With Union Budget round the bend, India Inc nurses high hopes

Indian industry looks forward to see larger capital expenditure spelt out in Union Budget

Come February 1, and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will arrive in Parliament to unveil the budget for the year 2022-23. As the budget day nears, India’s industry is keen to see proposals that would go a long way in shaping the economic scene for the coming year.

Expectations of a larger capital expenditure are what the industry players would want to see. They look forward to Finance Minister’s game-changing proposals on employment generation, and tax sops as the economy is staring at difficult times owing to the coronavirus pandemic that threatens to stay on.

While the automotive sector in the country would want Finance Minister Sitharaman to bring in tax cuts, complete with a uniform GST rate, export sops, more power towards R&D, proposals that could give a leg up to domestic chip-building, investments in infrastructure development and also promotional sops to the electric vehicle scene, the aviation industry is likely to hope for some forward looking proposals in the shape of industry-friendly policies. As the Covid-19 era has dealt with a body blow to the sector, the industry could also want to see proposals that would lead to fiscal concessions.

Pharma hopes for R&D push in Union Budget

Meanwhile, the healthcare segment and the pharma industry would want the Finance Minister to give some added weightage towards research and development activities. Consumer-friendly proposals would weigh more when it comes to the real estate and infrastructure development sectors. Realty companies are sure to look forward to a hike in the cap on deductions against interest on home loans, and also ‘affordable’ metro housing policies.

The retail sector looks forward to faster adoption of a national retail trade policy so as to see the streamlining of growth of all kinds of retail trade.  

Battered by pandemic, tourism hopes for income support

Plan detailing on banks’ privatisation banks, scaling up of National Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd and the like would include the banking sector’s wish list, while the fintech segment would love to see proposals that would roll out extension of schemes for micro, small and medium enterprises introduced during the pandemic.

The tourism and hospitality industry has been the hardest hit as the pandemic raged, and the sector would look forward to proposals that would lead to income support from the government.

The industry is now on a wait and watch mode, hoping to see proposals that would help them tide over the pandemic-driven hassles. Industry segments and corporate lobbyists would definitely hope to see Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman act as per the needs of the industry, in terms of a longer term revival.