Women Entrepreneurs and Educationists Financial Year Pre- Budget Quotes | Exploring Feature Opportunity
Pre Budget Quote- IT/Tech, Auto, Real Estate, Sports & Retail
Published on January 22, 2021
It will be a critical Budget as India battles the twin challenges of economic slowdown and COVID pandemic.We hope the Budget lays down a clear roadmap for a higher Innovation Quotient and sets vision to carve India into an Innovative Economy by 2050. This would require India to grow from 0.5 % of R&D spend to the GDP to improve to 1.5% by end of this decade and reach 2.5-3% by 2050. At Cyient, we are hopeful of an increased Research and Innovation enabling more IP to come from India in the budget from the Finance Minister. Companies are also eagerly awaiting a central Research & Innovation Fund to help build up intellectual property out of the country. This will not only help domestic technology companies but attract global clients to set up their engineering centres out of India. At Cyient, we have outlined areas of Sustainable Mobility, Smart Manufacturing & Digital plants, Clean plants for Semicon/Pharma industries, smart Healthcare as areas of innovation/IP internally. We would like to request to create innovation clusters across India and help realize the Vocal for Local commitment.
Karthikeyan Natarajan, President and Chief Operating Officer, Cyient
“We expect the budget to act as a much-needed catalyst for boosting demand, curbing inflation and thereby reviving the economy. There is a need to undertake definite policy measures and provide fiscal stimulus to ensure financial recovery and spur economic growth, specifically across, sectors, like healthcare, EdTech, Infrastructure and Manufacturing. We are also hopeful that the budget will address measures essential for an accelerated digital transformation. This includes investment in R&D, automation technologies, skilling and development of a talent pool trained in digital age skills which will help accelerate the pace of development.”
Attributed to Rajiv Bhalla, Managing Director, Barco India
Budget declaration is an exciting part of the year and considering the year we faced in 2020, everyone is looking forward to this year’s budget. Amongst the many sectors affected the auto industry was surely one of the worst hit even prior to the pandemic. Budget 2021 is an opportunity to bring in measures that can help to boost a sustainable growth for the industry. The auto components industry will also see more investments if further clarity is provided on the PLI Scheme announced in 2020. Implementation of the scrappage policy will also improve sales that will benefit the industry and environment. From an overall manufacturing industry perspective, stabilization of raw material prices is of importance to the industry, promoting finished good exports will in turn increase forex reserve and a positive step. The industry also requires some relief in custom duties especially for raw materials and other manufacturing elements. The government is putting efforts in public spending on infrastructure projects that are driving the core sector industries. Considering the year 2020 and the effects of pandemic, government should also focus on steps that will enable job creation, which will be a critical success factor. Budget 2021 is hope for many industries and we are looking forward to it with anticipation.
Mr. Harsha Kadam, CEO Schaeffler India and President Industrial Busines
“ After a challenging 2020, as we enter 2021, there is a need for some more fiscal measures in the upcoming budget to accelerate growth in this important sector that generates demand for around 250 other industries. Further extension of the CLSS scheme for the next fiscal year, increase in tax incentives for home buyers, infrastructure status for the entire real estate sector and abolishing tax on unsold homes are some of the key demand of the industry. States on their part must cut stamp duty on registration of properties, as Maharashtra has done. If the government announces some positive measures on demand side in the Budget, housing sales will bounce back to reach pre-COVID level.”
Attributed to Mr. Prashant Solomon, Managing Director, Chintels India and Hon. Treasurer, CREDAI NCR
As the economy recovers post Covid, pent-up demand has pushed up consumption within the country. For Union Budget 2021, measures that will boost demand further and aid consumer sentiment remain the most important aspect for our industry. We are also looking forward to the government incentivizing consumers through tax breaks and other measures. We are hopeful of enhanced measures that will increase India’s ranking in Ease of Doing Business and meet Government’s target to scale up manufacturing to 25 per cent of the GDP.
Going into the next decade, smaller cities and towns are expected to be key consumption drivers and we have realigned our business strategy to outperform in the new normal. As further growth opportunities get unlocked, we are confident that our sector will be able to add to the economic growth of the nation.
Mr. Sharad Malhotra, President, Nippon Paint India – Automotive Refinishes & Wood Coatings
“With the Pandemic having accelerated the need for flexible office spaces, and coworking market poised for growth with new entrants, expectations are for a new/ reduced TDS bracket for service payment to coworking spaces. We hope the budget would also allocate more funds towards IT infra spending as we believe technology and digitization are the way forward for commercial real estate and coworking segment in specific.
There is a need for an industry status, single window clearance and reinstatement of Input Tax Credit in GST. We look forward to a stimulus to investments in commercial real estate in the upcoming union budget, thereby providing a significant fillip to the growth engine, creating jobs, and spur in demand. Another wish in the pan is that the government should provide for allowance of capital expenditure incurred by the companies in the coworking segment.”
Attributed to Neetish Sarda – Founder Smartworks
“India has one of the most dynamic and thriving startup community and ecosystem in the world today. Our demographics advantage is a boon and promises immense opportunities, we expect the government to bring forward the policies to boost investors’ confidence and opportunities. Indian startups today are big job creators and incentivizing private investments can really stimulate growth for startups as apart from ease of doing business, cash flows are the real challenges for us. The government took a number of decisive steps to relegate financial stress in our economy arisen due to unprecedented pandemic, we believe with positive signs in the economy now it’s time to give a flip to our efforts and government support can play a pivotal role.”
Attributed to Rishi Ahuja, Founder Klip VR Immersive Technologies
“2020 was a year of disruption for the sports industry. We hope that the upcoming budget will ensure policy measures and allocations to revive the industry. An increase in the overall budget for the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, would help in developing better training facilities for our athletes across the nation. The pandemic has accelerated macro trends in sports like digital transformation and e-sports along with programs at the ground level like Khelo India Movement. This will help in promoting sports amongst the children from an early stage, making it an integral part of our education system”.
Attributed to Arun Pandey, MD & Chairman Rhiti Group
“The Pandemic has led to significant setbacks across the socio-economic fabric of the country. In order to ensure development and growth, it is critical to incorporate adequate policy planning and programs to ensure that women are able to get the benefits of these schemes. There is a need to also address areas like upskilling of the female workforce, more women in tech and women entrepreneurship. Due to the pandemic induced lockdown women, entrepreneurs suffered from factors such as lack of orders, supply chain disruptions, limited workforce, and financial crunch. We hope the budget addresses these areas by providing relaxation in taxation policies, new schemes for driving women entrepreneurship opportunities such as increasing the availability of collateral free loans for women entrepreneurs especially in MSMEs and start-ups”.
Attributed to Jahnabi Phookan, President, FICCI FLO
