Dr. Vijay Kalantri
Chairman, World Trade Center Mumbai and President, All India Association of Industries
“With a strong thrust on agriculture, tourism, data centres, electronics, advanced manufacturing and green energy, this budget aims to comprehensively uplift the entire economy” – Dr. Vijay Kalantri, Chairman, World Trade Center Mumbai and President, All India Association of Industries.
Inspired by the 3 Kartavya or responsibilities, the Union Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman presented her 9th Union Budget amidst growing geopolitical uncertainty and India being a growth oasis, as pointed out in the Economic Survey released just days ago.
Commenting on the Union Budget, Dr. Vijay Kalantri, Chairman, World Trade Center Mumbai and President, All India Association of Industries, said, “This year’s Union Budget presented by Hon. FM is significant as it steers the economy steadily amidst turbulent geopolitical times. The focus of the budget to support domestic resilience by incentivising domestic manufacturing in advanced and frontier technology, biopharma industry, container manufacturing and construction materials strengthens our resolve on Atmanirbharta. Equally significant is the concentrated focus on Rare Earth elements supply by harnessing domestic capabilities and augmenting supply chains, which will ensure insulation from global shocks while boosting regional economy.”
“The special attention which the budget has given to MSMEs by extending liquidity facilities, specialized fund provision and integration of GeM and TReDS for invoice discounting will position MSMEs as a growth engine for the economy. Also noticeable is the push given to new age sectors like creative economy, graphic designing, content creation and others, which will create new generation employment”. said Dr. Kalantri
“It is heartening to see that the budget has recognised the need to strengthen our urban regions as engines of economic growth. Its special focus on infrastructure financing by a specialized fund and incentivising municipal bonds will unlock much-needed capital for sustainable and resilient urban growth,” stressed Dr. Kalntri.
“Building on the policy imperative to enhance foreign investments, the government’s move to rejig taxation norms will hopefully help to facilitate FDI and FII flows at a time when we are seeing capital flight. However, the change in rate of taxation on futures and options trading might have an adverse impact on capital flows. Further, export aligned rationalization of custom duties for fisheries and marine products, textiles, renewable energy components and electronics will promote value-added exports. Moreover, the continued simplification of taxation laws will further help in ease of doing business,” added Dr. Kalantri.
“We congratulate the Honourable Finance Minister for this forward-looking budget, which will help us to grow at 8-9 % per annum so as to reach the size of a 30 trillion dollar economy by 2047.” said Dr. Kalantri
Recommendations of the 16th Finance Commission, which retained the vertical devolution to states at 41%, were also accepted by the Union Finance Minister, and a sum of 1.4 lakh crore is allotted to states as Finance Commission grants.