“Finance Minister spent a considerable amount of time in trying to address the rural distress and the difficulties being faced by the farmers. The emphasis on the budget on various schemes and ideas, which including for instance the linking of the MNREGA scheme to rural challenges, is very significant to see that the MNREGA investment is made towards creating rural assets.
There is a very significant focus on the rural economy which I think is just as well looking at the situation in our country.
There is a good emphasis on affordable housing, increase in tax deduction for rental housing, exemption from Service Tax for small units in cities and other towns, etc.” – Harshvardhan Neotia, President, FICCI
“In the social sector, the push on the healthcare with Insurance Policy is the right direction towards providing health coverage to the people. May be the one lakh may not be sufficient, if we look at it, but it’s a good beginning.
On the skill building area, we still need to see more. However, the beginning has happened.
The infrastructure push and agriculture sustainability are the highlights of the budget. These are the two very important initiatives which would actually in long term give us a maneuvering from this Budget.
In tax areas, Ishwaran Committee recommendation has been accepted, which is a welcome step.
Over all, the budget is going to give us a thrust of economic development.” – Pankaj R Patel, Vice President, FICCI
“We have to promote the MSMEs, Start-Ups &entrepreneurs and I think he (ArunJaitley) has put a good focus on that so that is the right way forward. It shows a trend and that is probably the only thing that you can take out of it.
The trend this year, which is showcased by his Budget, is that he is looking a push in infrastructure development which is very much the need of the day. He is pushing agriculture which is again very important. He is also pushing skill development and skilling.
These are all pro-development &ofcourse the affordable housing is another issue that he touched upon.
So, if you look at the overall view then it is a good budget. He is in a direction which is required for the country at the moment.” – JyotsnaSuri, Former FICCI President
“I think he (ArunJaitley) has given a very good role to NitiAayog for looking at the corporate sector.The rural demand has been dwindling so all the proposals that are made to set right the rural economy will also benefit the corporates.
In fact energy is now being into creation of assets, which actually protects and conservesthe water, they have stepped up irrigation. The only thing is, I just want to see if this accelerated irrigation benefit program is a very faulty program, but I think they will sort it out.
Bundelkhand is a very good area for Pulse production. I was implementing the Bundelkhand package and I found that if weactually do it right then it can become the basket for pulses. Pulse production has to be given a priority.” – Sudha Pillai, Former Member Secreatary, Planning Commission
“The Budget is definitely focused on the agriculture & the rural economy because there has been distress in the agriculture in the last couple of years. So the budget has tried to focus on that. Overall I would say that it is really a Budget for Bharat.
The figures that I have seen, the requirements for banks recapitalization was 1.8 lakh crore. But he has said that the 25k crore is for the current year.” – Ashok Jha, Former Finance Secretary
“The budget as such for entire retail sector we don’t see much in this. But if we look at it from the Pradhan Mantri AwasYojna and the affordable housing segment, I think there they have done hand-holding by way of giving income tax as well as service tax exemption. So we look at it as a welcome step for giving housing to all.” – NavinRaheja, Chairman, Raheja Group
“We welcome the focus on rural & agricultural area, farm sustainability and a good amount of public investment which is directed to the rural sector.
As we know that rural incomes have been suffering in the last few years,so this should help recovery in the rural sector and also putagriculture on a more solid fitting.
Couple of the facts that they are trying to reform the MSP regime – decentralisation of procurement system and more emphasis on pulses. So actually creating a more viable MSP system which does not contribute only to piling of wheat & rice stocks but moving away towards pulses and also from Punjab, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh to other states.” – Vivek Bharti, VP, PepsiCo
“The Finance Minister presented a well-rounded package of reforms and growth-oriented measures in the Union Budget 2016-17. The Budget proposals addressed issues in nine critical areas ranging from agriculture and the rural sector to financial sector and banking. Given the current global context of slowing growth and threat of financial turbulence, the Budget needs to be commended for giving a boost to growth and investment without disturbing the path for fiscal consolidation.
In line with recommendations made by CII, the Budget has announced critical interventions in areas such as agriculture, infrastructure, education and skills. Financial sector reforms have been taken forward including a plan for revitalising public sector banks. A lot of emphasis has been given to accelerated implementation of direct benefits transfer through the widespread use of JAM trinity, so that subsidies reach the intended beneficiaries. The well-thought out interventions presented in the Budget make it a growth and development oriented Budget.” – Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII
“Emphasis on rail and road by increased investment along with better port connectivity should help the foreign trade in the long run. Ease of doing business for the SMEs as also in the procedures for Advance Licence and Duty Free Import Authorization Schemes retrospectively should help the engineering manufacturer exporters importing steel. Mr Bhasin said changes in customs rates on certain inputs to reduce costs and improve competitiveness of industry in sectors like Information technology hardware, capital goods, defence production, textiles, mineral fuels & mineral oils, chemicals & petrochemicals, paper, paperboard & newsprint, Maintenance repair and overhauling [MRO] of aircrafts and ship repair are positive for the exporters.” – T S Bhasin, EEPC India Chairman
“Budget has touched the ground and its focus on rural India would go a long way to generate demand in the economy and give a push to overall growth and development of the country” – Dr. Mahesh Gupta, President, PHD Chamber
“The finance minister’s focus on agriculture in the Budget 2016-17 was keenly awaited and will enhance expenditure on the rural and agriculture sectors. Although the soil health card scheme, Fasal Bima Yojana and common e-market platform will help in improving the agriculture sector in the country. However it is disappointing to see no encouragement for agri-biotech research by public or private institutions for augmenting the agriculture sector. We further believe that for transforming the Indian agriculture, counter the ill-effects of climate change, improve livelihoods and address food requirements of the nation technological intervention is of utmost importance.”— Dr Shivendra Bajaj, Executive Director, Association of Biotechnology Led Enterprises, Agriculture Group
“FM seems to have covered all the critical areas that were being talked about, whether it was rural economy, agriculture, infrastructure, tax simplification, etc. He seems to have covered a lot of ground in this and at the same time stuck to the FRBM target, which especially for me was a bit of a surprise because there is additional spend on OROP and salary increases. So if he is doing this, I would say full marks to him on that. The higher tax on higher income is something that was expected because to be able to meet the maths of the additional spends; you have to find some sources of revenue. I think overall he’s done a very good job.” – Sunil Kant Munjal, Joint MD, Hero MotoCorp
“FY17 Budget has provided a strong growth direction to the Indian economy. The Finance Minister has managed to balance the need to prioritize social sector requirements with economic and business imperatives. The segmented 9-Pillar Approach with well carved out deliverables will ensure execution clarity and focus. By adhering to fiscal deficit aim of 3.5% the Budget creates room for complimentary monetary policy rate cut of 50 bps in the near term and 75-100 bps in 2016, conditioned on favorably evolving macros. Key measure to increase the allocation to infrastructure with an impressive outlay of INR 2.2 lakh crore will help to re-energize the growth multiplier, while the specific measures to improve ease of doing business and favorable tax treatment for start-ups and MSMEs will go a long way in boosting job creation”. -Rana Kapoor, MD & CEO, YES Bank
“Honourable Finance Minister has presented a business friendly budget which is encouraging for young and fast growing India. Taking the “Start-up India” action plan forward, the budget allocated Rs. 500 cr for SC/ST & Women entrepreneurs. The announcements made during the budget also include a 100 per cent tax exemption for 3 years for start-ups, which is a welcome step. The Minister also proposed an amendment of Companies Act to allow new start-ups to register in one day. These steps will help to create a favorable business environment in the country. We welcome this budget as a progressive step in the right direction with an intention to promote entrepreneurship and encouraging start-ups in India. Also, the Finance Minister reiterated the Government’s focus on rolling out GST. We are hopeful that GST will be a reality soon, thereby ensuring uniformity in tax rates and regulations. Overall, we are positive that the announcements made today will lead to strong economic growth of the country”. – Kiran Murthi, CEO, AskmeBazaar
“The Budget 2016 is balanced in terms of socio-economic growth and at the same time trying to stick to the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) target. On the growth side, the success of MUDRA scheme in the year 2015-16 has resulted in its scaling up in terms of its support for 2016-17. The Budget has offered incentive structures for MSME sector which should result in further growth in employment as well as output in the sector. On the development side, Budget seems to have given larger focus on agriculture and rural development sector which should boost rural demand which is one of the constraints that Indian economy is facing at the moment.” -N R Bhanumurthy, NIPFP Professor
“The Corporate income tax incentives given to MSMEs and new manufacturing units and SMEs are a major milestone achieved and is duly applauded. With Government’s initiative of Interlinking of the state employment exchanges with national service career platform, to increase employ ability of youth is a positive initiative towards development of Skill India. Various subsidies and tax relief on basic dialysis equipment and PPP mode will ensure that these services reach out to the poorest of the population are some of the applause worthy initiatives by the government in the healthcare sector. However, increase of service tax to 15% will affect the consumer and companies as they will pay extra for the day to day services. Notable achievements during this fiscal year are that CPI inflation which has gone down to 5.4% and GDP increased to 7.6% in the NDA government’s tenure.” –Ssiddharth Goel, Director, KNG AGRO Foods
“Ease of doing business for startups as promised can be guaranteed after this budget as the announcement made by FM on the amendment to the companies Act to ensure speedy registration will boost startups. The Public sector banks have received a strong boost from the government with Rs 25, 000 crore towards recapitalization. However the banks role here is still undefined as private investment will only encourage the move and without that no positive development can be made.”-Gaurav Jain, Director RSJ Professionals
“Promising initiatives are announced and most of them are directed towards rural and urban employment, under the Make in India, MGNREGA and Skill India. Tax relief is seen majorly to small scale industry and also the laying down of sufficient roads and infrastructure will help rural penetration for disseminating goods and services. Two schemes for Digital Literacy for rural India are determined to bridge the gap in rural areas about insufficient access to internet. Stand Up India Scheme is welcomed and encouraged as it empowers women entrepreneurs, SC,ST and will be promoted per bank per category.” –Praveen Khandelwal, Director, Pranay Impex Pvt. Ltd
“The Indian government’s vision of ‘Transforming India’ was very well articulated in today’s budget speech of Finance Minister. On one hand the measures announced in agriculture, rural and healthcare sectors will increase the confidence of rural India while on the other financial and tax reforms will increase the confidence of investors. Besides, the government’s focus on skill development, job creation, infrastructure development and higher education will help create more job opportunities.
From a common man’s perspective too, the budget has presented some good news. Measures such as increase in HRA and lesser tax burden on individuals with income less than Rs 5 lakh will surely be welcomed.
The government’s impetus on increasing the efficiency and modernizing of ports and improving the road infrastructure will definitely provide a fillip to our sector. Overall this is a realistic budget with more focus on rural and infrastructure development while keeping the fiscal deficit in check.” -Shashi Kiran Shetty, Founder & Chairman of Allcargo Logistics
“Union Budget 2016 is a pragmatic and balanced act in the backdrop of global uncertainty. Maintaining a fiscal deficit of 3.5% is a very credible step for the financial markets, robust outlays for infrastructure, agriculture, rural and socio-economic schemes are also welcome moves, however, one can argue that more could have been provided for recapitalization of banks which are currently facing issues of mounting NPAs. Mr. Jaitley once again relaxed the FDI policy in several sectors, including insurance and pension and asset reconstruction companies, to attract more overseas investments.
The budget shows a lot of focus on rural areas and Infrastructure – arguably two important growth drivers for the economy. The focus on agriculture was awaited and will enhance expenditure on the rural and agriculture sectors. The crop insurance scheme and other allocations show the government’s tremendous thrust on improving farmers’ welfare. The linking of rural roads, 100% electrification by 2018 and a lift in farmers income are positive signs for growth of the rural economy.” – Sanjay Chamria, Vice Chairman & MD, Magma Fincorp Ltd
“Overall a promising budget. It’s heartening to see the fiscal discipline and a slew of initiatives for the under privileged. A lot of emphasis on infrastructure has set the right tone for overall economic reform. When it comes to healthcare, the union budget has rightly addressed the issue of unexpected healthcare expenses being a burden and pushing families in to poverty. The Health Protection Scheme and the Rs. 1 Lakh cover will surely help the families in need. However the budget has once again failed to address any kind of healthcare reform. It is important that the leaders from this industry are heard in the policy process where they can join hands with the Government to spearhead more planned and regulated funds for health and healthcare. This by far has been the most disappointing budget for health. It is time that the government realizes that Health is an important indicator of economic development and work towards an overarching vision for healthcare.” –Ameera Shah, MD & CEO- Metropolis Healthcare
“The step to set up ‘Higher Education Financing Agency’ is most welcome which is in the private public sector with initial outlay of Rs. 1000 crore by the government. Corporates can use their CSR fund to participate in this process effectively. Many poor students would benefit from it. There has been lot of discussion on skill building and employment generation in the budget. There are some good moves like ‘National Digital Mission’ to cover 6 crore additional rural households. One thing government clearly admits that the current education system does not provide skilled manpower to the industry. While we wait for the new education policy there is a clear indication that government wants to create new institutions in the form of 1500 multi-skill institutes at the outlay of Rs. 1700 crores.” –Dr. Satish Modh, Director of VES Institute of Management Studies & Research Centre, Mumbai
“Overall, the Union Budget augers well for the real estate sector, having addressed Affordable Housing, REIT and Infrastructure. Infrastructure and rural development focus in the Budget has been encouraging and is expected to give the much needed fillip to the real estate sector. With massive push in infrastructure (huge outlay for roads and railways and developing smaller airports to improve regional connectivity) and incentives to MSME, Make-in-India will get a further boost that will benefit the real estate sector in the long run. Additionally, the government’s focus on digitization of land records as spelt in the Union Budget is in the right direction especially in the rural areas, which will render land records free from encumbrances.” – Shishir Baijal, Chairman & Managing Director, Knight Frank India
“The devil lies in the detail, but overall the Union Budget 2016-2017 sounds exciting and promising for the IT and IT related industries. Governments ambitious announcement to achieve 100% village electrification by 1st May, 2018 and a new Digital Literacy Mission Scheme for rural India to cover around 6 crore additional household within the next 3 years is commendable.
The allocation of Rs. 1804 crore for skill development and the proposed 1500 Multi Skill Training Institutes to be set-up, will definitely boost the employable population and generate more jobs for rural youths and in turn would help release the pressure in urban cities for want of employment.
The government is already taking steps towards digitisation, but more focus is needed on getting the plans implemented really fast.” – Ajit Patel, CEO & Founder of n-gage
“We welcome the announcements made today by Finance Minister, Sri Arun Jaitley in the Union Budget of India 2016. Increasing budgets for spends on constructing new state and national highways will positively impact the logistic industry which will allow deeper penetration and improved delivery and services. However, the associated facilities and infrastructure should also have been part of the budget and focus of our government like increasing and improving the conditions of the Seva Kendras, which are the truck driver’s well being centres. Improving the numbers and conditions of these kendras with good food, training programs, healthcare initiatives is equally important to improve the truck driver health and make our highways a safer haven.” – Praveen Somani, Director, Inland World Logistics
“We welcome the initiatives taken by The Finance Minister Mr. Arun Jaitley, however we were looking forward for government support in creating a positive environment pertaining to venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) funds in India, and bringing it at par with the global standards. We were expecting regulators should help unlock domestic capital pools by encouraging institutions regulated by them to invest in VC/PE asset classes. Pensions & provident funds should have been encouraged and investment limits for banks & insurance companies in VC/PE Funds could have been increased from 10% to 25%.”-Ajay Jalan, Founder & Managing Partner, Next Orbit Ventures
“We welcome the initiatives taken by The Finance Minister Mr. Arun Jaitley in this budget to control the air pollution levels in the country. However, home and business owners as well as the air purifier industry need to be incentivised to get air pollution protection devices such as air purifiers in every Indian homes. To start with, reducing import duties on air purifiers can be a step that can be taken by the government.” – Bengt Rittri, Founder and CEO of Blueair
“While an excise duty of 1% has been levied on gold, diamonds and platinum jewellery, I am relieved that silver has been exempted from this. Since our silver jewellery is largely hand crafted by small scale artisans, they would find it difficult to comply with the same.
Being a start up ourself, we are glad that ceiling for income has been raised from Rs 1 crore to Rs 2 crore which will facilitate our growth. In addition to this, with the digital literacy scheme to be launched to cover 6 crore additional rural households, in the long term, it is indeed a positive sign for us that will help us increase our potential target audience as an online silver store.” – Kajal Jain, Founder, Ahilyajewels.com
“The budget announced today is a non-event from the market perspective. No increase in eligibility for LTCG is a big relief for the market. Taxing of PPF and making it par with NPS is an indirect positive for the capital market. The taxability of dividend income above Rs. 10 lakh is likely to help in curbing the menace of dividend stripping. The main focus of the budget has been on rural income and infra which both are commendable. Despite the lower allocation for the recapitalization of PSU, maintaining the fiscal deficit target is a clear indicator to RBI to cut interest rates further. Also increasing the deduction on HRA is a welcome step to increase disposable income for the middle class. We would like to give a 7 out of 10 overall for the budget.” – Abhimanyu Sofat, Cofounder, AdviseSure.com
“The Government continues to incentivize the start-up ecosystem as we have seen in the recent budget pronouncement. I am glad that the Government clearly recognizes that start-ups can be powerful problem solvers for the myriad issues facing the country and in turn generate employment as well. The Government’s decision to allow for 100% deduction of profits for 3 out of 5 years between April 2016 and March 2019 is certainly a welcome step that will boost start-ups.” –Mohandas Pai, Advisor, iSPIRT, Chairman, Manipal Global Education Services and Aarin Capital
“Capital gains Tax exemption in regulated / notified fund of funds & lowering the period from 3 years to 2 years for definition of Long term Capital Gains in unlisted companies are both welcome. We had hoped that treating investments by AIFs and angel groups in unlisted companies would be aligned with the public market equity tax regime. We also welcome the SETU fund of Rs. 1000 crore to boost innovation and incubation and the one day registration process for start-ups will all help the eco system to grow.” –Padmaja Ruparel, President, Indian Angel Network
“The 3-year tax exemption for startups is indeed a positive move that will reduce compliance burden and cash outflows, allowing ventures to invest in product development and scaling-up the businesses. Exemption from capital gains tax is an expected move from this year’s budget and will encourage more high risk investments into the ecosystem. However, would have been great if capital gains tax regime for unlisted companies was aligned with that for listed companies at least for investments made by SEBI registered AIFs. This would end the discrimination against domestic venture capital funds ( AIFs) as foreign funds anyway pay no capital gains tax by investing from Mauritius and other treaty friendly countries. By enabling one-day registrations for start-ups , the Government has focused on bringing in ease of business for the ventures. Many countries in the world do this already and, with the user of technology, I am sure this will get implemented expeditiously.”-Saurabh Srivastava, Co-Founder, Indian Angel Network
“Start-ups in the country will certainly benefit from the budget announcement of amending the Companies Act to announce easier and swifter registration of companies. Another positive announcement from the budget speech by Arun Jaitley has been the focus on Aadhar for subsidy delivery. The Aadhar powered India stack from authentication to execution, coupled with the open API policy in India, can certainly transform the way in which digitally focused companies can reach the masses quicker and more effectively.” –Sharad Sharma Co-Founder & Governing Council member of iSPIRT
“I am really happy for Aadhar and IndiaStack. Finally, the government has provided legislative backing that will unleash the full potential of such an incredible platform. With the focus on digital payments and incentives to startups, the Finance Minister has boosted our Prime Minister’s Digital India and Startup India plans. Overall, the budget creates a strong foundation for sustainable growth in rural & urban India. Steps to further improve Ease Of Doing Business will drive entrepreneurship which is essential for job creation.”-Vijay Shekhar Sharma – Founder and CEO, Paytm
“The announcements are at best just good intentions. The devil is in the implementation. Let me give an example why India does not have a good support system for startups from the Government.
PSU and Government tenders repeatedly specify, for certain categories, products by name from foreign vendors, usually large MNCs. Although India-made products meet the specifications mentioned in the tender, they cannot be quoted as they were excluded in the named category list. All Indian vendors, including SMEs are thereby excluded from even participation, forget about getting the business.
In such a scenario, reaching revenue thresholds for taxation purpose for a technology “product” company is really a moot point – if is relying on domestic market. All announcements for the SMEs appear like putting lipstick on a pig.”-Shekhar Dasgupta, Founder, GreenField Software Pvt Ltd
“The starting of a company in 1 day is great. However, closure of a company within a reasonable time is equally important. For the part on income tax, it should be exempt for a period of at least 5 years or on the recommendation of an auditor basis the business model of the company and depending on the losses being incurred. The holding period for capital gains should be reduced further, especially if a 50% of the Capital Gains are being invested back into startups. However, the silence on angel tax is a major concern area and should be explained clearly. The FM could have done much more.”-sAbhinav Mathur, Director Talentiser Lab – Jobick
“The union budget 2016-17 is a step forward for the welfare of the people and growth in the country. For the infrastructure development the government has announced fund allocation of at Rs. 2.31 lakh crore that would aim to enhance the infrastructure base of the country.
Guideline for renegotiation of PPP contracts is a long standing demand from international investors and will make the investment environment much more risk neutral. It is a a big step towards overseas funding comfort for PPP in infrastructure. The 228% higher grants to gram Panchayats & urban local bodies in accordance with FFC recommendations will augment development process significantly in terms of providing basic facilities like clean healthy water, sanitation, and other basic amenities leading to smart towns of future.
This budget restores balance in Rural Bharat and India Inc. The approach of the Finance Minister is one of quantum jump rather than tinkering, which would accelerate the development process and put the Indian economy on a sustainable growth trajectory, while further expediting the “Make in India” programme and ‘Swaach Bharat Mission.”-Arun Lakhani, CMD – Vishvaraj Infrastructure Ltd
“This budget is a populist one and overall clearly defined for the lower class, middle class, and higher class. Various initiatives in the budget are a significant boost to all startups business entrepreneurs and new manufacturing companies. The budget also taxes the riches and high-income people (nothing major for them) heavily, with passing benefits to lower class and middle class will be an attempt to balance the economy. Service tax exemption for housing will be a significant boost for home buyers and for the overall growth of the sector. This budget seems to be making an effort to create an agro economy as well. Considering all the initiatives by the finance minister, the Union Budget 2016 aims at jobs creation, rural development, and structural transformation which will lead to overall growth of the economy.”-Chiranjiv Patel, Incoming Regional Director, Entrepreneurs Organization, South Asia
“Budget 2016 comes with a huge boost for start-up ecosystem. The government fund announced today will provide SC/ST and women entrepreneurs with easy access to funding. Budget 2016 focuses a lot on ease of doing business. With tax exemption in the first three years and ease of registering business, it becomes easier for start-ups to focus on growth in their critical years.”-Rahul Agrawal, Ceo and Co-Founder, MebelKart
“Starting a company in 1 day is good, but It is not just company name incorporation – we need same day real time issue of PAN/ TIN numbers. The holding period for Capital Gains should also be one year to bring parity with listed shares.”-Ishan Singh, REV – Re Capital Ventures
