Union Budget reactions 2019
"We completely hail the government's vision of a New India that will thrive on the confluence of new age digital technologies, quality education, and apt skilling. We look forward to partnering with the industry and academia to nurture the start-up ecosystem, and to fuel a culture of research and innovation that will help travel the road to India becoming a five trillion dollar economy", said CP Gurnani, MD and CEO, Tech Mahindra.
"We are pleased with the government's thrust on improving infrastructure and technology as catalysts for the economy going ahead. For India to be on the path to being the third largest economy by 2030, the budget's rightfully emphasized that robust improvements are required in social infrastructure and education. The plan to set up 20 technology incubators to push rural development opens the stage for new initiatives that will enable India to become a USD 5 trillion economy in the years ahead.
Additionally, the budget has emphasized on 17 'iconic sites' which will be transformed into world-class destinations to provide an impetus to the tourism sector. All these initiatives, I believe, will assist in reshaping and empowering the country and will help to drive and sustain long-term growth for India", said Rajiv Bhalla, Managing Director, Barco India.
"The budget while precisely laying the foundation of the role technology has to play for distant New India, has very little to offer for immediate New India. The expectation was some out of box thoughts that could resolve some major challenges like debt in telecom, increasing domestic value addition in manufacturing or tech led job creation. But this is a budget as usual", said Faisal Kawoosa, Founder and Chief Analyst, techARC.
Consumer Electronics and Telecom
"With a strong focus on quality education, research, innovation, skill-building, and infrastructure upgrade, India is on the right track to become a leading global economy in the near future. In the smartphones industry where consumers, especially, the millennials willing to spend more to upgrade their devices every two years and the market driving with a continuous strive towards upscaling the technological offering, there is an alarming need to amplify skill training in this industry, more importantly, to boost the Made-in-India initiative. The Kaushal Vikas Yojana to train ten million youth in industry-relevant skill is the perfect foundation that will further boost the indigenous brands and come up with products that are at par with international standards", said Pardeep Jain, Managing Director, Jaina Group.
"The first Budget of the Modi 2.0 government has all the right ingredients to bring about structural changes in the economy. Multiple measures have been announced with focus on private sector-led investment, jobs, rural distress and exports. Basic custom duty has been hiked on select items to support the government's cherished 'Make in India' dream. Meanwhile, we continue to await long-term measures that will aid market sentiment and boost the consumption cycle", said Dr Abhishek Garg, Executive Director, Sansui India.
Real Estate
"Budget 2019 has announced new measure to promote rental housing, including a new tenancy law. This has been long pending is a much-needed upgrade to the outdated law. Getting HFCs under RBI regulation is a good move. Govt is also aiming to build 1.95 crore houses under PMAY-Gramin in the next two years, giving a massive push to housing all by 2022. We are looking forward to lower interest rates and measures to resolve costly real estate to bolster activity in the real estate space", said Prashant Solomon, MD, Chintels India and Treasurer for CREDAI NCR.
"Union Budget 2019 reiterates the Government's policy of providing 'Housing for All' by 2022 and provides further tax incentives for home buyers in the affordable housing segment. This will definitely give a fillip to demand by making housing more affordable. We also welcome the move to bring in 'Model Tenancy Law' as it has the potential to spawn the growth of new segments such as rental housing, student housing, senior living, etc", said Nagaraju Routhu, CEO Hero Realty Pvt. Ltd.
Retail
"The government's vision of growing India's economy to touch USD 5 trillion promises strong growth for all involved sectors and we welcome the possibilities. The Finance Minister has emphasized on developing the retail sector and we believe this sector will provide adequate thrust to the economy's prosperity. Opening the sector to foreign direct investment has opened up new avenues for us and we are prepared for the upcoming boom in the retail segment and across the economy", said Abhishek Bansal, Executive Director, Pacific India.
Sports
"The budget tabled today is crafted to attain the goal of reaching the USD 5 trillion economy mark in the upcoming years. The government's wide-ranging initiatives for the development of the working sector, the financial segment, women's development and the agrarian populace is commendable. We are certainly heartened by the budget's emphasis on developing and popularizing sports in India and look forward to being a part of this journey", said MD Arun Pandey, Rhiti sports.
Education
"Allocation of Rs 400 crore for world-class higher education, 'Study in India', new national education policy, thrust towards R & D, skilling and new-age technologies are all steps in the right direction that will help, the government, industry and academia in establishing India as the next educational hub. Additionally, the emphasis on quality education, improving the overall infrastructure will help the country become future-ready with a deeper focus on research and new age skills such as robotics and AI", said Prashant Gupta, Executive Director, Sharda University.
"We hail the intent in this budget of a New India that aims to make the country as one of the leading higher education destination in the world. The focus on a new national policy, efforts to increase government funding, emphasis on research, skilling and digital technologies are the levers that will surely help drive India's growth as one of the leading economies in future. We look forward to achieve the collective digital dream", said Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Vice-Chancellor, World University of Design.
Healthcare
"This is a mixed budget, realizing that it is an interim budget, we had higher expectations, on one side it benefits realty sector by promoting seven lakh benefit in home loan for apartments below 45 lakh, and benefit to education sector by encouraging students to come and study in India in addition to incentivising for manufacturing "Make in India" in aspects such as lithium batteries for EV vehicles in India; however healthcare schemes like Ayushman Bharat could have been strengthened by further allocation of budget and strengthening of healthcare.
India's current spend on healthcare is one of the lowest in the world with the current spend on healthcare remaining just a little over 1 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The government in its National Health Policy spoke about increasing the spend to 2.5 per cent of the GDP", said Farhan Pettiwala, Executive Director and Head Development- India and South Asia, Akhand Jyoti Eye Hospital (A Tata Initiative).
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-ANI
