Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented her second Union Budget in the midst of a desperate economic situation – a slowdown that hasn’t seen the bottom yet; consumption, private investment and exports refusing to pick up and even public expenditure suffering a setback due to lower than expected tax collections in FY20. It was imperative to kick-start at least one or the other growth engines of the economy to bring the fast decelerating economy back on track. Instead, Sitharaman aimed at two engines – consumption and investment cycle – in the hope that disposable income in the hands of individuals and money with corporates would restart the two engines. She answered the call with a new personal income tax regime offering more money to tax payers, protectionist import tariff hikes to strengthen corporate balance sheets and a generous amnesty scheme to unlock ₹9.41 lakh crore of direct tax disputes. Business Today spoke to a dozen leaders including noted economists, CEOs, tax experts, exporters and bankers to gauge the mood of the country.
The experts include Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Chairperson and Managing Director, Biocon; Preetha Reddy, Vice Chairperson, Apollo Hospitals; Rathin Roy, Director, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy; Mukesh Butani, Managing Partner at BMR Legal; Ashu Suyash, Managing Director and CEO, Crisil; R.S. Sodhi, Managing Director, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (Amul); Saugata Gupta, Managing Director, Marico; Surendra Rosha, Group General Manager and CEO, HSBC India; Vishesh C. Chandiok, CEO, Grant Thornton India; Nimesh Shah, Managing Director and CEO, ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund; Sachchidanand Shukla, Chief Economist, Mahindra Group; Partha Chatterjee, Dean-International Partnerships, Professor and Head, Economics Department, Shiv Nadar University.
Here’s what they had to say on whether Budget 2020 will revive Indian economy:
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