India Inc hails the government's budget as growth-oriented

Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman made a great effort to pull all strings together in this budget and ensure economic setback to put lives and livelihoods back to the track. There has been greater spending on health care and fiscal push to brace up the struggling demand in the pandemic-hit economy.

Industry players had to comment on budget 2021:

"The budget as promised by the Finance Minister is unprecedented, rather a bold budget. Fiscal deficit due to pandemic has given the government a big jolt, still, FM announced a lot of spending in order to drive the economy positively. This budget has given growth direction to all the industries and incentivized different sectors," Hemant Sood, Managing Director, Findoc Financial Services Group.

"Major beneficiaries are compes which assist capital expenditure like L&T, ACE, BHEL, BEL etc. There would be a lot of growth in the banking sector which is the backbone of all spending. We have seen good growth in ICICI bank and HDFC bank. Announcement on the bad bank would also help in consolidation of NPAs of PSU banks, they would become a good buy once a bad bank is implemented, major beneficiaries would be SBI and IDBI bank," he added.

"Budget 2021 is well-conceived and well structured and can be a game-changer to bring in the necessary financial boost to the country. A major thrust has been given to infrastructure if all allocations are to be added. This was needed to kick start the economy and give the necessary impetus to businesses across the country. Infrastructure is the backbone of our economy, and the announcement will boost employment which has been badly hit by COVID. It will inertly improve commercial development, real estate sentiments and boost affordable housing which has also been a major focus for this budget. Infrastructure development can balance the demand-supply gap our economy has been facing since COVID-19," said Ankush Ahuja, hBits, Director-Business Development & Investment.

"Announcement of affordable housing projects to avail tax holiday for another year till March 31, 2022, is an encouraging step for the real estate industry. Affordable housing has been a key contributor towards boosting the sector even during the Covid times. Developers and real estate consultancies can further push the government's agenda of making housing accessible and affordable to everyone with this announcement. Not only will it help the lower scale contractors to be "Atmrbhar", but it will also boost market sentiments of real estate fraternity, especially in the Tier- two and three cities," said Sakshee Katiyal, CEO, Home & Soul.

"Overall, the Budget is growth-driven and resisted the urge to fund expenses by increasing taxes, which is a big sigh of relief for the common man and markets alike and is likely to prove the greatest impetus. At the same time, the Budget acknowledges and addresses the expected growth in fiscal deficit which demonstrates administrative prudence. While walking the tight rope between stimulating growth and revival and maintaining fiscal discipline, the budget also manages a dash of colour in the form of proposals for consolidation of fundamental laws regulating the securities markets, establishing the Bad Bank and big bang Healthcare reforms," said Waseem Pangarkar, Senior Partner MZM Legal.

"However, no satisfactory plan has been designed to deal with the discontinuation of loan to Food Corporation of India. Also, certain states have been given preferential treatments for a reason beyond economics," he added.

"The increase of FDI limit from 49 per cent to 74 per cent is a much-needed step to boost insurance infrastructure in the country. The funds infused will help in bridging the demand supply gap in insurance, especially in the Tier- two and three cities. It will not only help core insurance compes but also insurance aggregators, brokers, and InsurTech compes. The funds' infusion will also help in digitization and technology integration in the sector, which is the need of the hour for empowering insurance," said Balachander Sekhar, CEO, RenewBuy.

"It's a well thought out budget. Amongst others, a plethora of measures has been proposed to boost ease of doing business - revisions under the Compes Act, consolidation of several securities-related laws into a single code, etc. Further reducing time for reopening assessment will go a long way in reducing tax litigation," said Manjula Chawla, Co-founding Partner, Phoenix Legal.

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( With inputs from ANI )