By IANS,
New Delhi : Following are the reactions of the top industrialists in India to the union budget 2009-10 presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in parliament Monday:
K.V. Kamath, chairman, ICICI Bank: “This is a budget that will take two-three days for the larger markets, not just the capital markets, to understand and then probably react to it.”
R.S. Sharma, chairman, ONGC: “I feel, overall, the budget addresses the expectations. The focus has been more on the stability and the futuristic growth, especially for the oil and gas upstream sector.”
N.R. Narayana Murthy, chief mentor, Infosys: “I wish there was a roadmap to reduce the fiscal deficit from 6.8 percent to 3 percent. Second, I wish he had talked about a mechanism to enhance foreign investment. Third, I wish he had talked about the need to utilise all subsidies and the financial help he intends to give to the poor is utilised more effectively.”
S. Gopalakrishnan, chief executive, Infosys: “The abolishing of fringe benefit tax (FBT) will be beneficial to the IT industry. Removing excise duty on packet software, the streamlining, and the refund of service tax on overseas services is something the IT industry will benefit from.”
Som Mittal, president, Nasscom: “The decision to extend fiscal benefits available to the industry under section 10A/10B for one year will help the industry mitigate the impact of the current economic environment and help India retain its competitiveness.”
S. Ramadorai, chief executive and managing director, Tata Consultancy Services: “For the IT industry, the extension of the tax exemption under STPI for one more year is a step in the right direction as is the abolition of FBT.”
B. Muthuraman, managing director, Tata Steel: “I would have been happier to see a more elaborate disclosure of the government’s medium-term plan including disinvestments, subsidies and controlling government’s administrative expenditure. These initiatives are critical in managing the fiscal deficit and restoring fiscal discipline in government finances.”
Rahul Bajaj, chairman, Bajaj Auto: “I am happy on behalf of the whole industry that FBT has been abolished, but I am a little bit unhappy about MAT (minimum alternate tax).”
Karl Slym, president and managing director, General Motors India: “The budget is encouraging due to its focus on infrastructure, education, agriculture, irrigation, health care and social security schemes.”
Pranav Ansal, vice-chairman and managing director, Ansal API: “The hike in infrastructure spending will be a huge boost for the real estate industry as the two are directly related for the most part.”
R. Seshasayee, managing director, Ashok Leyland: “I think we have, in a way, been victims of unrealistic expectations. What has been done is pretty reasonable. Clearly, the intention is to stick both to the larger agenda in terms of the tax reforms and the goods and services tax (GST) for 2010. I do not have much quarrel about the minimum alternate tax (MAT) going up to 15 percent.”
Kalpana Morparia, chief executive, JP Morgan: “These are extraordinary times, lot of countries in the developed world are running large deficits because they got to kickstart the economy. So I think we should not be too excessively obsessed about just now at 6.8 percent (fiscal deficit).”
Chanda Kochar, chief executive, ICICI Bank: “The growth target of 9 percent set by the budget is clearly a positive signal, especially given the backdrop of weak macroeconomic conditions globally.”
Uday Kotak, chairman, Kotak Mahindra Bank: “I do believe that this budget is good for domestic economy; it is good for domestic investment, domestic savings and domestic consumption. I think the government has now done its bit to what I call the fiscal part of supporting the economic recovery.”
Mehul Choksi, chairman, Gitanjali Gems Ltd: “There is some good news as the 2 percent excise duty on branded jewellery is gone. The gold price hike and no further lowering of interest rates are likely to hurt.”
Sajjan Jindal, vice-chairman and managing director, JSW Steel: “Given the very difficult circumstances, I would say the budget is very good. There’s a slight increase in MAT from 11 percent to 15 percent. I don’t think it is going to have a very negative effect on corporate circles.”
Harsh Pati Singhania, president, FICCI: “The finance minister has done a tightrope walking over a huge distance in a difficult situation – of a large fiscal deficit and a steep fall in growth rate. And he has done a good walk. It is a daring budget and a job well done in the most trying circumstances.”
Shanto Ghosh, principal economist, Deloitte: “Overall Mukherjee has delivered a budget that should be greeted with some cheer but certainly not a thundering applause.”
Russell Parera, chief executive, KPMG India: “No doubt the economic survey set out some aggressive direction for the economy but the government has repeatedly sought to play down the impact of one day, be it the budget or the credit policy. Moreover, very little has been initiated with respect to reforms in the financial sector.”
Gul Kripalani, president, Indian Merchants Chamber (IMC): “Though the fiscal deficit has been estimated to rise further to 6.8 percent, IMC doesn’t consider it alarming, because fiscal deficit in the US is 12 percent and in the UK it is 15 percent.”
Sumit Banerjee, managing director, ACC Cements: “The thrust on infrastructure and housing spells well for construction and building materials. But we are disappointed that cement fails to get any respite from the high rate of taxes and duties.”
Gautam Adani, chairman, Adani Group: “With abolition of FBT and surcharge on IT, more money will be available in individual hands in these challenging times. This will catalyze savings, investments and spending, which in turn will help the economy. An appropriate budget.”
Vikram Kaushik, managing director and chief executive, Tata Sky: “The increase in the customs duty on set-top boxes will add to the cost of digital television services for consumers at large.”
Pranay Dhabhai, chief operating officer, Haier Appliances India: “The reduction in the custom duty on LCD TVs cut from 10 percent to 5 percent is expected to lead to a reduction in LCD TV prices. The reduction of excise duties by 2 percent will also give a welcome boost to the manufacturing sector.”
A.S. Mehta, marketing head, JK Tyre and Industries: “The budget has given major thrust on expenditure in infrastructure and rural sector. These two sectors should certainly accelerate domestic demand.”
Maninder Singh Grewal, managing director, Religare Technova: “The budget is a stable one. However, it has done little to spur internal IT spend on processes and applications – something that could have optimised the availability of good validated manpower now underutilised because of the global meltdown.”