Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Check latest news, updates, demands here

Union Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: The Union Budget 2021 is scheduled to be presented 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 Indian economy. Ahead of the Union Budget 2021 presentation, here are all the LIVE updates on the expectations from Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Union Budget 2021:-

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Rohan Bhargava, Co-Founder CashKaro & EarnKaro

"We have many expectations from the upcoming union budget with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman promising major reforms to revive the economy, after a tumultuous 2020. With India now occupying the 3rd spot globally when it comes to startup generated economy, the government must consider introducing more tax benefits for startups. This is of even greater consequence now that businesses are trying to come out of the Covid-19 caused eclipse and work towards economic recovery. Also, as we expect the investment scenario to gradually bounce back to the pre-Covid phase, a systematic yet simpler process for raising funds would help attract more foreign investment. This will also have a positive impact on the sluggish job market and improve the current employment scenario.  

Secondly, with ecommerce being the backbone of India's economy for many years and even during the pandemic, its continual growth should be one of the areas of focus in the new budget. Among other measures, the government should consider reducing GST rates to boost the purchasing power of consumers. This step will not only ensure that e-commerce continues being a positive quadrant, but will also help businesses in other sectors significantly curtail expenses and maintain healthier cash flows, which is vital right now. 

Lastly, reduction in personal income tax rates should be made to mitigate the financial strain the whole country is experiencing right now. This will help people cope relatively better with the dent in the income levels, caused last year."

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE:  Sandip Chhettri, COO, Tradeindia.com

"The Union Budget 2021 will be presented on February 1, and we have big expectations from it. The Finance Minister has already promised a 'never before' like Budget, raising hope among MSMEs that their concerns will be adequately addressed this time. One among the major issues that has been much talked about these days is Goods and Services Tax (GST). MSMEs demand simplification of GST. A latest survey shows that GST remained a major challenge for the sector. In a similar tone, a traders’ body has viewed that in place of 'Good and Simple Tax', GST has become an obnoxious and complicated taxation system. So, the upcoming Budget should simplify this tax regime. Additionally, there are GST rate related issues. There is a demand, for instance, that GST rates should be cut from 18 percent to 5 percent on professional services like CA, HR, marketing, supply chain management, etc. as these services are widely used by MSME units. Also, MSMEs favour removal of GST under the reverse charge or services procured from overseas. So, these issues need to address urgently.
 
Besides, credit crunch is still a big challenge for the sector. No doubt, the Centre has done a late in the recent months to help the COVID-hit sector, but still that is not enough. So, the more it can be done to cut down the interest rates and enhance the flow of credit to the sector, the better it is. Also, steps should be taken to attract FDI and reform the system of foreign exchange inflows and outflows so that MSMEs can work efficiently with global partners.

As far as export is concerned, it is widely expected that the Centre will take measures to push the sector. The COVID-19 pandemic has hit the sector hard and though the prospects for exports in 2021 looks brighter, the government should strain every muscle to catapult growth of the sector. Here again, cost of credit is a challenge the Budget should urgently address. In addition, a comprehensive strategy should be taken to help the sector in terms of infrastructure, marketing assistance, market and product diversification, technological upgradation, etc."

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Sathvik Vishwanath, CEO, Unocoin 

"As a Crypto-exchange platform, we have high expectations from the upcoming Union Budget. We hope that the Government comes up with greater regulatory clarity on cryptocurrencies in India and there is employment of blockchain technology for government records. We are also eying provisions and amendments in IT and GST laws for clarity on applicability of taxes. Also, there should be recognition of specific acts as offences liable to penalties so that users and platforms have a better understanding about their rights and duties.                                                                                      

While it may not be possible to bring out all these rules at once, some kind of road map would be necessary. This would help the country on multiple levels, whether in investment opportunities, employment or innovation. If such legislation is announced, India will join the ranks of the countries to bring a robust regulatory framework to crypto-assets and will be able to compete with developed countries in this industry" 

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Ravi Mittal, Founder & CEO of QuackQuack

"The lockdown has shown the importance of the online economy and how startups played a vital role. However, many startups beard the brunt with huge losses, shutdowns and slowdowns. While we too saw a tremendous growth, the slowdown has hit us as well. We’re hoping for a strong revival with the upcoming budget with focus on the digital economy and startups in particular. For homegrown startups to thrive, we need the government to invest and promote tech talents especially in AI and machine learning at the college level which can drive job growth, incentives and tax concessions. Startups and innovations go hand in hand and this would be a great opportunity to boost the morale of young entrepreneurs”

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Mrityunjay Shahi, Founder & CEO, SalaryDost 

"The year 2020 was unexceptional for every sector. Though the Fintech sector seemed to be profitable, it faced a lot of challenges in the Financial year. We are expecting a few key steps that should be taken by the Ministry of Finance in this financial year. First of all, there must be a regulatory authority assigned by RBI & Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MEITY) to keep an eye on the fresh industry players. There should be a pre-defined set of rules & regulations for the startups to manage their businesses ethically; respecting the customer's entity. Also, talking from the customer's POV the Government should set up subsidiary bodies dealing with the Fintech startups concerning underprivileged customers who are failing to repay their dues. Last year the Finance ministry took some of the beneficiary decisions including tax relief on ESOPs and the reduction on corporate tax to 22% which is the lowest in the world. We are seeking simplified GST rules to smoothen the process for both the customers' and company's end"  

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Ashu Ratan Khare, Director, Rock and Storm Distilleries Pvt. Ltd

I think this budget will be different from all previous Budgets. It comes at a time when the country has been fighting a pandemic. Revival Push is the key expectation from the Union Budget of 2021.

A) Tax Benefits (WRT, Liquor Industry and Retail Industry)

Liquor Industry

Indirect taxation on the Liquor Industry comes under the purview of State Government. Hence it will not come under the purview of Union Budget 2021.

Central Government influences the customs duty on import of scotch. The liquor industry faces high % of customs duty on importing scotch, which is being used for the premiumization of Indian whiskeys as the main component. We would request the Finance Minister to reduce the customs duty on import of scotch from 150% to a reasonable value so that quality product can reach to the consumers. 

 Retail Industry

We hope that the budget 2021 will bring forward a lot of hope for the entire retail sector in terms of tax reforms, job creation and the development of a strong supply chain and ease of doing business. 

Additionally, the reduction in income tax will prove beneficial for the taxpayer consumer base which in turn will lead to improved sales in the retail market.

Budget 2021 could go a long the way towards meeting this goal by way of introducing tax reforms such as enhancing -

Repayment of the principal amount deduction limit on home loans under Section 80C of the IT Act, 1961;

·  Lowering the long-term gains tax for the sale of house property and

·  Rationalizing the GST for under-construction properties.

·  Higher deduction in taxable income can be expected on account of increased health expenses during the pandemic.

·  Some relief in the form of tax benefit under Section 80D of the Income Tax Act is expected.

·  Limit under Section 80C should be increased to Rs 3 lakh

·  More tax deductions for CSR and Individual donations through tax benefits u/s 80G of IT Act, 1961 so that participation of the taxpayer will increase in social work like health sector after COVID19. 

All such tax reforms will increase disposable the income of consumers hence in turn retail sale will increase which will boost the retail business. 

 

B) Ease of Doing Business for the MSME Sector

The year 2020 was the most traumatic year of our life. It has ravaged economies across the globe. MSMEs have borne the maximum loss. While some had to close their businesses, several organizations reduced employment or cut its employees' salary. Despite the several efforts, many MSMEs failed due to funding crunch, tax burden, rigid compliances, and poor technological development. To cope with this, we expect from budget 2021 to focus on enabling the development of MSMEs by providing them access to easy credit/loan on the competitive rate of interest, reducing income tax rate & GST tax rate, and offering rebates to MSMEs willing to adopt new technologies.

The single-window clearance for MSMEs, projects must be started nationwide.

 

C) Ease of Policy Norms in Trading Liquor

The biggest challenge for our industry is the hypocrisy of governments. They like the revenue from the alcohol industry but will not make reasonable laws for easy of business and to administer the industry well.

We need to have a pragmatic approach to the alcohol industry in India and administer it well to curb irresponsible and illicit consumption of liquor.

However, we would urge the Finance Minister to take out the Liquor Business from the ambit of State Government and take it in GST purview which will help us to get an input tax credit and reduce our cost of production. Moreover, once Liquor Business comes under GST purview Liquor, The industry will be governed through uniform policy across the nation and will curb malpractices in the industry.

D) Any additional point you would like to comment on the Liquor Industry

· The government must evolve a system to curb illicit liquor.

· Nation wise uniform policy for the liquor industry.

· Liquor business should come under GST purview.

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Rohan Khare, CEO & Founder of Bad Monkey Beverages

With expected GDP contraction of over 7%, the year has been an unusual one. The Govt. is expected to present a Budget which pushes the GDP towards positive numbers. Pre-budget talks have taken place with the stakeholders comprising of all the economic department and industries. 

The health sector is one area budget should focus on for long term positive growth of the country, human resource is the biggest resource we have. Fiscal policy changes, with special covid-related deductions or allowances may help increase consumer spending. These measures, along with others, may cost government extra in the short run but will surely be a positive in the long-run for the nation. 

Liquor/Beer trade is directly regulated and controlled by respective states. Centre earns no revenue from the trade, which equates to trade not being considered while drafting budget and policies. One similar case has been GST. Liquor has been kept out of GST purview, while states and centre have not concluded that trade was hit hard. Same is the case with the budget. The Liquor industry can/may only benefit from some of the fiscal policies/ (direct taxation) changes. 

State excises, although, can better support the liquor trade through various measures such as: 

A) Adjusting the license fees for retail outlets and brands. (fees are deposited in advance for next year, but the last year was hit by covid) 

B) Equal license fees for Indian and imported brands (currently imported brands having the advantage of 70-90% lower brand and label fees in most states) 

C) Lower the duty on beer (duty on per alcohol per cent ABV is 3-5 times higher for beer than hard liquor), which may encourage consumers towards a lower alcohol beverage. 

D) Should make borrowing an easier process for the industry burdened with high working capital and compliances. 

States and Centre should develop ways to help the Liquor industry sustain these tough times, by planning to bring the trade under GST somehow. GST was applied to all the raw materials/inputs, but GST is not applicable on sale, thus being an additional cost. On average, the cost to produce and distribute rose by 18% after GST application, but the prices didn’t compare. 

With around 30% GDP contribution, and employing over 23% of the population manufacturing sector is significant for the nation. Manufacturing and industrial units should be incentivized through tax and compliance relaxations, especially in the case of MSME and start-ups, and non-compliance should not attract criminal proceedings and should be let off with minor penalties. Which in turn may help them cut cost and thus help sustain the ecosystem better, may grow and employ more people, growing economy in return.

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Vivek Singh, CoFounder, Stick Pool Club 

"We have witnessed an unprecedented boom in the online gaming industry especially during the year 2020, with the things turning digital during the COVID times, online gaming is now cutting across age and socio-economic groups. We have seen a tremendous rise in the number of gaming operators & gamers in the country.

We expect that the Government must try and focus on this industry with proper regulations as and when required in order to protect users’ interests meanwhile keeping in mind the individual freedom of choice. The State Governments have specific regulations which vary on a state-to-state basis, the Centre must try and ensure fairness and transparency in the principles of online gaming. In terms of rules and regulations for online gaming in India, we are of the belief that a self-regulatory body may be set up on the principles of fairness, transparency, equity and independence, so it can help motivate further innovation and ensure a level-playing field for all platforms.”  

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Shreevar Kheruka, MD & CEO of Borosil Ltd.

“The industry has bounced back quite well from the Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdown from early part of 2020. We do hope that the demand sustains in the near term. It would be great to have measures taken from the government that will help increasing local consumption and local demand. On the supply side, government has taken a great step in the implementation of the production linked incentive and we would be happy to see more such measures which could boost domestic production of various products. “

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Varun Khanna, Director and Co-Founder of Fullife Healthcare Pvt Ltd

"2020 has made all of us including the government realize the importance of healthcare and nutrition. With ‘self-care’ being the new essential, there is a new demand for high-quality clean nutrition. Creating new opportunities for high-quality manufacturers like Fullife to build and service the category in India, at the same time follow the dream to be Atmanirbhar and become an export hub for nutrition products keeping in mind India’s position worldwide when it comes to healthcare."
 

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Vinay Jain, Founder & CEO, Grafdoer (Sanitaryware manufacturer) 
“The Ministry of Finance will be presenting the budget on 1st February for the assessment year 2021-2022, and everyone including corporates, individuals, taxpayers and professionals have different expectations from the upcoming budget. Considering the slowdown in the economy and growth, MSMEs which form part of the backbone of the Indian value chain are expecting a big relief and reforms in the upcoming budget. We expect that the upcoming budget will take stringent actions to empower the MSME sector to revive the economy from the current slowdown. Apart from GST rationalization, we expect extension of credit facilities from the upcoming budget, since the Government should focus on infusing liquidity into the markets and promoting 'Make in India'.”

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Kapil Bhatia, CEO, UniMask (Mask manufacturer) 

“MSME has always been the backbone of the Indian Economy with around 29 percent share to India’s GDP. We expect the government to re-establish favorable policies and allocate substantial funds for the growth of MSMEs. 2020 was a blessing in disguise for MSME industry where the initial most of 2020 was quite brutal but the later half came to the rescue especially with the #boycottchinesegoods campaign and push towards Make-In-India. The MSME sector is hoping to get rid of challenges like lack of access to capital, infrastructure, skilled labor, and power supply issues that plague MSMEs in India. Therefore, Indian entrepreneurs hope that the Union Budget 2021 will provide some long-term benefits to the sector with better access to credit and lenient taxation policies.”

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Mandeep Arora, Managing Director, UBON 

“The year 2020 was a year of challenges for nearly every sector, so, we are eagerly waiting for Budget 2021. Every sector is expecting the government to focus on overall economic growth and taking measures to continue positioning India as the business epicenter of the world. We expect new policies promoting R&D innovations by pushing relevant initiatives, making innovative and bold policy interventions to propel the process of Make-in-India across sectors. There’s no denying that Digital Innovation is an important building block for India’s future growth. Thus, nurturing new-age tech, improving the quality of talent, and enabling MSME must be on the agenda for the Government.”

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Lalit Arora, Co-founder and CEO, VingaJoy

 “The consumer tech industry has great expectations from the Union Budget 2021-22. We hope that the upcoming budget has provisions that can strengthen progressive initiatives such as ‘Make in India’, ‘Digital India’, and the ‘Smart Cities Mission’. In the upcoming budget, we are hopeful that the government would continue the good work it began carrying out in its first term with regards to GST, Make in India, along with a host of initiatives it has undertaken in the consumer tech / FMCG sector. There has been an abolition of Chinese applications in India; this has led to considerable slowdown in import of Chinese products, so our industry is expecting improved funding and credit facility from the upcoming budget. Additionally, we are hopeful that the Government will continue to promote manufacturing in India through its ‘Make in India’ initiative as this would not only provide a boost to Indian companies but also aid in creating more employment opportunities.”

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Ashwani Rawat & Amarsh Chaturvedi, Co-Founder & Director, Transerve

 “Innovation is an important driver in India’s business and economic growth and this was proven true during the pandemic crisis. India as a nation has a great potential in the R&D space, especially owing to the large talent pool we have. Being a part of NASSCOM’s Deep-Tech Club we saw 10% rises in tech startups in 2020 alone with the addition of over 12 new unicorns. According to NASSCOM, Indian deep tech industry led by AI is capable of adding USD 957 billion to the country’s GDP by 2035. We expect the Union Budget to increase its expenditure in the R&D sector especially in the Location Intelligence industry to bore the benefits that the technology offers. We expect liberalizing the policies and framework to support the startup ecosystem.”

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Sangeet Kumar, CEO & Co- Founder, Addverb 

“From the Union Budget 2021, we expect that the Government will ease the legal processes and regulations involved in setting up manufacturing facilities in India under its ‘Make in India’ initiative. As the future of manufacturing is driven with robotics and other automation technologies, I feel necessary steps need to be taken to encourage ingenious technology production as well as consumption in India. Measures such as extension of PLI schemes for the Indian Industrial Robotics Manufacturers from suppliers’ front, and from buyers’ front, mandating automation adoption for PSU enterprises to enhance their performance indices. Overall incentivising adoption of industry 4.0 technologies adoption from across the sectors will enhance the manufacturing quantity as well as quality.
Increasing minimum wages is the need of the hour as during the Covid pandemic most of the labour left for their hometowns and to bring them back while providing them with a meaningful life, their wages should rise. According to a recent study, the total number of jobs related to developing and deploying new technologies, i.e. Automation, AI and robotics-related applications, may grow to 20 to 50 million globally by 2030 and more than 375 million workers globally will have to master fresh skills as their current jobs evolve alongside the rise of automation, robotics, AI, and the capable machines thereby enabled. Thus, the Government should come up with more upskilling programs to make the workforce ready to work with robots & other automation through industry partnerships.

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Prof (Dr.) Sanjiv Marwah, Director, JK Business School 

“We anticipate that Union Budget 2021 will bring in revolutionary changes to the education sector. The New Education Policy (NEP-2020) brought aggressive changes in the Higher Education System of our country - provided flexibility in the learning curve, emphasized on conceptual understanding, and blended learning. Similarly, the upcoming FY budget must promote the perfect amalgamation of digital and traditional education and strive to encourage the adoption of emerging technologies such as Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, Internet of Things as well as promoting Research & Development."

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Sudeshna Datta, Co-Founder & Executive Vice President, Absolutdata.
 
"As the country's mood is ecstatic vis-a-vis technology adoption, the government needs to make the necessary investments in technology hub this year. It will, in turn, help in strengthening the infrastructure for advanced technologies such as AI, machine learning, cloud, and the Internet of Things (IoT). The Digital India Mission alongside other initiatives has provided the desired impetus to technological adoption in the country. However, there should be a stronger push towards policies promoting innovation that propel the same throughout the horizontal market. A data-driven economy should be one of the key focus areas."

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Suresh Vazirani, Chairman & Managing Director, Transasia Bio Medicals

Government should reduce the GST rate on essential diagnostic equipment to make affordable healthcare a reality 

Affordability and accessibility of healthcare need to take centre-stage by reducing the higher GST rate of 18% on essential diagnostic equipment which is same on non-essential products. We have been demanding reduction in the GST rate on medical supplies, diagnostic equipment, and devices from the current 18 percent to 5 percent. This would help on essential diagnostic equipment in making affordable healthcare a reality.  

Introduction of GST has worked against Make in India and has led to imported devices being cheaper by 11%. In addition, there being no import duty on blood analyzers, makes it difficult for the Indian manufacturers to compete with the cheaper imports. The interests of the domestic manufacturers need to be protected through a revision in the GST regime so that not everyone gets the benefit of input credit. 

Government’s constitutional responsibility is to provide free healthcare to every citizen. The common man can get some relief from this burden by reducing the GST rate on medical supplies, diagnostic equipment and devices. The GST rate, which currently stands at 18 percent, should be no more than 5 percent.   

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Abhik Mitra, MD & CEO, Spoton Logistics

"As India Inc. sets sights on the Budget 2021-2022, I would like to draw the attention of the honourable finance minister towards a few key pain points of the logistics industry that must be addressed in this year's budget. With logistics holding the economy together even during the COVID-19 pandemic and set to play an even more crucial role in current times, the government must look at providing the much-required financial and infrastructural support to the sector. With India's aim to reduce the logistics cost from the current 14 percent of GDP to less than 10 per cent, it is imperative for the government to bring about a groundbreaking transformation in the logistics sector that encapsulates an increased use of digital technologies and automation. We urge the government to take dedicated measures to boost digitalisation so as to drive transparency and bring in the required predictability in logistics. Another key step that the government must take is to bring Fuel under the purview of GST as this could fundamentally transform the Indian logistics sector. While goods are moved from one place to another, it is generally required for the transporter to carry a hard copy of the invoice, the government must also do away with this by way of e-way bill digitalisation. On the demand side, the government can look at driving the overall consumption which could be achieved by reducing personal income tax and GST on various goods, etc."

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Neel Juriasingani, CEO & Co-founder of  Datacultr.

"The pandemic has brought to fore an opportunity for immense innovation by startups and new-age technology companies and it is quite evident that the trend will only pick up in the year 2021. In the spirit of entrepreneurship, we hope, through this union budget, the government brings game-changing reforms, new policies, and regulations that will offer relief and tax sops to MSMEs and the startup ecosystem.

To talk about the Fintech industry particularly, the market has been largely expanding with new-age businesses emerging in the market opening up broader avenues to lending to high-risk and new-to-credit borrowers. The sector is on the cusp of a technological revolution; with the pandemic only accelerating the pace of tech adoption. The government must back this growth with favorable policies and encourage digitalisation to provide a further boost and expand financial inclusion across nooks and corners of the country".

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Saurabh Singh, Director of Appinventiv.

 "While eagerly waiting on the insights of this year’s budget, We hope that the finance minister and the government of India takes steps to position India as the IT epicentre of the world by creating advanced policies in favour of the Technology Industry. At the same time, the government must also create favourable tax policies for 100% owned & incorporated companies in India, which are playing a major role in giving employment and bringing foreign funds, and helping the economy. With that in mind, we urge that the government considers providing incentive in income tax for the companies which have been generating good employment with consistency.

Being one of the leading digital transformation companies, we believe that our compliance system should be favourable enough to encourage the organizations to keep their Head Offices in India instead of abroad. Even during the testing times, India's IT Industry and the startup ecosystem have shown utmost resilience; adapting to the new normal deftly. The industry has been playing a significant role in transforming India's image in providing world-class technology and business services. So, the expectations from this year's budget are somewhat high".

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Narasimhan Raghavan, Director, Raag Technologies and Services Pvt Ltd (RTS), 

"As the saying goes, every cloud has a silver lining. 2020 has been a game-changing year for the logistics sector. As we await the Budget 2021, we are expecting that the government will take further steps to strengthen the sector with reforms related to GST, and most importantly accelerate the implementation of initiatives under the Sagarmala and Bharatmala projects. It must be noted that logistics is also one of the highest employment-generating sectors currently. Therefore, the government must look at creating a thriving ecosystem for logistics leading to the overall economic growth."  

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Dr. Alok Khullar, CEO, Gleneagles Global Health City, Chennai: 

“Over the last year, we witnessed government and private hospitals tackle the pandemic brilliantly and save many lives. For the upcoming Union Budget 2021, we urge the government to give adequate importance to the healthcare sector by providing: 

Recognition and provision of Industry Status to healthcare along with all benefits accorded to priority sectors like IT & Manufacturing
Reduction in taxes and import duties which can help hospitals to adopt high-end technologies and equipment from other countries. This would help in improving the quality of care offered in the country at a lower cost.
Hospitals and healthcare organisations must be offered access to capital at discounted rates and longer tenure to help them manage their working capital appropriately and reduce overall cost of operating hospitals
Special schemes to be provided for formal training of doctors and nurses to enhance skills and bandwidth to offer care to a larger population
Benefits to be given to manufacturers of Healthcare equipment & consumables under the ‘Make in India’ campaign for high quality products and healthcare equipment to be manufactured at reasonable costs.
Healthcare sector needs to be considered as a priority and an essential service. Various subsidies and benefits should be given on land rates and other necessities such as electricity, as it will pave for accessible and affordable healthcare with better infrastructure and high quality treatment improving access to care and better patient outcomes.”