The General budget for the year 2019-20 has set the tone to bring about the structural changes that will make India’s move to become a $ 5 trillion economy and more directional in nature than offering a quick fix to issues that need to be addressed, members of the Pune Region of Confederation of Indian Industry(CII) said on Friday.
The industry captains listed one hundred lakh crore investment in infrastructure, easing of norms for Foreign Direct Investment, supportive transaction framework for the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises(MSMEs) and encouragement to move to electric vehicles as among the positives on the budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Seetharaman in the Lok Sabha.
Shrikant Bapat, Chairman, CII Pune Zonal Council, said proposals such as big ticket investment in infrastructure, use of waterways for goods and people movement, greater ease of business for MSMEs women-centric development structure to women
-led development structure are all indicative of the government’s intent to trigger employment generation. Infusion of Rs. 70,000 crore in PSU banks will give impetus to credit and lead to increased corporate investments, he added. “Ease of doing business and eas of living are two important features of the budget proposals,” Bapat said.
Alakesh Rai, Vice Chairman, CII Pune Zonal Council, said the Government has taken a long term view rather than a short term view because they are securely in power for the next five years and can sort out issues and fine tune the operative part in the years ahead. “Initiatives such as ‘one nation one power grid’ or use of waterways are in the right direction and the Finance Minister has chosen to pull stops rather than offering sops,” Rai said.
Sachit Nayak, Convenor, CII Pune Finance and Taxation panel said the government’s focus on jobs, investment and digital economy is the right way to go. CII welcomes the focus on make in India in sectors such as automobiles or electronics and the encouragement offered to start-up businesses and MSMEs. Increase in foreign direct investment in insurance intermediaries will encourage global best practices and the government’s intention to open up FDI in media and animation will improve flow of global capital. The government’s plan to create a technology roadmap for artificial intelligence, Internet of Things and Robotics will go a long way in the growth of services sector, Nayak added.
Jayprakash Nair, Co-convener, CII Pune Taxation and Finance Panel said the benefits which will flow to people under various schemes will mean more money in the hands of consumers and will push demand up. Labour reforms which the finance minister indicated will help the manufacturing sector, he said. Power sector initiatives such as one nation one grid and encouragement to electric vehicles are in the positive direction, he said.
