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Budget 2016: CEOs' expectations
What's on India Inc's mind in the run-up to Budget 2016
Adi Godrej, Chairman, The Godrej Group
“In my view, the key achievement of the Government is improving the ease of doing business, which of course needs continuing attention. The budget proposals should concentrate on areas where reduction in the rate of taxes could lead to improved economic performance and thereby even improved tax collections.”
“There is a distinct change at the tone at the top. While, the reform process may not have been as speedy as some people would have liked it to, but there is a perceptible improvement in government functioning and a genuine effort to take India forward. Reforms in insurance, infrastructure, railways, rationalisation of fuel subsidies, greater devolution of resources to states under finance commission, were worthy initiatives taken by government in previous 18 months. The parliamentary mathematics has ensured that taxation reforms (most notably GST) and labour reforms have been delayed. One hopes that GST sees the light of the day in the budget session. A well-established GST system is capable of boosting national GDP by a good 2%.”
Dr. Yasmine Hilton, Chairman, Shell Companies in India
“The overall administrative and policy measures have infused confidence in business and the global investor community, leading to more expectations of further reform. There has been a sincere effort on part of the Government to facilitate ease and cost of doing business (e.g. non - adversarial attitude towards taxation).”
(Specific policy and fiscal measures to reform and incentivise the Oil & Gas sector) - “Rationalisation of tax and tariffs will go a long way to attract more investment, growth and ease of doing business,” she added.
Ajay S Shriram, Chairman &Sr Managing Director, DCM Shriram Ltd.
“The choice and direction of government policies have established a firm foundation for the growth of the Indian Economy, both for the short and medium term. The budget now needs to focus on two things. Firstly, quicker execution, and secondly, concrete steps for reviving the rural economy in close collaboration with the State Governments.”
“On budget, the expectations are immense, given this government’s key focus on development and assurances to the foreign investor community. While the launch of ‘Make in India’ initiative has generated a lot of optimism, the government needs to make a number of provisions to incentivise Indian industry, particularly the manufacturing sector. On the business front, the government’s attempt to improve the ease of doing business has yielded good result with India now at 130 in the ranking for 2015. However, to achieve things on the ground, the government needs to encourage private sector participation, enable huge investment in technology and skill development and at the same time reform the tax and duties structure to create a more positive perception of India's tax environment, which will help drum up private investment and bolster growth.”
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Hemen ParekhExporting Manpower? Our exports have been falling, month after month, for the past 18 months in a row. But this is not unique to India With rapidly shrinking World Trade, exports of nearly all countries around the world are falling. Barring a few exceptions, economies of all the countries are declining. So it came as a surprise to read a news report (BL / 20 Feb ) , that , despite the fact that Malaysia has 2.1 million registered foreign workers and 1.7 million illegal foreign workers , it signed a deal with Bangladesh to hire another 1.5 million Bangladeshi workers , over the next 3 years! As expected, local trade unions have criticized this deal. Now let us not start putting together a strategy for Manpower Export, despite the fact that of all the countries in the World, India has the largest number of its citizens working abroad (legal illegal). I believe, close to 22 million persons of Indian origin, with some 7 million in Gulf Countries. But trade unions and political parties everywhere are vehemently opposed to migrant workers who take away jobs from local residents. Even EU, which accepted some 1 million refugees from war-torn Syria/ Iraq/ Afghanistan, in 2015, have started repatriating what it terms as "Economic Migrants " seeking " better life " in EU, as distinct from political refugees But that is not stopping 3000 such "refugees "(political or economic), from forcing their way into EU, every day ! Within India, we have seen in the past (and continue to witness, currently ) , economically backward people ( euphemism for " poor ") , migrating to cities in other relatively affluent States , in search of livelihood , occasionally causing resentment among local citizens. So far , such inter-state migrations have not caused any serious problem because of our Unifying forces of religion / language / culture / heritage / traditions and our Constitution. But with annual addition of some 12 million persons (including some 3.5 million graduates ), to our legions of jobseekers , things could get ugly - especially since neither the Public nor the Private sector , can create this many jobs every year ! We need to find ways in which these millions can become "Self Employed " I hope that each and every announcement that Shri Jaitley makes in his budget speech on 29 Feb , would lead to creation of " Self Employment " in the economically backward States of India. With most of our States being the size of many EU countries , we may not be in a position to Export Manpower , even across our State boundaries , forget across the International borders! For Indian Federal structure to hold together, we must work on the double to reduce inequality between States !
on Feb 24, 2016
