Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will be presenting her second Union Budget on February 1, leaders from the sectors namely travel, auto, fintech, e-commerce have several expectations pertaining to this mega announcement. In conversation with The Banking & Finance Post, the C-Suite officers talk about the various aspects that should be a part of the budget announcements and sectors that must be in the spotlight.
Travel
“Since the past decade, India has established itself as one of the fastest-growing travel markets across the globe and is poised to become the 3rd largest market by 2025 given the secular growth trends. It is essential to ensure that infrastructural inadequacies do not fetter the growth of the industry. The government should make provisions for boosting the domestic infrastructure towards global benchmarks in the upcoming budget, says Indroneel Dutt, CFO, Cleartrip.
“We are also hopeful that the government will take cognizance and resolve challenges for the aviation industry which has already seen a tough year in 2019. For one, out of all the stakeholders in the aviation ecosystem, airlines operate with the most paper-thin margins. This, coupled with TCS (Tax collection at source), ends up hampering the working capital of airlines, giving rise to numerous operational difficulties. These obstacles are not only affecting the stakeholders and service providers but the consumers as well. We are optimistic that the government will continue to be open-minded and maintain the impetus of its past initiatives while bringing necessary reformations to further enable the travel sector,” he adds.
“The government has recognized the potential of cruising as an economic multiplier and is catching up with the world in terms of policies and infrastructure. Cruise Lines are now looking at the government to create a relatable tax regime, which is at par with the rest of the world,” saus Varun Chadha, CEO, Tirun.
Auto
“I believe that the government should build on its recent push towards sustainability by prioritising the growth of the EV ecosystem. This can be done by promoting the creation of a strong and well-connected charging infrastructure on a pan-India level, promoting the setting up of EV battery capacity in the country and incentivising the adoption of EVs, especially for public transport buses, fleet operator cars and 2 and 3 wheelers. The road connectivity must also be improved between major urban centres and tier-2/3 regions to bolster the growth of the travel and tourism sector,” says Sunil Gupta, MD & CEO, Avis India.
Ecommerce & Startup
“The expectation from the budget is to help the economy recover in most sectors that have seen a smaller growth over the last few years. Apart from this, we hope india lowers it’s import tax on commodities so that end consumers can have access to aspirational products for cheap prices, while at the same time drive credit subsidies for small business owners and boost manufacturing, which eventually will strengthen the economy growth,” says Jasmeet Thind, Co-founder, Coutloot .
Fintech & Startup
“Fund availability has to be made for a conducive and supportive financial environment. This is because the lending fintechs are largely the ones that cater to the masses or the people who are not served by the formal financial institutions. The access to liquidity has to be eased for such fintechs. Though there are many funds which are established for the fintechs, the flow of money for the same has its own unique challenges. There has to be rationalization of MAT tax rate along with the increase in the minimum threshold for tax exemption as many end up paying taxes despite being eligible for the tax holiday,” says Manish Khera, Founder & CEO, HAPPY.
