun Jaitley set to present the Union Budget in Parliament Thursday, expectations from industry leaders too reached a new high. The Economic Survey, tabled in Parliament Monday by Jaitley, has projected the Indian economy to grow by 7-7.5 per cent in 2018-19, helping the country to become the fastest-growing major economy in the world. Orissa Post sought the opinion of different industry heads on their expectations from the budget. While realtors expect the budget to increase investment options, cement manufacturers seek government action to check the input costs.
Yadupati Singhania, chairman and managing director, JK Cement
The government has taken some great steps to boost investment in infrastructure sector, including the announcement of marquee projects such as Bharatmala and PM Awas Yojna. Hopefully, the Union Budget 2018 will provide further impetus to develop rural infrastructure. We expect urban infrastructure, housing, water and sanitation would be discussed in the new budget. The major areas where we expect the government to focus on would be affordable housing, roads and infrastructure. We believe that the government is extremely focused on improving rural infrastructure. Specific to cement industry, some sort of tax relief would be most welcome, given the fact that cement is among the highest taxed industries right now, at a slab of 28 per cent. It is expected that the government will consider its legitimate demand of the need to bring down the GST slab. Recently, the import duty on petcoke has been increased from 2.5 per cent to 10 per cent. To boost consumption it will be helpful if the input costs are kept in check.
RS Agarwal, joint chairman, Emami Group
The country has been through two muted years of growth after economic reforms like demonetisation and GST. As we prepare for another budget, the economy is expected to recover and be back on track but needs government support for growth. The budget is expected to put thrust on areas like agriculture & rural growth, infrastructural development, small businesses and affordable housing. A stimulus for ailing industries is another area which needs attention. Reduction in both direct and indirect tax is also welcome.
Nishit Nanda, president, AFORD
The budget is expected to reduce GST rates to a marginal 3.5 per cent in composition scheme. The budget is expected to bring down GST of 18 per cent on rental property which is detrimental to commercial real estate on rental property. All those GST impositions have kept the investors away from real estate investments. Only buyers from affordable housing are purchasing flats. A significant drop of 34 per cent in eight major cities has taken place in 2017. So we expect some remedial measures to be taken in the budget to be a game changer for real estate business. Apart from this, we wish the real estate should get an individual status as RERA has already come into force. This will help the industry to provide funding at a cheaper rate for customers.
Nitin Seth, vice president, LCV Commercial Vehicle, Ashok Leyland
The budget is expected to be a populist one. The focus on infrastructure is expected to get intensive so as to ease transportation by constructing fast track toll gates and other digital initiatives in infra building. Industry has not protested nor will demand for any normalcy in rate in the budget. We expect the government should maintain consistency in polices so that the industry can maintain steady growth. With the removal of octroi, toll gates have eased the process of transport and with the fast track toll gates, the efficiency of transport will enhance and hence will create demand for commercial vehicles.
Karthik Rangappa, vice president, Zerodha
We guess the government is going to focus on reviving consumption. There may be some tax concessions, among others to revive growth. It may also focus on rural and agriculture to revive growth. In this scenario, we don’t think the government will have mutual fund industry in its radar. Mutual fund industry has been hopeful of a few goodies in this budget as they believe that they have been overlooked in the last few budgets. In the initial days, mutual fund participants were hopeful of a few new products and tax concessions.
AK Sabat, Chartered Accountant
The 2018 budget has to be a populist one in order to meet the requirements of common man. The government needs to extend the tax slab up to at least Rs 3.5 lakh so as to pass on the benefits to common man. The government is compelled to announce a budget in favour of the middle class so as to meet the ‘ache din’ tag of BJP. It is essential to reduce corporate tax from 30 per cent to 25 per cent so as to attract investments. They may declare some package for farmers and women so as to lure these sections before the upcoming election. They may also relax the tax norms for senior citizens. (PNN)
