A growth-oriented Budget, capex push welcome: India Inc

THE FM SAID THE GOVT HAS CUT 25K COMPLIANCES AND REPEALED OVER 1,486 LAWS IN THE LAST FEW YEARS

MUMBAI: The Budget was welcomed on Tuesday by leaders of India Inc, who appreciated the finance minister’s focus to push for strong economic growth through a substantial increase in government spending on capital expenditure.

The government’s focus on green and sustainable development coupled with its efforts on the ease of doing business front, were also welcomed by corporate India.

“The Budget presented by FM Nirmala Sitharaman builds on the excellent Budget last year, continuing the trend toward more productive expenditure. The Budget is consistent with our honorable PM Narendra Modi’s vision of making India Atmanirbhar: a digital superpower, a sustainability leader and a healthy nation. This statement of intent is clearly supported by a plan for the future, and backed by allocations—specifically in the areas of infrastructure, digital transition, planet resilience, education and health—to support Indian ambitions,” said N Chandrasekaran, chairman, Tata Sons.

The outlay for capex has been raised by 35.4% from ₹5.54 trillion in the current fiscal year to ₹7.50 trillion in FY23. The FM also announced a slew of infrastructure projects under the PM GatiShakti program across roads, multimodal logistics parks and railways.

“One of the strongest parts of this Budget is the government’s renewed commitment with its continued investment in strengthening the country’s infrastructure. The proposal to fund infrastructure through PM Gati Shakti, Public Private Partnerships, etc. will mark the escalation of economic prosperity. Overall, the budget seems to have given a booster dose to facilitate faster economic growth of the Nation; roads is definitely one of the prominent sectors to get deserved focus through adequate funding,” said Virendra D Mhaiskar, chairman & managing director, IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd.

Kaku Nakhate, president and India country head, Bank of America, added that by announcing a whopping Rs 10.7 lakh crore capex across central, state governments and private sector, the Budget makes a definitive statement -- a higher fiscal deficit is needed to drive growth and create jobs. “The Budget builds on last year’s themes to ensure secular and sustainable growth,” she said.

The Budget also introduced the government’s next step towards Ease of Doing Business 2.0 which will see further measures to reduce the compliance burden on India Inc. The FM stated that the government has reduced over 25,000 compliances and repealed over 1,486 Union laws in the last few years.

Sitharaman added that the government will follow the idea of “trust-based governance”.

“Delighted to see that the next phase of ease of doing business reforms will be centered on trustbased governance. I believe the time for moving to self-certification across the board has come,” said Anil Agarwal, chairman, Vedanta group.

According to Uday Kotak, chairman of Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd, the idea of trust-based governance reposes faith in taxpayers, entrepreneurs, and investors.

“Budget: trust-based governance to build Atmanirbhar Bharat. Reposes faith in taxpayers, entrepreneurs, investors. Build an open, digital and inclusive India with a 25-year vision,” he said.