Industry reactions on Union Budget (Part-20)

Dinanath Dubhashi, MD & CEO, L&T Finance Holdings Ltd.
"It's a well-balanced Budget that has finely pushed the capex spending without compromising the fiscal discipline. The measures oriented towards improving the purchasing power of households and enhancing the prosperity of agriculture and allied sectors augur well for the business models of retail-focused NBFCs. A good control over market borrowings has avoided any negative news for the bond markets. In the absence of any significant global shock, today's Budget has every potential to bring out a broad-based revival in the Indian economy".

Vikas Jain, Co-Founder, PLAY Design Labs
“A very sensible budget presentation and the FM has been considerate to the common man and industry alike. There is massive commitment of job creation and infrastructure spending which is very well received for India. Modification to the income tax slabs is a delight for the citizens and should encourage more citizens to declare their income statement. Most the industry is well taken care of and focus on strengthening manufacturing is evident. We hope to see some focus and action on the “cost of capital” in future budgets and themes. Backing manufacturing by incentivizing R&D/Design could have been a great addition and we remain hopeful for outlay for design in the forthcoming edition.”

Nikhil Sethi, MD, Zuvomo
"The budget over-delivers on personal income tax with the 7 lac rebate for the middle class, surcharge relief for NHIs, fiscal consolidation and largely all fronts. More money in the hands of taxpayers coupled with a healthy economy expected to fuel spendings and investments. I'd bet on banks and infrastructure to do well."
 

Kush Singh, CEO, Essar Power
“The Union Budget 2022-2023 reflects the country’s rapid economic growth whilst projecting a bright future. Honourable FM has based the budget on 7 priorities wherein Green growth has been given a major spotlight which is the current need of the hour for the energy sector. Green hydrogen will emerge as an important instrument to decarbonise the energy value chain, including the corporate sector. The decision to reduce custom duty on lithium ion batteries will promote energy storage to provide round-the-clock renewable power at reduced cost. The amalgamated steps taken will not only help reduce carbon intensity of the economy but will simultaneously help create job opportunities. The ultimate goal is to reduce dependence on fossil fuel inputs and make the country assume technology and market leadership in this sunrise sector. This is a growth oriented budget and the efforts made towards green growth including policies and fund allocations will help us achieve the target of green hydrogen production of 5 mn tonne by 2030.”

CA Manish P. Hingar, Founder at Fintoo
“In the most awaited budget 2023, one of the positive moves is for senior citizens where the maximum investment limit for senior citizen saving Scheme accounts has doubled from 15 lacs to 30 lacs. This scheme currently offers an 8.0% p.a. interest rate, and this positive move will give senior citizens who are usually conservative investors to invest up to 30 lacs in this scheme at 8%.
Similarly, the maximum investment limit in Post office Monthly Income Scheme (MIS) accounts is also increased to 9 lacs for a single account and 15 lacs for joint accounts. Currently, the rate of interest offered is 7.1% per annum, payable monthly. Highly Conservative Investors will have more opportunities to invest money in this scheme for the debt exposure in their portfolio.”
 

CA Manish P. Hingar, Founder at Fintoo
“Capital Gain exemption u/s Sections 54 and 54F-
As per sec 54  / 54F of Income Tax, 1961, an individual or HUF can take a deduction from gain arising from the sale of a House property or other investments by reinvestment in another house property with no limit. In the current budget proposal effective from 1st April 2023, if the investment in new house property is more than 10 crore, then the deduction amount will be limited to Rs. 10 crores only. In summary, the maximum deduction an individual or HUF can avail is Rs. 10 crores by investing in new house property. It is going to impact the ultra HNI people as they need to pay long-term capital gain on the sale of house property with big ticket size but it will be not a major setback as you can still take a deduction up to Rs. 10 crores.” 

 
Nidhi Manchanda, Certified Financial Planner, Head of Training, Research & Development at Fintoo
“One of the major setbacks that is given in the finance bill is related to the taxability of the maturity proceeds of a life insurance policy. As per the budget 2023, the maturity proceeds of all life insurance policies that are issued after 1st April 2023 and have an annual premium of more than Rs. 5 Lakhs will now be taxable. One should note that if an individual has more than one life insurance policy which is issued on or after the 1st of April 2023 and also if the aggregate amount of premium of such policies exceeds 5 lacs, then the maturity amount will be taxable.
However, the death benefit continues to remain tax-exempt from such life insurance policies, and it is not applicable to ULIPs. This move is definitely negative for the insurance industry and will impact related stocks. Post the budget, the market has seen a fall in the stock prices of HDFC life, SBI Life and Max as they are down by around 7%.”

 
Nisha Harchekar, Head - Equity Research at Fintoo
“Railways get big chunk in Budget 2023-24 - Government announces Rs 2.40 lakh crore capital outlay; this is 9 times the outlay announced in 2013-14. Similar to industry expectations, the Railway outlay has come at a whopping amount. Railway related stocks namely Titagarh, IRCTC, RVNL, IRCON gain.”
 

Nisha Harchekar, Head - Equity Research at Fintoo
“The announcements related to the eradication of sickle cell disease by 2047 and promoting the health education and skills development program by establishing new 157 new nursing colleges in strategic places definitely look good from the citizen’s perspective looking for development in healthcare facilities as well as for the people looking to build a career in the nursing industry. However, from an investor’s perspective, the announcement related to promoting the research and development of cutting-edge medical technology would more or less impact the MediTech sector than the pharma sector.”

Dr. Payal Kanodia, Trustee, M3M Foundation
“The budget for this year is very encouraging, with a focus on inclusive development, green growth, and youth power. The announcements in various fields, such as tax relief, education improvements, and focus research and development, are encouraging. The increase in allocation for school education from Rs 63,449 crore (Budget Estimate) in 2022-23 to Rs 68,804 crore in 2023-24 is a welcome step for the education sector. The availability of the National Digital Library to children will greatly benefit the children. A strong focus on youth skill development will assist industries to attract young talent. Another significant development is the establishment of 30 Skill India International Centres across various states to prepare youth for international opportunities. We heartily welcome the 'Mahila Samman Saving Certificate' for women with a fixed interest rate of 7.5 per cent, for over a period of two years. This will definitely lead to shaping India into a stronger and growing economy in the future.

Sanjay Palve, Senior Managing Director, Essar Capital Ltd
“The Union Budget 2023 has encompassed almost all critical sectors and holds a lot of promise for the economy. The Budget witnesses some of the biggest updates for the finance and infra sector which will be a transformative approach for economic growth and sustainable development in India. Clear emphasis on Green growth will certainly pave the way toward clean energy transition. We are also happy to note the Government’s efforts in propelling areas such as Youth power and Women, Inclusive development and Unleashing the potential, all of which envision a prosperous, inclusive India in which the fruits of development will benefit all sections of the society.”
 

Pritam Chivukula, Co-Founder & Director, Tridhaatu Realty and Treasurer, CREDAI-MCHI
"The Government has laid an emphasis on economic growth and job creation in the Union budget announced today. As far as the real estate sector is considered, the enhancement of the PMAY Fund by 66% to Rs. 79,000 crore will be a big boost for the affordable housing segment. This has yet again highlighted the Government's vision of Housing for All. Also, the increase of the income tax exemption limit up to Rs 7 lakh under new tax regime will encourage a lot of homebuyers to buy their dream homes.

The enhanced capital expenditure of ₹ 10 lakh crore for infrastructure development will fast-track implementation of bigger infrastructure projects which in turn will propel the growth of the real estate sector and help drive demand. It will go a long way in supporting the MSME sector and revive industrial activity.

Through Ease of Doing Business, the Government continues to encourage digitization and fin-tech innovation. The focus on creation of digital infra, single portal for ease-of-doing business and digital skilling will strengthen the start-up ecosystem.

It could have been a better budget for the real estate sector which is also the second largest employment generator after agriculture. Overall, a progressive budget with the Government's emphasis on job creation, building a robust infrastructure and revitalizing the economy."

Ravi Mittal, Founder & CEO of QuackQuack
"The Budget 2023-2024 comes bearing good news; it shows the economy to grow at 7% this year, which is the highest among all major economies, and we couldn't be more optimistic. The focus on Startups in this year's budget is certainly encouraging. As a young company with 22 million users, we are hopeful that the announcement regarding Startups will only take us further ahead. It is exciting to see that India will have more Centres of Excellence for the development of Artificial Intelligence to help make AI work for India. We understand that the Data Governance Policy will be brought out to unleash innovation and research and is expected to encourage startups, but it is still too early to say how and on what this will be implemented.”

Dinesh Pratap Singh, Co-Founder, WoodenStreet
“The new scheme announced by the Finance Minister falling under PM VIshwakarma Kaushal Samman for artisans and craftsman will enable them to improve the quality, scale and reach of their products, integrating them with the MSME value chain. This will further include financial support and also access to advanced skill training, knowledge of modern digital techniques, brand promotion, linkage with local and global markets, digital payments, and social security. It will greatly benefit the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, OBCs, women and people belonging to the weaker sections.”