Union Budget 2016-Industry Reactions

The much awaited Union Budget 2016 is finally out with several key announcements and reform measures announced by the Finance Minister to boost local manufacturing as well as encourage entrepreneurship in the country.
While the IT industry prior to the budget announcement, shared its set of expectations and recommendations, its time to have a look at what the top officials of the sector have to comment on the budget 2016.

Below is a compilation of post budget reactions from industry leaders, analyzing the announced initiatives -:

“The budget seeks to provide an environment to boost growth and employment generation with a clear focus on the rural segment. Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley has crafted an effective budget aimed at inclusive growth through the support provisions of the National Digital Literacy Mission and the allocation for MNREGA. The focus is on next level of growth coming through strengthening the infrastructure projects. Enhancing educational skills and greater support for higher education is a concerted step in that direction,” said Chandan Chowdhury, Managing Director-India, Dassault Systems.

Terming the budget as futuristic and one which aims at inclusive growth, Shrikant Shitole, Managing Director, India, Symantec opined,”Enhanced investment in the budget for infrastructure, agriculture, rural and social sectors would support India’s continued journey of inclusive and sustainable growth. Protected and secure technology infrastructure fostering engendering trust will be critical to success of projects like e-marketplace, digital vaults for certificates and e-procurement. Legislative backing for Aadhaar should have requisite privacy provisions.”

”Measures such as fiscal consolidation, taxation reforms, FDI in food sector will help escalate Foreign investment in India. Continued investments in the social sector to improve employment through skill-building and greater emphasis on higher education reinforces a promising future,” said P. Venkatesh, Director – Product Division, Maveric Systems, sharing his opinion on the budget.
Welcoming the duty cuts for semiconductor wafer fabrication as well as LCD fabrication, the Indian Electronics And Semiconductor Association(IESA) has termed the budget as a perfect stage for entrepreneurial growth in the country.

”Investment exists in start-ups in two years qualifies as Long Term Capital Gains and this encourages angel/venture capital infusion. Further, the simplification of norms for forming a company along with 3 year tax holiday will spur entrepreneurs to establish start-ups. This reflects the commitment PM Modi made during the Start-up India Action Plan on Jan 16th. We are happy with Government’s initiative to boost local manufacturing and the start-up ecosystem in India, with their decision to allow rebates to the SMEs and also 100% deduction of profits to the start-ups,” said M.N. Vidyashankar, President, IESA.

Applauding the government’s move to automate 3 lakh Fair Price Shops in India, Govind Rajan, COO FreeCharge stated,”Fair price shops are lifeline of India, especially in tier 2 and beyond markets. Government’s proposal to automate 3 lakh Fair Price Shops is a great step towards the overall Digital India agenda. This will streamline the processes within these shops and will make it easier for consumers to make purchases. With the recent announcement by Government around waiving off surcharge and convenience fee, this move will further open up the scope for automation of payments at Fair Price Shops by embracing new forms of digital payments like wallets.