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Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE UPDATES: The Union Budget 2021 is just around the corner! Union Budget 2021 is all set to be tabled in Parliament on February 1, 2021. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has promised a never before like Union Budget as the Modi government looks to give a further boost to the Indian economy. Ahead of the Union Budget 2021 tabling and presentation, here are all the LIVE updates on the expectations from Modi government, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Union Budget 2021-22:-

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Dilpreet Singh Wasan, Partner, Kanz 

"The upcoming budget in all likelihood would see an increase in import duties on hardware and electrical items given our military skirmishes with China recently. It is also expected from the government to ease the foreign exchange norms to facilitate the MSMEs. Another important expectation is to simplify the cumbersome GST process. Importers have to pay GST and then they have to get it reimbursed later. This is against the ease of doing business. Additionally, I would say, a reduction in the GST from 18%, which is quite high, would go a long way in facilitating business."

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Ankit Saluja, Co-founder, Premium Autoz

"We all have been holding up somehow. Covid-19 has already affected the auto sector to a large extent and left no room for hopes. But the whole auto industry has been looking forward to the union budget 2021-22. We expect cuts in GST rates on pre owned cars,which means rationalising the tax structure. Along with that we are also expecting import duty to be reduced so that both customers and we business owners can be benefitted on a whole. Infact, the auto industry also requires some sort of relief in overall custom duties, as in for raw materials and miscellaneous manufacturing elements.We are just expecting the government to assist and help us in recovering from the Covid-19-induced economic shock and slowdown."

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Rahul Sharma, President – Aluminium Association of India and Dy. CEO – Aluminium Business, Vedanta Ltd.

“With an urgent need to put Indian economy on a growth track in 2021 and undo the aftereffects of the pandemic expectations from the upcoming Union Budget are quite high. Recent fiscal measures taken by the Government have been highly praiseworthy.  It is now even more important to ensure that specific measures are announced in the upcoming budget which pull the metals sector out of an ongoing challenging phase. 2021 will see global supply chains getting reworked providing India a great opportunity to become a global leader in non-ferrous metals like Aluminium, Copper and Zinc. The metals sector is also fundamental to the revival of the Indian manufacturing ecosystem, realization of the dream of an Aatma Nirbhar Bharat and positioning India as an alternative global manufacturing destination.” 

“The correction of inverted duty structure with reduction of import duties on critical raw materials of the Aluminium value chain in the upcoming union budget will go a long way in made in India aluminium bridging the competitive gap it faces with respect to other major global Aluminium producers. With Aluminium production costs in India amongst one of the highest in the world, an immediate support pertaining to rationalization of power cost by reducing high cess on coal to support power intensive industries like aluminium is recommended. Lastly, removal of the long overdue anomaly in differential import duties on primary aluminium and aluminium scrap will help arrest the flooding imports majorly from China, ASEAN and the US”.

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Yogesh Kalwani, Head - Investments at InCred Wealth

"The government had announced targeted measures in a bid to aid post-pandemic recovery through CY20 and we expect it to continue to build on the same in the FY22 budget. The budget is expected to focus on infrastructure spending, Aatmanirbhar Bharat related policy measures viz PLI, import-substitution, spending on social infrastructure and healthcare, and incentives to revive demand. The market will be keenly watching how the government will fund the spending. While tax collections are expected to recover, the impetus is expected to be driven by asset monetization and disinvestment along with non-tax revenues (telecom receipts and dividend income). Government gross borrowing is expected to settle around Rs10-11trn in FY22 (against Rs12-13trn in FY21). Expect fiscal deficit to settle at 5 to 5.5% compared to 7% of GDP expected in FY21, and bond markets have already factored the same.

No negative will be positive from an equity market perspective. Equity markets are worried about covid cess, higher tax etc, and we think there is a low probability of that happening. The government will focus on non-tax revenue and disinvestments to fund spending and seek 3+ years to return to FRBM target of fiscal deficit at 2.5-3%. 

To sum it up, three factors that markets will watch out for are - a) more spending on infra, social sector (particularly health care), b) reform focused measures (PLI etc), and c) funding of expenditure (disinvestment and non-tax revenue targets)."

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Mahesh Ramamoorthy, MD - Banking Solutions, International Market, APAC, FIS. 

"This Government, since 2014, has encouraged digital payments, and have positioned digital enablement through financial inclusion as the cornerstone of next wave of growth. Statistics still reflect that across majority of business sectors, cash remains king. The Government in this Budget must provide significant incentives for promotion of digital payments that aims to drive cash conversion to digital. 

The FinTech industry is playing a pivotal role in providing  financial services to our Grassroot industries viz. Agri / MSME. Incentivising such innovation and business focus, is imperative for India to achieve the goal of galloping to a $5 trillion economy. India’s digital payment initiatives can be accelerated provided the country invests in a robust payment infrastructure. The government needs to encourage players for building infrastructure to build a sustainable customer experience. Government must encourage FINTECH’s through a policy framework that encourages private-public-partnership model. This would go a long way in delivering consumers benefits. The Union Budget should offer tax incentives for promoting & enabling the digital opportunities / processes more collaborative and corroborative. Incentives would be needed to entrepreneurs upto a certain scale who make business digital,. The e-commerce platforms have proven to be a crucial lifeline for small scale and MSME sellers during the pandemic led slow down. 

A certain category of goods and services sold on these platforms by MSMEs should be encouraged through tax rebates for their sustenance and growth. The artificial intelligence and cognitive opportunities, blockchain and distributed ledger technology, robotic process automation and cybersecurity technology play an important role in solving long-standing issues of financial inclusion and transparency in financial services. The government should consider incentives to such technology companies. This will make India to become a technology power house of the world”.   

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Sonam Chandwani, Managing Partner at KS Legal & Associates

"The 2021 Budget looms near as the pandemic ridden fiscal year comes to a close, with its highlights being overly an stressed real estate sector, a highly depreciated tourism sector, a much too supplemented banking sector and a populace so staggered that the best of regulatory packages could scratch anything more but a dent into the economy’s certain contraction. The budget aims to aid the real estate sector by supposedly, establishing a National Bank for  the same, with a composition of no less than 20,000 crore, set to provide long term financing and in-between infra projects the much needed boost. 

Aimed at boosting spending and, ultimately, money circulation in the economy, the budget is also supposed to encourage credit facilitators and at the same time, pull stricter recovery mechanisms into place, a paradoxical scenario. Moreover, with income tax woes ailing the common man, the budget is rumored to provide much awaited succor to the average earning individual, if the experts are to be trusted. Income slabs, should they be re-adjusted to a lesser degree, to exclude the gravely stricken, could result in a heavy potential loss of taxes to the government which is already riddled with PSU divestment."

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Deena Jacob- Co-founder, CFO and Head(Revenue and Growth)

"2020 will always be remembered as a bleak year, due to the onset of the pandemic. However, the government did a commendable job introducing various stimulus packages that considerably eased the burden of Indians.  We are now on the road to recovery, with the worst behind us. As we look to the future, I would like to see fintechs or new age start-ups play a more conspicuous part in rolling out solutions to India.

For the fintech space, priority should be given to the creation of a simplified taxation structure and reforms in the space. I am optimistic that the Finance Minister will pay due importance to ease of business. This is particularly critical as it impacts job creation and business growth.

We hope that this budget takes into consideration the liquidity challenges faced by new-to-credit start-ups or small scale businesses or those that had to start afresh due to the pandemic. These young businesses need support measures such as quick access to capital and lending needs to be made easier for these entrepreneurs. After all, they are vastly contributing to the ‘Make-in-India’ movement.

In recent times, we have witnessed a lot of partnerships between fintechs and banks. I would also like to see guidelines on how banks and technology partners should work together, in order to promote these collaborations. There should be a regulatory framework outlined that protects the interest of all these stakeholders. If required, even cross-government bodies need to be set up for areas that require a completely new approach."

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Ram Iyer, Founder & CEO,Vayana Network

“The Union budget 2021 should look into the following with urgency:

GST relief for the SMEs and MSMEs: There should be rationalization of GST rates on various goods and services which are used by SMEs and MSMEs. e.g., Supply Chain Management Service, HR services, Services of Chartered accountants, Under Construction property as well as on Passenger and Commercial Vehicles etc. The new rule that restricts use of input tax credit (ITC) for discharging GST liability to 99 % effective January 1, 2021 should also be relaxed in the budget, as this will make more cash available in the hands of MSMEs to fund their growth and increase their working capital. Especially as most of them have had very rough 2020

Incentivising digitization for smaller players :The E-invoicing regime is about to start for >5 crore turnover companies from 1st April 2021. This will be a great push for digitization for SMEs. However, the Budget should make special provisions for SMEs to help them adopt E-invoicing via certain incentives such as providing free (or special priced) E-invoicing applications for such SMEs.

Incentivising the lending sector: The key is to make CKYC and NBFC-AA validated bank credentialized KYC as sufficient for any lender to assume KYC done. This is especially for MSME's.

Providing benefits to lending players beyond banks : Banks will continue to grow at customary 1.5 x of GDP,  The opportunity and need is to scale lending 10x for unbanked/lightly banked, which can be helped by fintechs and non banks, anything that helps this cause in the budget will be welcome, as it opens the door to credit for a larger audience. 

Also, the borrower downloaded credit reports (digitally signed by the rating agency) should be considered as good enough rather than lending institutions retrieving credit rating reports and downgrading the credit score of the borrower. The former does not result in downgrade.”

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Anuj Kapuria, Founder & CEO, The Hi-Tech Robotics Systemz Ltd

"After a roller-coaster 2020, we expect 2021 to be the year of economic recovery, upbeat sentiments and demand revival, riding on newer technology and innovations. Going forward, industry across sectors need to be more self-reliant, efficient and attuned to technology to survive future adversities. Newer technologies like robotic and automation will be critical in driving the economy to pre-Covid levels and beyond. Budget 2021 should focus on enhancing productivity by incentivizing the use of technology to make India self-reliant and future-ready.

India has, so far, seen very low robot adoption compared to its regional and global peers. Timely policy interventions can accelerate robotic adoption in manufacturing and warehousing. Special focus should be on warehouse automation where we have seen an increase in customer traction. 

Interventions are required on multiple fronts – boosting demand, accelerating technology development and building a conducive ecosystem. Reduction of customs duty/IGST and providing tax breaks/incentives to robotics adopters can boost demand. For accelerating technology and R&D, setting up of robotics centres of excellence/incubation centres, continued research grants for robotics R&D and continuation of income tax deduction will be the key drivers. This will boost the confidence of technology-driven industry players and strengthen the government’s Make in India for Global & Atmanirbhar Bharat vision, besides making a remarkable contribution to employment generation and will make Indian industry more efficient and surpass the global standard."

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Kumar Gaurav- CEO and Founder, Cashaa

"The Indian government has been pushing the digital India initiative which still has a long way to go. Among other major sectors, banking and finance is one that needs a complete digital transformation by all means. Considering the current health of the banking sector, we expect the government to welcome the model that the new-age businesses are introducing like blockchain-based banking and cryptocurrency. The convenience, safety, options, and growth will only increase if the economy begins to accept the new solutions. Now that SC has removed the ban, we expect the government to consider allowing self-regulatory system for cryptocurrency industry so that users gain more clarity and we take another step towards strengthening the larger aim of digital India."

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Nagaraju Routhu, CEO, Hero Realty

"The sector is basically divided into luxury, affordable, and mid-segment; each of these segments has its own set of expectations that needs to be addressed; the crux of demand from developers is almost same as all of them are demanding better streamlining of the sector through various measures and improvement in liquidity. Tier-II and Tier-III cities are also emerging as the realty hotbeds, which calls for proactive government intervention to see the realization of growth targets. “As we are going through the challenging times, we expect that FM’s Budget will truly be one-of-its-kind for the real estate sector too. It will be a tough call for the FM as she has to balance the market needs and financial prudence. We hope that the Government will focus on improving infrastructure in tier II and III cities, employment generation in cities beyond metros, and fund allocation for the stuck projects."

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Dr. J Hareendran Nair, Founder and MD, Pankajakasthuri Herbals Pvt. Ltd.

"GST waiver for products having the license to sell as Ayurvedic medicines which will pass on the benefits to the consumers through price cuts and also leads to increased consumption of Ayurvedic products
Increase spends as aid/tax holidays for setting up world-class research facilities to promote new drug discovery in Ayurveda. When the Virus is new and the attack is unprecedented, we need new medicines and solutions to combat them. Supporting the private sector in such a way will see decreasing indulgence and reliance on imports of API’s and more focus on Indigenous Ayurvedic medicines in line with the Prime Ministers Atma Nirbhar Bharat Vision
Encouraging medicinal plant cultivation and SOPs for large scale farming. India can be a powerhouse in this segment if planned and supported properly. Setting up the infrastructure to boost the employment of modern techniques in cultivation will result in quality Ayurvedic herbs available at the disposal of various manufacturers across the country. This will in turn support the farmers and the industry alike
Seed fund for young Ayurvedic doctors and scholars to encourage research and new drug discovery. Research and new product development in Ayurveda are happening on a minuscule scale compared to those in modern medicine. The world is looking for safe and effective medicines from other systems of medicines and India and our Ayurvedic doctors as well as scholars can be the answer to that
Just like how Indian Tourism is being promoted across the world, a budget allocation to promote Ayurvedic products across the world. This will open up newer markets for Ayurvedic products and more Forex for the country
SOPs for Ayurvedic Industry to invest more on research, standardisation, clinical studies and documentation thereby making the Ayurvedic products more acceptable in developed countries."

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Manoj Gaur, CMD, Gaurs Group

"After a challenging time in 2020, the sector has high hopes from the upcoming Budget. I feel that it is high time that the Government give industry status to the real estate sector, which will help improve the sector. We understand that the FM has to make hard decisions to ensure that the economy takes the recovery route, so it is crucial to pay attention to real estate. The most important aspect is the timely approvals of the projects, which could be achieved through single window clearance that will help the sector deliver projects within the stipulated time. 

We hope that the Government address the liquidity issue and allocate funds for infrastructural development. The Government should also think of re-introducing input tax credit in GST, bringing stamp duty and registration charges in the ambit of GST, reducing stamp duty all over the country, and increase the income tax exemption limit of the Income Tax Act, 1961.

The sector will also benefit if there are necessary tax exemptions, stamp duty reductions, and an increase in tax deduction under 80C to help the common man have more disposable income. The FM should revise GST for construction materials to make them more affordable, which will reflect in buyer-friendly pricing. The need is that the government should control the cartelisation of cement and steel, which is leading to unjust increase in these raw material prices."

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Uddhav Poddar, MD, Bhumika Group

"We expect the Government to allow for the availing of Input Tax Credit of GST charged on construction of rented property and utilize the same towards the payment of GST on the lease rentals. We also want the government to focus on infrastructure development of tier 2 and 3 cities and make these cities ready for the next round of urbanisation. We also expect the long-awaited industry status to the real estate sector as after agriculture, construction is the biggest job generator, and employs the largest number of workers. We expect Stamp Duty to be subsumed into GST to incentivize home buyers and the overall property market sentiments. Lastly, the Government must intervene and resolve the NBFC and banking crisis, and make credit available for the real estate sector and specifically construction finance."

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Harvinder Singh Sikka, Managing Director, Sikka Group

"Although, support to the sector was extended by RBI with low home loan interest rates and restructuring of loans, there remains a large gap to be filled for bringing about the lost momentum in the sector. As customer inquiries and buyers’ interest in property investment begins to rise, the price of raw materials needs to be addressed under this Budget. Realty is further associated with multiple ancillaries; any relaxation provided to this sector will ultimately benefit a great number of associated stakeholders.

The affordable segment is dependent on the financial health of the common man, and hence the realtors expect that the common man will get some respite that could streamline their funds. The expectation is that the buyers will get loans at affordable rates and the moratorium on loan payments. Voicing the needs of the developers in the affordable segment, Pradeep Aggarwal, Founder & Chairman – Signature Global Group & Chairman – ASSOCHAM National Council on Real Estate, Housing and Urban Development, says, “Income Tax holiday for Developers in Affordable Housing was given for 2020. After struggling with the pandemic situation for the entire year, it would be encouraging for developers to get this rebate for another 2 years; banks should provide Project based (land & construction) funds at 6%; for first time homebuyers (in Affordable Housing) stamp duty exempt is required pan India; technology import (like aluminum shuttering used in AFW) for construction of affordable housing from other countries should be free from custom duty; stamp duty for land purchase in affordable housing should be reduced or removed for next few years to promote the launch of such homes; and GST on material and services used in affordable housing should be reduced to 50% or brought to single digit."

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Sanjay Borkar, Co-Founder and CEO of FarmERP

"This year’s budget should focus on integrated Technology used in the domain of agriculture. By technology, I mean the use of Artificial Intelligence, Satellite Image Analysis, ERP Software, Deep Learning, Machine Learning and Computer Vision - not just farm equipment or machinery. If the government arranges funds and provisions to support agriculture as a sector with technology interspersed within it, it could make the daily dealings of farmers efficient and swift. The Government should also make a provision for market linkages for the farmers."

 

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Shubhradeep Nandi, CEO & Co-Founder, PiChain Labs

"There is a need to integrate technology-driven startups in its action plan to boost the financial wellbeing of Rural India. This year’s Budget gives us hope of better regulation for the startups dedicated to Bharat Finclusion, which will help in attracting more foreign investment. We believe that an increase in expenditure to further the financial accessibility to unbanked & underbanked is crucial at this juncture, and India, currently, is lagging. Bharat needs equal, easy, and affordable access to quality financial products customized and built for Rural India.   

As far as taxes are concerned, today, the GST we are paying is as high as 18 percent. But, in the upcoming Budget, we hope that this is corrected, given the increasing importance of financial wellness becoming a lifestyle as opposed to a vanity metric. The provisions drafted must require no major changes for at least five years. This would reduce the compliance burden on startups and make management easier.

Wherever needed, corrective changes need to be made to make implementation easier."

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Rajesh Panda, CEO & Founder, Corporate Gurukul

"I am expecting an Education budget allocation at 5.5%-6% which will easily be in excess of Rs 110,000 crores in 2021-22. The impetus and increase can be attributed to two primary factors:

Implementation of NEP 2020

Post COVID digitization initiatives in education
New focus areas of NEP 2020 such as AI, design thinking, internships, vocation skills, etc. in schools and universities will need substantial investment in infrastructure and teacher training. The establishment of research-focused universities, if taken up in the fiscal year will add to the budget. The initiative to have primary education in mother tongue will also need a significant amount of resources and teacher training.

Post COVID digitization efforts will be humongous, if the government wants to strategize and implement to transform education in next 5 years in lines with NEP 2020. Digitalization in education will also mean quality and standardized content and delivery across the nation – a crucial factor for success of new initiatives under NEP 2020".

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE:  Ashraf Biran, Founder & Director, Wellness Forever Pvt. Ltd.

" The health & pharmaceutical sector has played a pivotal role in recent times while responding to unprecedented health crises which gripped the entire world. The 2021 Union budget is widely expected to focus on improving the country’s healthcare system. The focus should be on Reducing GST rates for life-saving and essential drugs. This will help increase affordability and thereby lead to higher demand and consumption.  There are also expectations for greater funding for the preventive health and wellness segment mainly due to rise in lifestyle illnesses. An increase in public health expenditure in this year’s budget and investment in pharma research and disease surveillance is also anticipated in the wake of the pandemic".

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Rajesh Sahetiya, Senior Business Director - Human Nutrition & Health, South Asia at DSM 

“The pandemic year has shifted the priorities back to health and nutrition, as building immunity is the best defence against any viral attack. A holistic nutrition program can ensure a healthy nation where we have at home a large number of people with ‘hidden hunger’. An increased spend on food-fortification will synergise the efforts of industry and the government to counter nutrition deficiencies in India; besides programmes like Mid-Day Meal, Integrated Child Development Services and Public Distribution System. Government of India, in its recent commentaries has iterated the importance of food-fortification through rice which happens to be one of the key staple-foods of the country; and the Union Budget 2021 is expected to reflect that.”

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Lakshay Jindal, Director and CMO, Jindal Mechno Bricks

 "The budget of India should always be focused to raising the standards of living for its citizens. This can only happen by raising the income level of its citizen. The 2021 budget is extremely important for India as the GDP showed negative growth for the past few quarters. A decline in GDP for a developing country like India, means several lakhs of people would be pushed back to poverty and large number of industries would be disrupted.  This year’s budget should be oriented towards opportunity creation. For industries, the focus should be towards building an ecosystem for it by building appropriate infrastructure, equipping research labs, setting up testing labs, regulatory bodies, subsidizing loans and taxes. For individuals, the focus should be towards skilling of the workforce by setting up training institutes and providing incentives to join. Being in the midst of a pandemic, the budget should also have considerable amount reserved for improving the public health system."

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Dr. Prem Das Maheshwari, Business Director South Asia D2L

The National Education Policy 2020 envisioned better quality of education, more use of technology, and to drive deeper understanding. However, the budget allocation within institutions may not be enough to see the revolutionary change we talked about. At D2L, we are looking forward to the announcement of Budget 21-22 to be the last piece of the puzzle to drive exponential change, by giving the EdTech sector the fiscal nudge it needs. There needs to be a high focus on high-quality resources to bridge the gap for students who need other methods of learning to suit their learning styles, to learn flexibly and efficiently. Budget 21-22 can set the path for accessible education for the youth, all of whom make up the adults of tomorrow’s India.

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Siddharth Shah, Co-Founder, Dreamcast

"The budget 2021 makes us wish for a lot but for starters, we expect for the gov. to give key focus to 10 states & expand the IT industry beyond Bangalore & Hyderabad with a special ecosystem of the talent pool of colleges. The Abolishment of angel tax & Taxation of ESOPs granted by startups should be levied only at the time of sale. The gov. can encourage companies to export the services by giving tax rebates. Another important thing could be to set up clear ground rules for privacy policies, set up equivalent compliance like GDPR in India."

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE:  Sudeep Singh, MPowered's Founder & CEO

"The real estate sector has performed a lot better than it was expected to and managed to stay afloat despite the disruptions caused by Covid-19. It has also been amongst the top employment generators in the post-Covid scenario thereby playing its part in the country's economic revival. Hence, the government should definitely introduce some concrete measures and make exemptions for the segment to swiftly bounce back to the pre-Covid era. 
Introducing relaxations such as reduction of GST rates for under construction properties which will reduce the cost and thereby bolster demand, is definitely one such measure. Additionally, if tax breaks are provided on income from residential and commercial properties, it will not only help in greater uptake but also bring in some relief to those who have been financially strained last year. Lastly, credit availability needs to be ensured for under-construction projects to help those that have been stalled, to come to a speedy and successful completion."

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Kailashnath Adhikari, Managing Director, Governance Now - A Sri Adhikari Brothers (SAB) Enterprise

"Budget 2021 is looked upon with a great deal of expectations as it is the budget right post the pandemic induced year. The industry will look forward to a great deal of measures being announced to boost demand. Measures taken to boost demand will lead to increased consumption which in turn will aid revival of the economy. The BFSI sector has faced great headwinds due to the pandemic. The sector will certainly look forward to measures which will help them raise capital and measures which will augment their process of capital lending. Revival of consumer sentiment will help banks & financial institutions improve their personal lending portfolio. As far as corporate India is concerned any incentive measures which will help them make further investment will be directly related to enchanted corporate lending by the BFSI sector. The sector will certainly look forward to incentives being announced which will ease their process of lending"

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Yogesh Makkar, CEO, Kapdec Inc  

"The year 2020 had an insurmountable impact on the education systems and on learners. Despite a surge in online education, a vast majority of the student population remained at a disadvantage. At a macro level, a nation with more than 1.5 million schools, more than 280 million students, with over 65% of the student population in rural areas, and more than 50% of the student population in government schools, those specific groups had by far experienced the worst and negative impact. Reasons cited were the lack of quality resources and lack of schools' preparedness to face such unprecedented times. Much needed is special attention to divert a larger proportion of funds, schemes, government-backed programs to flow into the K-12 segment, supporting the school eco-system or the entrepreneurs supporting education. Our expectations from the budget remain focused in the following key aspects, the strengthen the basic infrastructure for the schools of new era:-  

Digital Infrastructure:  Equip government-led schools with the access and affordability of high-speed internet and computers or tablet devices for lower-income groups. Investing in online education models can be a smarter way of increasing outreach to millions of students in a short period.  

Government Policies: Much needed is the reduction of the unnecessary compliances to make it easier for innovators and entrepreneurs to establish businesses, helping grow the economy and education system. Including reduction of taxes on educational services.

 Funding:  Supporting and helping 1.5 million schools is a task that requires strong input from ed-tech entrepreneurs, focusing more on the innovation in education delivery methods. However, often new start-ups are cash striven and help from government backed funding programs will fuel the growth cycle."

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Sagar Saxena, Project Head, Spectrum Metro

"The reforms in Union Budget 2021-22 is highly anticipated, we are expecting the government will work out policies to resolve the liquidity issue that leads to delay in project completion and deliveries. Model Tenancy Law recently passed by UP Govt. has been a great step to bring in professionalism in the sector. More such prudent measures like granting industry status to the sector will help in bringing commercial and residential realty in the banks’ priority lending list. We are hoping FM will review the year gone by, challenges it has presented and the scope of development coming year can offer while presenting this budget.One of the key demands from this budget will be to help the middle income group have more buying power by increasing their disposable incomes. The retail segment is looking at changes that could ease out the tax burden on people."

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Arun Mn, Founder and Managing Director, CASAGRAND

“While the Union Budget 2021 is around the corner, from a real estate developer perspective, we are expecting this budget to have more sweeteners that would help increase positivity in the sector. While the housing loan interest rate has been brought down, a few more reductions in the same will definitely be a great blessing for home buyers as well as the developers.

One of the biggest issues the real estate sector currently faces is the liquidity Crunch and lack of capital flow in the market. A good market has to be supported with liquidity and enough money coming from banks, NBFCS and other fund houses, which is totally crunched. While many nationalized banks have been undergoing a lot of restrictions in terms of real estate funding, where only construction activities are being funded, while lands are not. Easing of these restrictions, allowing nationalized banks, fund real estate industries with lesser constraints, as banks can fund at a lower interest than the NBFCs and other fund houses, it will be a great relief to the sector. Such initiatives will bring down the construction cost, which will eventually bring down the price of the property resulting in affordable homes and thereby increase home buying in the nation. While home buying is a primary industry, where close to about 250 industries are aligned with, the increase in home buying in the nation, will certainly improve the economy of the country. Hence, infusion of liquidity and unlocking of capital into the industry is the one of the major supports that we developers are expecting in this budget 2021.  

 On the other end, the continuous increase in cost of construction materials is another major concern that has been affecting the real estate industry especially the affordable housing segment, where the cost of construction materials play a major role in the property prices. The uncontrolled increase in cost of such materials, directly impacts the property prices, and thereby affects home buying. Hence, more government interventions, and strict policies to control the cost of these materials will be a great relief to both developers as well as homebuyers”.

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Rahul Pagidipati, CEO, ZebPay

“We’re optimistic that the government now recognizes the huge potential of blockchain technology and of Bitcoin as a reserve asset for companies, individuals, and even central banks in the near future. Crypto assets, properly regulated, can bring tremendous economic benefit. The government’s twin goals of promoting prosperity and protecting people from fraud and harm are our goals, too. That’s why we have world-class security, KYC, and AML policies. We hope 2021 will bring healthy regulations for crypto investors, so they can know how to pay taxes correctly and access all the potential of this revolutionary new asset class.”

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Bitex Founder and CEO Monark Modi 

“Just like any other financial markets that have matured in India owing to regulations, cryptocurrency investors have similar expectations from the government from this budget that will help this new financial market move towards certainty.    

India has seen phenomenal growth in cryptocurrency trading volumes as well as the size of the community participating in this alternate investment class. But due to lack of clarity and in the absence of regulation, banks are still hesitant in providing services to exchanges and have been blocking transactions related to cryptocurrencies, which is impacting investors. 

Also, due to growing investment in cryptocurrency, there are many questions being raised on how such transactions and trades are being reported within the country. The crypto industry is volatile and a mark to market approach is usually used for capital gains. Taxation on realization helps in defining a lock-in effect and this interests the investors more to retain their assets when the economy benefits from a difference in investment. 

Therefore, all stakeholders of the ecosystem, including retail, institutional investors, cryptocurrency exchanges and financial institutions are looking forward for answers to some of these questions in the upcoming budget. While exchanges like Bitex do provide support to their customers with a detailed report on each individual transaction to facilitate the reporting requirement; cryptocurrency stakeholders across the ecosystem will look for clarity on how individuals and exchanges can report crypto trades on their filing.

Another aspect that requires government’s approval is crypto mining, since presently, exchanges have to depend on the import of cryptocurrency by remitting funds. It is quintessential that the government considers practices in the upcoming budget that protect the interest of Indian cryptocurrency exchanges and help funds remain within the country.”

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Sumedha Goel,Director,MRG School

"Though New Education Policy 2020 brought many changes, the education sector needs government support as many schools are struggling to sustain due to the refusal of parents to pay fees. To revive the education sector, government must extend monetary support as well as formalise online education. The budget should also direct some resources for implementation of NEP, and augmenting health at school levels. The government has hinted at the allocation of around 6% of the GDP towards education, but we expect the government to gradually increase in the allocation to 10% of GDP, which will help in creating a strong R&D infrastructure in the education sector. We also expect that the Budget will promote skill development and teacher training, which will improve learning outcomes."

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Kamal Narayan Omer, CEO, Integrated Health and Wellbeing (IHW) Council

"The COVID-19 pandemic has offered us an opportunity to prevent any such outbreak in future and the budgetary allocation for health must reflect that we are serious about the steps needed to reach that level of preparedness. It is time we de-silo healthcare as a service provided and look at the various other aspects that impact the need of health services or can impact its efficiency. Apart from increasing the overall share of public spending in healthcare, the health budget this year must focus on its integrated nature and adequate budgetary allocations must be made for: 1) primary healthcare, especially in rural and remote areas, ensuring trained manpower and diagnostic services, in addition to affordable and accessible secondary and tertiary care 2) preventive healthcare to control rapid spread of non-communicable diseases and lack of adequate nutrition for the young and vulnerable population, and 3) associated areas such as pollution control measures for air, water, and soil, and strengthening of supply chain, especially for perishable food items. At the same time, a separate allocation must be made for health communication for behavioural change that will nudge people to adopt healthy and sustainable consumption and behaviour in the medium-to-long run."

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE:  Dr. Shuchin Bajaj, Founder & Director, Ujala Cygnus Group of Hospitals

“As India faces the worst ever health crisis of all times, we hope that COVID-19 will atleast provide the silver lining in increasing the healthcare budget. There has never been a greater spotlight on healthcare delivery in various environments. No election has unfortunately been fought on healthcare as an issue in India yet. But now with the coronavirus pandemic, the focus is only and squarely on healthcare. I hope that this will lead to an increase in the healthcare budget and various healthcare provisions so that the expenditure spend on health should go  up to 3 percent of the GDP as promised by the government.”

 

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Ashok Gupta, CMD, Ajnara India

"We are looking forward to the industry status and steps in the direction of single window clearance. It will also be a perfect situation if the GST is revised for construction materials such as cement to make them more affordable. The most important aspect is the approvals related to the projects; many times it becomes difficult for the developers to deliver projects within a stipulated time due to late approvals. It should be mandatory to have a time-bound approval system in the sector. Also, this Budget must also aim at increasing the present savings limit so that the people get higher spending power, and look at real estate as an investment option."

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Dr. Tushar Grover, Medical Director, Vision Eye Centre, New Delhi 

"The onslaught of Covid-19 has duly woken up the health authorities to the urgent need to raise allocation for health as a proportion of GDP. Keeping that in mind, the upcoming budget should prompt higher allocation to R&D in biotech, epidemiology as well as pharma in general. Only with increased budgetary attention can we truly harness our existing strength in vaccines and generics. With technology leading to a rise in healthcare costs, higher public health expenditure can make it affordable for common people and reduce out-of-pocket costs. At the same time, the government must relax unrealistic price restrictions and rules in order to encourage investment into developing a world-class healthcare infrastructure in the country."

 

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Dhiraj Jain, Director, Mahagun Group

"Currently, the deduction for principal repayment of housing loan is Rs 1,50,000, and the deduction is clubbed with other tax saving instruments. We hope that the Government will increase the deduction under section 80C for principal repayment of housing loan from the existing limit of Rs 1,50,000; this will encourage the home buyers to expedite their buying decision."

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Vic Rana, Group Chairman of Red Ridge Global

“Making toys and stationery articles as essential items will be the much-needed start, that ways routing manufacturing and tax holiday benefits to Indian companies help them scale their operations and invest in precision machinery to roll out international compliance adhered quality toys. After all developed nations have done it, it is time we start too, if we want to be Vocal for Local in truest sense.”

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Ashish Bhutani, MD, Bhutani Group

"We expect the Government to come out with steps to address the liquidity issue, and fund allocation for infrastructure in the metro peripheral areas. After the pandemic, the need is to boost the economic growth, which can happen if the vehicles of economic growth – commercial segment – get all the help needed to finish the projects as soon as possible. The help would entail measures such as bringing the real estate sector in the banks' priority lending list and extending industry status to the whole sector. We hope that the FM will make this Budget count as one-of-its-kind Budget that can bring about the intended economic growth."

 

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Yash Miglani, MD, Migsun Group

"After the Government came up with several announcements and measures for the sector post-pandemic to provide liquidity solutions, the sector has high hopes from the upcoming Budget. It is expected that the Government will take last year’s thought and action forward to come up with the announcements that can be implemented in the short term. The first and foremost need is to see that the process of permissions gets resolved through single window clearance, a demand that has been there for quite some time. Real estate sector needs support if the Government wants every Indian to have a house. Escalating costs and delays are the biggest hurdles; government must step in through income tax incentives, provide ITC to the developers, rightly priced land, land availability in major cities for affordable housing, etc. The list of expectations is endless because the goal is large – to provide houses to everyone in the Budget that they can afford and still not compromise on the amenities or the deadlines given to the buyers."

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Shachindra Nath, Executive Chairman & Managing Director, U GRO Capital

"The MSME sector is vital for India's economy, responsible for employing over 120 million people. Unfortunately, the sector was severely hit by the pandemic.  Aware of its importance, the government has already undertaken exceptional work with TLTRO, TLTRO 2.0, Partial Credit Guarantee Schemes, and the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) in 2020. Rescuing the sector from the pandemic should be the top priority for the government in the upcoming Budget 2021.

The crucial challenge would be to address lenders' risk appetite in the face of loan default fears. Lending can be encouraged by bringing the existing Credit Guarantee Scheme in line with the ECLGS.

The government must also ensure that NBFCs can access liquidity. This, in turn, would give them the tools to support MSMEs. The 2021 budget needs to set up a dedicated institutional framework for the same (existing or new), which would provide credit enhancements to NBFCs in different formats. A long-term financing institution for NBFCs would be the right revival strategy to tide through a liquidity crisis. 

There are several schemes and systems in place to democratize credit in India, such as OCEN, account aggregators, and co-lending initiatives. The Budget should put into place a governance and oversight framework to protect customer interests. 

Provisions for the right framework and liquidity will empower them to digitize and make this the year of recovery for MSMEs."

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Kapil Kapur, Director, Sales,Strategy & Business Development, Bullmen Realty

"The list of expectations from this Budget is long, including more fund allocation for PMAY, reduction of GST on building material, etc. We wish for re-introduction of the input tax credit in GST, which has been withdrawn. With the input tax credit benefit, property prices will remain under control. Also bringing stamp duty and registration charges in the ambit of GST will be highly appreciated if the Budget addresses it. We expect this year’s full-budget to increase the income tax exemption limit of the Income Tax Act, 1961, which will encourage people to go in for their own residential premises.

Apart from the usual real estate segment, the Budget should also focus on the commercial segment, which has the potential to attract foreign investment and FDI. The commercial is also witnessing new concepts coming up with the promise of revolutionising the way business is done in India. The segment, which includes industrial, retail and frontier segments such as co-living, is expected to develop further. An increasing number of private equity funds are showing interest in commercial office space, and we hope that the FM will help the co-working space to flourish. The granting of infrastructure status to the entire real estate sector is at the forefront as it will help attract more investment. We have seen the impact of infrastructure status on affordable housing with many reputed developers now launching projects in the affordable segment.

The Government should resolve liquidity crisis and announce specific measures apart from the announcement of funds last year. How and when the work will start on the finance part is important for the health of the real estate sector. We are also expecting the CLSS budgetary support for

Economically Weaker Section (EWS)/Lower Income Group (LIG) as well as Middle Income Group (MIG) should be doubled so that more home aspirants can purchase their dwelling units."

 

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Prasoon Chauhan, Founder & CEO of Black Opal Group

"The second largest employing sector of India, real estate needs support from government to resolve the liquidity issues at the earliest. One of the recent aid extended to the sector has been in the form of a Rs 25,000 crore AIF set up for stalled projects. While the motive behind providing this aid has been to fasten the delivery timelines, but the slow disbursement of funds is rather acting as an obstacle. Therefore, a strategised plan for implementation is needed to speed up the deliveries.

Additional support from banks is also needed in terms of providing quick funding to the realtors. This budget should look into establishing a process that caters to realtors receiving timely funds from banks, without any delays from authorities in documentation, permissions and grants. The government must consider bringing subvention scheme into function to bring some momentum in the purchase of new homes.

Single window clearance has been a long standing demand for the real estate sector. There is a need to look into the execution and permission timeline from the end of authorities, RERA being the regulatory body must question and assess them upon their execution."

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Dhiraj Bora, Head – Marcomm, Paramount Group

"An aspect that can be looked into is the accountability of authorities, they must be analyzed by RERA since delays in granting permissions impact the delivery timelines of projects, which further brings liquidity crunch for developers and negative sentiment among the buyers. The reduction in real estate premiums and stamp duty for Maharashtra region has brought a windfall of sales there, now the NCR market having the widest variety in the residential segment awaits similar policy measures to be announced."