Union Budget 2021-22: India on the Path to V-shaped Recovery, What Industry Giants Think and Expect
The Union budget for 2021-22 will be presented by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on 1 February 2021. Post prolonged lockdown due to Covid-19 and the crisis that followed up many have been curious about how the Indian economy would fare as the ramifications of the same is seen across the globe. But, former RBI Governor Duvvuri Subba Rao says that India will witness a V-shaped recovery. We bring in the view of Industry Giants and their expectations on this prior to the union budget.
Prashanth GJ, CEO at TechnoBind
“Yes – there are pointers to a V-shaped recovery and are being talked about by the industry experts. But I would like to exercise caution and would say that to vehemently declare that we are on the path of a V-shaped recovery is slightly premature. Can we get onto a V-shaped recovery – surely yes. There are many reasons to support this – the fact that vaccines are now reality will bring in the much-needed confidence for the economy – we will see investments that were on a go-slow mode pick up steam, which will have a cascading effect for the positive on the economy. We have already seen 2 or 3 months of rising GST collections – they are surely tell-tale signs of a positive upward trend. But it is also a fact that India has lagged behind other emerging economies and that is where the budget needs to focus on – how do we work on the ‘ease of doing business’ part and the squeezed up liquidity situation for the Indian Corporates. Core sectors like steel, power, cement are still declined and this need to be spruced up with support in the budget, for these core sectors, recovery is very important for the overall economy to be in the growth model. The informal sectors which in essence have a big part in the Indian scheme of things also need to be looked into during the budget to ensure that this V-shaped economy that we are hoping for becomes a reality and India can benefit from the same“.
S Sriram, Chief Strategy Officer at iValue InfoSolutions
“Union Budget for 2021-22 is going to be challenging and a critical one with fiscal deficit challenges on one hand along with the need to revive/sustain growth momentum across the board. Q1, Fy21 saw the biggest contraction by over 27% in GDP. Q2 was a good recovery moving H1 GDP to -11.6%. H2 GDP projection is estimated at 3.4% GDP growth implying Fy21 GD P numbers at -4.2%. Even before pandemic hit us, the GDP was decelerating steadily from 8.2% in Fy16 to 4.2% in Fy20 and now moving down to -4.2% in Fy21 which is an 8% fall in a year. Many small businesses have shut and many more have downsized in a big way leading to employment losses never seen in our history. The key need hence is to revive the economy, business and employment to drive consumption. Fiscal deficit worries need to be de-prioritized with a clear focus on growth revival and job creation.Government has to lead recovery through CapEx both at central and state level. More money has to be put in the hands of business and people through direct and indirect tax cuts, to enhance spends. We have seen only corporate tax cut but nothing significant on personal and indirect tax side. Special incentive schemes need to be extended to businesses increasing headcount. Technology investments came as a saviour for businesses due to the sudden lockdown to manage the business continuity. With awareness at an all-time high on the need to go digital and online, Government has to incentivise technology adoption drive for all sizes of business in the near term to build resilience for managing possible second/third waves. The government also needs to take technology investments to overdrive mode for enhancing productivity, transparency and efficacy of its interface with business and people. Initiatives like 5G rollout needs to be fast-tracked with special focus around areas such as cybersecurity, AI, ML, IoT, Analytics, block-chain, etc. for a sustainable recovery with a view to keep India ahead in the coming years.”
Shibu Paul, Vice President- International Sales at Array Networks
“The World Bank has estimated that India’s GDP will contract by 9.6 percent Fy 2020-2021, this is based on a sharp decline in household spending and private investment. Keeping this in mind, the government should emphasis on reviving the country’s economy. With vaccinations being distributed across the country and declining Covid cases, businesses are set to make a comeback, but that comeback needs to be facilitated by the government by pumping more funds to keep the businesses running. The government has initiated many measures to counter cybersecurity concerns, more funds need to be allocated to fight cybercrimes which will only increase in number with the digital boom. The government needs to focus on creating strong domestic manufacturing policies favouring global companies to invest more in India. We would require the government to create policy frameworks that incentivize investments from big players in manufacturing locally in India. The government should provide a strong thrust for core R&D investments as part of its ‘Make in India’ initiative. The government needs to come up with practical tax slabs and custom duties for advanced networking and security products as these products will now more than ever be of importance especially with the digital India push and remote working relaxations. We expect the import/export process to be made digital and transparent so as to have an efficient RMA system for customers. There should be clear actions, policy and reforms to promote latest technologies like AI, IoT, Zero Trust, Machine learning, 3D printing, blockchain and simultaneously ensuring training facilities for all the mentioned technologies as part of skill development. The government has already given a huge push towards electrical vehicles, but there needs to be a planned allocation and execution of this project as we need to consider the implications of not conserving our surroundings.”
Gurpreet Singh, Managing Director at Arrow PC Network Pvt Ltd (Titanium Partner – Dell Technologies)
“India ranks 63 in the World Bank’s ease of doing business list featuring 190 countries. This is a testimony that India is a growing hub for investment, start-ups and MSMEs which is also witnessing a boom in the adoption of digital technology. But the upfront cost of adopting technology is also huge. The government needs to support organizations of various sizes with tax relaxations and subsidization which would lead to overall improvisation. To further facilitate the ease of doing business, the government needs to simplify various laws that are complicated and demotivate investors. The government should also look towards the reduction of personal income tax rates which would help the struggling economy and the people. With Covid-19 more and more companies have suffered irrespective of their sector and size, the government should support the businesses that are struggling to survive. The government should give more priority to the digital India movement that has gained momentum, especially in the past year. From remote working to digital shopping and interactions the growth has been tremendous, but to ensure this momentum is not lost due to lack of security and policies to protect the people, the government should come up with a robust cybersecurity policy. Tech companies that provide cybersecurity products and solutions should be given relaxations as more and more cybersecurity based companies are coming up in India.”
PremiumAV Launches Bigplayers’ Wireless Bluetooth Karaoke Mic on Amazon
