Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE UPDATES: Check latest demands here

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE UPDATES: The big day is almost here! The Union Budget 2021 is all set to be tabled in Parliament tomorrow i.e. Monday, 1st Feb 2021. 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 UPDATES: Anurag Avula, CEO & Co-Founder, Shopmatic Group

"The events of 2020 have given a significant boost to eCommerce, and government support through the upcoming Union Budget can further accelerate its ongoing growth wave. In my opinion, policies that strengthen the country’s digital infrastructure are pivotal to the further growth of the sector at this juncture. Certain tax exemptions will go a long way in enabling more SMEs to come online and bolster the eCommerce space.

Furthermore, The industry is also looking forward to policies that contribute towards encouraging industry players of varied scales to adopt technologies such as AI, ML, and Big Data Analytics to strengthen their value proposition and achieve business success in the online selling ecosystem.  

Shopmatic has seen a steady increase in individual entrepreneurs and SMEs taking the online route to growing their businesses through marketplace selling, social selling, chat selling, etc.  Experiencing month-on-month recovery after the supply chain and demand disruption from the COVID-19 outbreak, the industry is looking at the Union Budget 2021 with great optimism."

Avneet Singh Marwah, Director and CEO of Super Plastronics Pvt. Ltd, a Kodak brand Licensee
 
“In the past 5 years, there was dependency on China as the sole manufacturer of TV panels in the world. Moreover, the prices of TV panels were dominated by 6 companies which increased its prices by 300% in the last 8 months. But this budget is an opportunity for Indian Government to bring dual reforms to our TV manufacturing ecosystem. One, boost local production and manufacturing by removing custom duty on panels, and including televisions under the PLI scheme; and second drive demand by reducing GST from 28% to 18% as content consumption patterns have changed in the emerging towns as well..”

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE UPDATES: Akash Agarwal, Founder, myresQR.life

"A lot of blue collared workers have lost jobs / livelihood, businesses suffered because of Covid Lockdown. The budget needs to address welfare of these gig economy workers / unorganized small vendors. The people working in logistics industry are most vulnerable to emergencies. All Last mile delivery startups be made accountable for safety of their delivery partners and given additional benefits. The income tax has lot of rules not updated for long. Need to have a relook at tax exemption limits and enhance the exemption limit  in line with inflation. Ease the access to funds, unsecured loans to DIIP recognised startups and make it easy for angel investors from tax perspective. What is the benefit of getting DIIP certificate for startup India if it cannot ease the access to govt funds for recognised startups."

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE: Nemesisa Ujjain, Director - Innovation Projects, The Circle.Work

"Last year, Covid impacted many startups who struggled with revenue & cash flow issues, and though the government provided many measures for their growth, yet lack of working capital and cash flows remained big issues. We believe that the following measures would be helpful to startups in the Budget of FY21-22:

- Relaxation of lending norms levied by the banks to startups or from the perspective of a fintech startup to their consumers will promote cash flow in the economy and resuscitate demand.
- Simplifying taxation and legal procedures associated with either funding from international investors or accessing markets abroad would give a boost to Indian startups looking for global opportunities."

Alain Spohr, Managing Director, Alstom India & South Asia

“The COVID-19 pandemic made 2020 a challenging year by disrupting everything. It triggered a nationwide lockdown which displaced labour, disrupted supply chains and stunted domestic manufacturing. All this significantly impacted economic activity, but the government quickly launched effective measures to salvage India from the lows of 2020 at a remarkable pace. Businesses have adapted to the new normal, become resilient and agile for long-term survival. 

The Government launched the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’ (Mission Self-Reliant India) to nurture and build autonomous and sustainable sourcing and supply chain capabilities, which has been welcomed by all. Several other initiatives to boost infrastructure development, such as the National Infrastructure Pipeline, roll-out of Private Trains and Regional Rapid Transit Systems are likely to boost private participation and create more avenues for collaboration in the future.  

With the upcoming Budget 2021, we request the Finance Minister to continue with ease of doing business reforms. A crucial prerequisite to spur growth will be transparent, predictable, and competitive public policies. With particular focus on fair and efficient support during project execution. Addressing challenges in project execution such as, timely payments, efficient, fast and fair solving of execution related issues, and most importantly ensuring compliance of all players with localization requirements. We also urge the government to ensure a level-playing field between original domestic companies and foreign companies who have demonstrated genuine and sincere efforts to develop domestic capacities and capabilities, through significant industrial investments and robust transfer of technologies. In order improve competitiveness, while attracting to the Country investments in technology and innovation in a sustainable way and protecting the basics of Government Procurement policies. This will further be imperative to improve competitiveness, while attracting towards the country’s investments in technology and innovation, in a sustainable way and protecting the basics of Government Procurement policies.  

The Government has clearly demonstrated its intent to push forward with structural reforms to enhance domestic manufacturing. The recently announced PLI schemes for Champion Sectors are a step in the right direction and can unlock potential to turn India into a manufacturing powerhouse. In line with these efforts, Government should consider Railways as a Champion Sector and devise targeted recovery plans which can further incentivise foreign investments and provide a fillip to the Make-in-India initiative. Moreover, export incentives as part of the new Foreign Trade Policy can also help India integrate with global supply chains and leverage its competitive advantage. 

Alstom is fully aligned with the government’s push towards ‘Self-Reliance’ through ‘Make-in-India Policy’ and has achieved around 80% localization for all our domestic projects. We have invested significantly to build domestic capabilities and are fully committed to partner with the government in its efforts to transform India’s freight and passenger transportation sector.”

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE UPDATES: Dr.Smita Naram, Co-Founder, Ayushakti  

"This Budget is the first one in the post-pandemic economy and our FM has ensured it will be like never before. From our Ayurveda industry, any Ayurvedic product when gets exported from an organization, gets an incentive of 3%, this can be increased up to 5%. The GST on ayurvedic products is 12% which can be reduced up to 5% for the benefit of any Ayurvedic organizations. These 2 steps can help in the increase in the working capital of an organization.

The Government can also come up with a plan or scheme for expansion of Ayurvedic industry since it has boomed very largely in last 1 year. Providing special loans at a very subsidized rate for farming of herbal organic plantation is the same as it is given to the farmers of essential commodities. The interest rate 7% PA and processing fees at 0- 1% that will increase the export of Ayurvedic products in other countries."

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE UPDATES: Divya Jain, Co-Founder, SafeJob

"Skills and knowledge are the driving forces of economic growth and social development for any country. The government has been focusing on skill development and re-skilling of the youth as it will be a pivotal factor in helping India reach its full potential. NEP 2020 has already set the standards for extensive skill development for the youth. We expect the government to increase education expenditure in the current education budget.

With more focus on the implementation of the new policy, quality and tax-free education and skill development, the reforms will pave ways for more blue-collar jobs. We also expect the government to put more focus on the usage of digital education in Tier II, III, IV cities. The Union Budget 2021 presents an exceptional opportunity for addressing educational and societal insufficiency to raise the skills of India’s youth.”

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

The perception of a large number of end-users and investors has started changing about investing in real estate. Now is the opportune time for government to act upon it. Realty has been duly supported with low home loan interest rates post lockdown, in no time it can gain back its lost momentum if the issues such as  price of raw materials, industry status to the sector, and reduction in GST are addressed under this Union Budget 2021-22. The developers have gone beyond their means to stay relevant for their buyers by introducing technologies and methods to stay connected with their buyers, in the new normal. In order to give this sector a concrete support,government must also consider the rippling effect relaxations and policy measures will generate in the related ancillaries

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE UPDATES: Karmesh Gupta, CEO, WiJungle

"Cyber Security being a crucial element of digital empowerment, attention on both industry and public is the need of the hour.  From an Industry perspective, To promote local players, the government should give subsidy benefits if a company procures an Indian Cyber Security Product. Further, we look forward to incentivization/aide for startups in standard testing certifications & also open basic public testing labs accessible to startups on the subscription model. This would help domestic companies to compete conclusively against foreign players.

From Citizen Perspective, Govt. must launch mass cyber education & awareness drive through web programmes, evolving existing offline IT certification programmes, introducing it as a subject in the school curriculum. etc. for two major purposes:
i) develop workforce & reduce current shortage 
ii) substantially bring down cyber theft and losses."

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE UPDATES: VVihan Gulati, Director, MediagraphixPR

"Despite the strong economic impact due to the COVID 19 outbreak, the Indian MSME and start-ups have displayed remarkable resilience during the year. The government needs to provide larger policy support to revive the economy, drive more demand and increase consumption. The need for digitization is now and MSMEs are one the key sectors where digital needs to take frontline in processes, operations, and finances. We also need substantial initiatives to empower MSMEs by easing financial constraints to address their working capital requirements. The government needs to also focus on providing impetus to increase this sector’s contribution to global trade and improve their competitiveness in the international market."

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE UPDATES: Ar. Dikshu Kukreja, Principal Architect & Urban Designer, CP Kukreja Architect's

“As India strides towards urban development and as the population of the country moves towards cities, with urban migration continuing unabated, it is expected that within the next ten years, 40 per cent of the country’s population would be living in cities. This means that we would be requiring a size equivalent to a new Chicago metropolitan area every year to take care of the large population accumulation due to this urban migration. It is therefore imperative that we spend the budget with a thrust on the urban improvement strategies, in addition to some policies which are already in place such as AMRUT, Smart Cities, etc. These also need to be implemented with a special focus on aspects of environmental issues such as quality of air and water, land and our natural resources. We cannot continue to wait and watch as our cities and the quality of living deteriorates and becomes a health hazard for all. For the country to progress, the thrust has to remain on infrastructure; one expects more to be spent on education (schools, skill centres etc.), healthcare, public transportation which are going to be the main drivers of the economy in the coming years.” 

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE UPDATES: Dr. Rahul Chaudhary, Promoter, Sunworld Group

Real estate sector plays a major role in the foundation of a country's economic growth.The year 2020 has been a crucial year for all the industries and businesses, it has made them push their boundaries due to the limitations imposed by contagion. Similar was the case here, our prime concern always remains timely and quality deliveries to our homebuyers. In order to fulfil that, we would be needing the support from government in this upcoming Budget. Industry status to real estate will bode well for the entire community and put as a priority in the lending list of banking institutions. We are eagerly looking forward to FM's announcement, as it will be directly impacting the roadmap for coming few years.

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE UPDATES: Vishesh Rajaram, Founder and Managing Partner of Speciale Invest 

"At Speciale, our core expectation from the budget is the creation of a level playing field for Indian technology start-ups. Today there is a difference between tax rates levied upon capital gains arising from the sale of unlisted shares and the rates levied on the sale of listed shares. A parity in the two rates will give the start-ups an equal chance to attract larger amounts of institutional capital based on performance alone. This will also ensure a fair comparison between the two asset classes."

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE UPDATES: Rakesh Kharwal, Managing Director - India/South Asia & ASEAN, Cyberbit  

"The 2020 coronavirus pandemic has seemingly disrupted the business operations of industries far and wide. At the same time, the shift towards digitization due to the pandemic has further advanced the Digital India initiative and has done a remarkable job in accelerating the nation’s technological and information security infrastructure. The focus of the government and Industry should be to build superior trust in technology. The Union Budget 2021 should concentrate on stepping up cybersecurity measures to safeguard critical infrastructure & Data for financial systems, public health, science, safety institutions, defense, aerospace, and intelligence agencies. This increased focus on cybersecurity further increases the cyber skills gap already impacting organizations globally. We, at Cyberbit, expect an increased budgetary allocation for the national cybersecurity skilling programs across central & state Universities, IIT & NIITs & other future skills academies being set up by states. An optimum forward strategy would be to leverage simulation-based cybersecurity platforms like Cyber Ranges to impart real-world experience on the ever-evolving global threats. It will aid in resolving the glaring skill-employability gap in the Indian cybersecurity industry and also deftly pivoting the vertical towards competing in the global market."

About Cyberbit: Cyberbit addresses one of the most acute cybersecurity problems: preparing the human element for attacks. Cyberbit Range, our flagship product is the market-leading cyber range for training cybersecurity professionals, preparing cybersecurity teams for attacks by delivering a hyper-realistic experience that immerses them in a virtual SOC, where they use real-world security tools to respond to real-world, simulated cyberattacks. As a result, it dramatically increases SOC team performance, improves teamwork, and improves evaluation, hiring, and certification processes. The Platform delivers over 100,000 training sessions annually across 5 continents. Customers include Fortune 500 companies, MSSPs, system integrators, academics, and governments. Cyberbit is headquartered in Israel with offices in the US, Europe, and Asia."

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE UPDATES: Amit Banka, Founder & CEO, WeNaturalists

"Giving Start-ups the Impetus To Be Nature-Positive Is My Wish For Union Budget 2021. “The world is swiftly moving towards a nature-positive economy. Looking into the future, my expectation from this budget is a significant drive towards making start-ups nature-positive from day 1. We rightly push for old-economy conglomerates to reduce their carbon footprint, why can't we frame policies under the startup initiative/ program to incentivize companies to implement nature-positive processes from ground zero? In India, the start-up world is still at a nascent stage. The right impetus from the Centre can help us move towards a sustainable future and eventually help us achieve our 2030 goals. As we step into this decade, we are faced with multiple challenges. From our energy consumption to our over-reliance on plastics - there lies an opportunity for us to turn towards nature. We need to focus on nature-based solutions for start-up businesses. The budgetary allocations towards fighting climate change begin at the grassroots level. Large corporations continue to be under-fire for their enormous ecological footprint. It is much-needed. And we also need strong corrective measures to ensure that we aren’t doing the same for those setting up new businesses. The budgetary allocations towards a nature-positive economy can help in answering a lot of the above questions. It’s time for India to truly be a global leader for sustainability."

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE UPDATES: Sharad Agarwal, Head , Lamborghini India

“The super luxury segment in India is niche and does not represent the true potential of the market. In the last decade the segment has seen many ups and downs and has struggled to cross 300 mark in annual sales. India is home to the 4th largets population of millionaires in the Asia-Pacific region and 4th largest population of Billionaires in the world but India contributes to less than 1 percent to the global luxury trade. For our country to revive back from the economic repercussions of COVID-19, government stimulus packages need to push consumer spending across segments. High taxation and frequent changes in rates have had a considerable impact on the super luxury segment in India. With 110% import duties, 28% GST and 22% additional cess makes India among the highest tax countries in the world and we expect the government to review the 22% cess on luxury cars in the upcoming budget to push the demand and drive the growth to its potential in the segment."

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE UPDATES: Ashwajit singh, managing director, ipe global

"IMP has projected a 11.5% growth for india in 2021, making the country the only major economy of the world projected to register a double-digit growth. 2020 has been a tough year and the road ahead still seems bumpy, with an expected contraction of 7.7% in the pandemic year. if india has to achieve the imf projected growth, the 2021 budget has to be landmark budget to help revive the economy and counter the detrimental impact of the pandemic. i look forward to a budget that is pro-market, pro-ease of doing business and pro-job creation. it is time to loosen the purse strings and not to worry about fiscal deficit. it required bolder measures to raise funds for stimulus. more funds in the hands of the consumer is needed to boost consumption – this could be done by additional funds in schemes like mnrega, pds, pm kisan yojna, direct benefit transfers or new schemes. I expect that a larger portion of government spending will go into improving health and education systems vis-à-vis last year thus pushing the need for better and well-funded public and private hospitals and well-managed inclusive educational institutions. while these sectors take centre stage, a focus on infrastructure, textiles, construction etc. can further propel growth and generate employment. with millions of jobs lost in the formal sector alone in the past few months, the budget is an opportunity for the government to action out the conversations initiated around creating an urban equivalent of mnrega which have the potential to create jobs and, provide social security to a large section of the population. it is important to provide income support through funding public infrastructure through such schemes. The government should consider adequate budgeting for improving people skills thus increasing their employability. a swifter adoption of new education policy 2020 and possibly an integration of national apprenticeship promotion scheme (naps) with pm rozgar protsahan yojana (pmrpy) could bring in the desired incentives for employers to take in fresh hires thereby increasing formal employment. additional support needs to be provided to the jan dhan yojna and the mudra scheme to encourage entrepreneurs. 
MSMEs contribute to over 40% to the indian export basket. ease in the foreign exchange management act, 1999 can help them work swiftly with global partners, contribute to global trade and push market demand. the government needs to continue with the atmanirbhar sentiment in budget 2021 to bolster the confidence of msmes. i hope the government ensures more credit flow to msmes in the upcoming budget. with india now in the top 5 spots globally of being a start-up generated economy, the government must consider introducing more tax benefits especially for start-ups. this is of even greater consequence now that businesses are trying to crawl out of the covid-19 induced penumbra. adequate support on the adoption of latest technologies such as artificial intelligence (ai) and machine learning at lower costs is also desired from the budget."

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE UPDATES: Rustom Kerawalla, Founder Chairperson, VIBGYOR Group of Schools

"The past months have amply demonstrated the utility and relevance of technology in education – when physical classes were no longer possible, edtech came to the rescue of the sector. Technology is also a great equaliser, and the evolution Indian education has gone through holds great potential in making learning possible for students across the country, including in remote areas. The proposed National Education Policy (NEP 2020) also acknowledges this pressing need for digitisation of education in India. However, ensuring universal access to education also requires us to upgrade the existing communications infrastructure and to ensure pedagogical delivery in areas where technology does not reach yet. In addition, we will need to equip present and future generations of teachers with the necessary capability for effectively using edtech in conjunction with traditional pedagogy to improve learning outcomes. We hope the new budget will provide suitable allocations to this end, so that the digital divide that exists can be eradicated, and we can ensure a bright future for all of India’s children."

Budget 2021 Expectations LIVE UPDATES: Sivaramakrishnan Venkateswaran, Managing Director, Oxford University Press India

"“The upcoming budget poses a big fiscal challenge for the Government in the face of measures it has had to take to manage a Covid-19 impacted economy. The widespread disruption of formal teaching and learning  brought to fore several issues that need immediate redressal. Foremost, the Union Budget 2021 must address the serious issue of ‘digital divide’ as learning came to a standstill for the less privileged following the nationwide lockdown last year. Investments in ‘digital highways’ should augment connectivity infrastructure to enable anytime, anywhere remote learning and teaching, especially for the less privileged. Similar investments must be made towards teacher professional development for pedagogical reorientation of our educators following NEP and the impending National Curriculum Framework review that is underway. Professional development will also support upskilling of educators to enable them to efficiently drive digital and remote teaching in the post pandemic world."