Rafiq Somani, Country Manager India, ASEAN and ANZ, ANSYS
“With the current Government promoting domestic manufacturing via the ‘Make in India’, this initiative is taking good shape. In today’s budget the government emphasized heavy investment in infrastructure, defense, electronics and skill development. All consistent with transforming India into an indigenous self-sustained ecosystem for research, engineering and manufacturing. ”
Mr. S. Rajendran, CMO, Acer India
“We’re happy and welcome this positive budget which has defined a clear roadmap on many aspects addressing the need for stability in policy framework. Some of the bold announcements made by the Finance Minister and have a direct bearing on our sector – infrastructure spending, direct transfer to beneficiaries, committed date of April 01, 2016 for Goods & Service Tax (GST) and enhanced social security thrust will convey a reassuring message to potential overseas investors. However, we’ll need to review the provisions before any predictions could be made on the impact they will have on the sector. IT industry expected more from the budget. While some progress has been made towards addressing the inverted duty structure and dual Central Value Added Tax (CENVAT) structure for encouraging local assembly/manufacture of tablets and smartphones, keeping out PCs with the attendant increase in Excise duty/CENVAT from 12.36% to 12.5% in addition to the jump to 14% in service tax bodes ill for increasing demand for this category which is already suffering from woefully low penetration rates. We are eagerly hoping that with the clear direction spelt out, there would be more reform oriented policies and measures as the year progresses so the momentum for an accelerated GDP growth continues.”
Krishna Lakamsani, Founder & CEO, IPay Tech India Pvt. Ltd.
“Govt allotted 1000 cr for startups but it has to be more clear in how this fund is going to be deployed last govt also alloted desperate fund for startups but it did not reach to its potential because of lack of understanding in govt officials how and where to deploy .
If govt is focussed on startup tax when they raise investment it would help startups but there is no view on that
As us govt did American Dream act giving employers to benefit when they hire new employees it will increase and help startups to hire there are no incentives specific to startups”
Mr. Nigel Eastwood, CEO, New Call Telecom
“The Government delivers on its promise of strengthening the infrastructure sector. We, at New Call Telecom, strongly believe that small and medium sized companies hold the key to growth and by giving start-ups a boost will only expedite their growth story. The reduction in corporate tax from 30% to 25% over next 4 years is a welcome one. The reduction on taxes on technical services from 25% to 10% will also cut down costs for service providers like us who have focused plans for realizing the Digital India dream. Overall the budget looks realistic and a stepping stone to India’s growth story. I second the Finance Minister – India is about to take off.”
Mr. Sanjeev Sarin, Founder & CEO, Ozone Networks
“In my view, the budget reflects a lot of confidence that the new Government has shown since the time it took charge of the office. It also projects a highly positive and optimistic roadmap for companies and investors looking to do business in India, thereby giving a boost of confidence to FDI in India and clearly sending out a signal that its simpler and lucrative to do business in India. It’s a budget for the working class and professionals. It gives a big boost to the farming and manufacturing sector and also encourages employment opportunities by giving preference and building a strong foundation to domestic manufacturing in India. A very encouraging step forward is the decision to induce investment by 70,000 crore in the infrastructure sector for FY 15-16. Health & Education has been a strong focus in the budget and the Government should be lauded for its decision to provide concession to senior citizen on medical expenses.”
Pradeep Vajram, CEO, SmartPlay Technologies
Applauding the increased focus on Skill Labour Development and investment towards Entrepreneurship and Start-ups in Budget 2015 Pradeep Vajram, CEO, SmartPlay Technologies said, “The skill labour development program proposed in the Union Budget 2015, presented by Honorable Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, will provide an impetus to the ‘Make in India’ initiative. The fast paced technological advances demands high skilled labour and it has become a necessity to have skill training programmes for young India, which is the need of the hour. Additionally, it is extremely encouraging to see the government’s focus towards the start-up community in India. By implementing SETU (Self-Employment and Talent Utilisation), the government is promoting entrepreneurship driven by innovation in technology, which will take India to the next level of success.”
Amar Babu, President, MAIT
“Budget 2015 is a balanced budget that touches upon many areas of infrastructure, universal social security vision, insurance for all, education among others. From an IT industry perspective, it is a mixed bag with the inverted duty structure being finally addressed with the removal of SAD on all components. The removal of customs duty on components and concessional structure of 2% without CENVAT credit are positive steps to encourage tablet manufacturing in India. However it disappoints as no initiatives have been taken to increase PC manufacturing and promote exports. In this budget, we might have missed an opportunity to drive ‘Make in India’ in computers.”
Somshubhro Pal Choudhury, Managing Director, Analog Devices India (ADI)
“The 2015 budget is well balanced and sustainable with a prudent mix of fiscal discipline and much needed investment across key sectors like infrastructure along with a well thought out safety net for the poor under a financial inclusive agenda.
The positive aspects that I see immediately apparent are the reduction in Corporate Tax to 25% in the next subsequent years, the #MakeInIndia initiatives with several corrections to the inverted duty structure and the national skill development mission for the tens of Millions of young Indians joining the workforce every year. Innovative schemes of monetizing Gold, preventing leakages and corruption with direct transfer and Digital India initiatives, the ultra-mega power projects for the commitment of 24/7 power, support of the startup ecosystem, the scheme for the alternative energy development and the direction towards GST are the steps in the right direction.
What I would have liked to see more was incentivizing the companies to do more R&D and manufacturing from India.”
Mr. Harit Soni, Director, Ecolibrium Energy
“The new budget is great for the economy at large, and is overall a positive direction towards the larger aim of developing infrastructure which will in turn help every sector including power, but I would have liked to see more focus on budget outlay for Energy Efficiency, Reduction of Transmission and distribution losses, and clean energy.
The whole backbone of growing the country would be based on power availability, and 4 UMPP plants of 4 GW is good direction, but there is an equal requirement to focus on demand side management which I felt was missing. We need to grow efficiently, and just producing more power is not the answer – which other countries like US and Europe have realized and have put in more than 3 Billion USD in the area.
Also the support for IT startups of 1000 crores seems to be too little for a sector which could be the backbone of a ‘make in India’ and smart city campaigns.
But focusing on the clean energy cess, and revision of renewable energy targets are great moves and would be essential for creating funds for clean energy, but the real innovation would be in terms of how to spend the money. Clean energy generation is not the only solution, and I would have loved to see an equal focus on smarter electricity transmission and distribution. Smart Energy management is the low lying fruit that can plucked easily, and a budget outlay for that specific area would have been key.
Also smart city sector, which includes electric vehicles development is new and exciting, and developing an innovation ecosystem for domestic development of technology would have been a visionary step towards developing a sector (like IT) where India can become a global leader rather than importing technology from outside India. We need 100 smart cities which are ‘made-in-india’ rather than importing technology from outside the country, and i feel the 1000 crores funds for IT startups might just be too little.
But overall, I think this budget provides a good direction of generating funds for sustainable development – but the exciting path would be to see how its going to be used and implemented.”
Mr. Madhusudan M Chakrapani, CTO, REConnect Energy Solutions
“The union budget has further reinforced a positive sentiment already prevailing among the various stakeholders in the power sector. We welcome the strong encouragement given to renewable energy sector – the mandate to bring 175000 MW of renewable generation by 2022 as mentioned by the Finance Minister today. Most significant growth will be seen in solar sector capacity which will increase from 3.5 GW today to 100GW in 7 years and will help catalyze the renewable industry further. Additional depreciation of 20% allowed on distributed power generation (taking it to 100% depreciation in the first year) – will also benefit roof top solar deployment. Besides the plan to electrify the remaining 20000 villages by 2022 and build 5 new ultra-mega power plants of 4000 MW each will be a welcoming step to make India a energy sufficient country. Clean energy cess on coal has been increased from Rs 100/t to Rs 200/t which result in financing clean environment initiates. However, there were no announcements made towards the deployment of funds collected.”
Mr. Alan D Souza, CEO, Vavia Technologies
“The govt seems to have spoken of another 1000cr startup fund with no news about the previous 10000cr startup fund that was announced during the budget last year. Rather than announcing such funds, more focus needs to be given on how utilization of such funds have impacted job creation and then additional support that can be provided for the same. The proposal to reduce taxes for Tech startups from 25% to 10% is great news as this will really encourage tech startups in the country.”
Toshendra Sharma, Founder & CEO, Wegilant, SINE IIT Bombay
“This is certainly a move in the right direction for fostering a sound startup ecosystem in our country. Any assistance from the Government would be a shot in the arm for startups & small businesses. With support towards the ‘self-employment’, being a start-up we comprehend the importance of any kind of support and when it comes from our country’s government, we truly wish to deliver the best for the country and make a difference at large!”
Mr. Prabhu Ramachandran, Director- WebNMS
“The Union Budget 2015 reiterates the Government’s Digital India programme, with a balance of strong focus on strengthening the infrastructure sector along with measures to promote entrepreneurship. The emphasis on infrastructure –roadways, railway, power, and housing will in turn boost investments in technology infrastructure and speed up IoT adoption. On the industry front, we are excited that the articulation of the Digital India vision will bring together diversified stakeholders of the Internet of Things (IoT) value chain and regulate the highly fragmented IoT ecosystem in India.”
Mr. Vivek Varshney, VP, and Head, Telecom, UST Global
“The Government has presented growth oriented and investor friendly budget. Allocation of 7060 cr. for 100 smart cities will give impetus to technology related spending. Government’s Digital India initiative to focus on broadband connectivity at village level with improved access to services through IT enabled platforms would go a long way in bridging the digital divide. Another welcome step is the setting up of National Rural Internet and Technology Mission for services in villages and schools, training in IT skills and E-Kranti for government service delivery and governance scheme. It is also encouraging to see the budget’s focus on employability and entrepreneur skills through setting up of Skill India program.”
Mr A K Bhuwania, Chairman, VXL Instruments
“By looking at this year’s Union Budget, I can say that India’s economy is about to take off on a faster growth trajectory. I feel that overall the budget is positive for all industries — healthcare, automobile, IT and others. It is encouraging to see that the government has reinforced its continuing focus on leveraging technology for development goals. Other announcements like electronic Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS) for SMEs, cashless economy, expanding direct benefits through JAM etc. are also a good sign. Furthermore, for technology start-ups, the FM has acknowledged the need of addressing concerns such as the need for a more liberal system of raising global capital, providing incubation facilities and easing norms for doing business. This budget clearly points that ‘Make in India’ is going to gain momentum this year. Reduction in royalty on technical services from 25% to 10% will encourage technology transfer to India. However, the increase in service tax is something that’s going to bother the industry as it is bound to increase the prices of many tech services. ”
Mr. Rajiv Shah, Director, Asia Powercom
“This is a bold and far sighted union budget which will help raise the country’s profile as an investment destination. It aims to make many structural changes that will help drive higher corporate investment on a sustainable basis. Also they include a commitment to simplify and rationalize the various taxation structures which sets a clear roadmap for the next four years. Decent balance of social reforms and growth initiatives have taken which includes ‘Make in India’, GST, Corporate tax and GST implementation which is big news. There was no big bang in budget but collectively budget has addressed total growth package by giving thrust to ‘Make in India’, GST, Gold Bonds, correcting inverted duty structure, Power generation, Education, Road and rail networking etc. Expectations were running high and there is no doubt that many will feel that this was not the defining moment for the Indian economy that they had anticipated. But overall it was a strong and structural budget with clear roadmaps to achieve the target of more than 7% economic growth in the next 3 years. Only concern with this budget was lack of sops for the middle class people.”
Mr. Gopal Pansari, Director, Savera Marketing Agency Pvt Ltd.
“We welcome this budget as it is positive, growth oriented and puts forth realistic roadmap to attain sustainable economic growth. This Budget is a sincere effort to address all class of society and bringing the economy back on track. Tax exemptions for middle class people, will in turn spur demand for goods and services, which would be a win-win situation for the overall economy of country. There are many positive moves, some big ones and some small ones in this budget. It is focused on ease of doing business, Make in India, infrastructure, social sectors. Introduction of GST from 1 April 2016 will definitely refresh the industry, make manufacturing more competitive and help common man a lot. Union Budget 2015-16 has been termed as ‘Budget for the Corporates’ by the critics. The middle class and the common man had a lot of expectations from this but they seem to have been left high and dry. Including different initiates for them could have taken this budget to higher level.”
Mr. Vinod Kumar, Managing Director, Satcom Infotech
“Overall the budget is an investment friendly budget for our economy. The proposed cut in corporate tax coupled with universal social security scheme makes it a well balanced budget for all classes.
The increase in service tax is an increased burden for the IT sector. On the plus side for the IT sector is reduction in TDS rate on technical fees and royalty the new tax exemptions for salaried is also a welcome plus from the budget. The budget also looks positive for curbing black money circulation in property transactions.”
Mr. Richard Tan, MD & Director, ADATA Technology India Pvt Ltd
“Overall the budget looks to be bringing in realignment in taxes for corporates and rationalizing the tax pay-out. One aspect that strongly comes out of this budget is that in the next few months the industrial growth would be more encouraging than at the current moment. The stress toward ‘Make in India’ looks to be gaining and that will surely benefit the local industries. However raising the service tax is something that is definitely going to pinch the businesses. One significant aspect that looks missing is the increase in income tax exemption limit which eventually would have much higher impact on the growth for industries. However small benefits like travel can be referred as a breather for the Income tax payer. On a rating we could give in a score of 6 out of 10 as though this is not a populist budget throwing in goodies like the earlier budget but clearly focusing on curbing out anomalies and bringing in a spurt in growth. The biggest focus that the FM has kept is to stimulate the industrial and business growth that had been the main plank for coming to power and more over with no goodies or subsidies announced – it clearly shows government’s strength as a party having an absolute majority. Not coming out with anything substantial for the middle class in kind of any benefits is something that we feel that this budget has missed”
Mr. Dharmesh Anjaria, Executive Director, Dynacons Technologies Limited
“This is a very strong and assertive budget. Emphasis has been on tax simplification, tax compliance and infrastructure spend which is the need of the hour. The levies on corporate taxation, rationalization of wealth tax, incentives by more expenditure towards infrastructure are all positives. Clarity on the rollout of GST is a very Big positive. This will greatly help in reducing tax complexity and multiplicity. Reduction of MAT rate has been missed out. Also the government is relying too heavily on divestment to meet the fiscal deficit – the deficit target is also quite ambitious.
What’s good in this budget are Firm roll out of GST, Reduction in the withholding tax is a positive which will increase the technology transfer to India. Allocation of Rs 1000 crores to help IT Start-ups is also a very good step. Reduction in corporate tax from 30% to 25% over 4 years, reduction of tax on royalty and technical fee as well as re-assurance on retrospective taxation are positive measures. Rationalisation of certain duties and taxes would have helped in the build-up to the GST regime. MAT reduction would have been a positive step – especially in the SEZ companies as this will help give fillip to the exports.
Overall the budget is an assertive step to fiscal consolidation. People had a lot of expectations from the budget – the Finance minister has done a good balancing act. Drawbacks will be seen on how FM manages the fiscal deficit.”
Mr. Pankaj Jain, Director, ESET India
Opinion about ‘Post – Budget Reaction’—
1- The announcement of GST from 01/04/2016 and look forward to its implementation.
2- The increase in the time limit for taking CENVAT credit from 6 months to one year.
3- Streamlining the tax categories as committed, removal of Wealth tax is a move towards it.
4- The move towards Central Excise and Service Tax assesses to keep records of invoices in digital form will finally help clean the system of paper and make it greener.
5- The rate of Income-Tax on royalty and fees for technical services reduced from 25% to 10% would help in the inflow of latest technology.
6- Opening of the industry in the north eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh for Animation is a welcome step, this will create employment and talent both.
7- Setting up of SETU (Self Employment and Talent Utilization) under NITI with a funding of 1000 crores is a welcome step for the promotion of IT Start-ups.
8- AIM (Atal Innovation Mission) under NITI to help in growth of R&D is good step.
9- Allocation of 1000 Crores given to start-up industries in the IT Sector for the benefit of the entrepreneur who is setting up a new business.
– The increase in Service tax though necessary for the GST implementation has been softened by a lower increase than the expected which would increase again in the next year.
– Reduction of Corporate tax over the next 4 years is a welcome step but the final impact will be net higher outflow due to rationalization and removal of tax benefits over the coming years.
– Requirement of PAN for any transaction over 1 Lakh will only increase in documentation for the seller and a step not very welcome there could be other methods to do that.
Mr. P.G Lakshminarayan, Vice President-Finance, eScan
“The Budget looks pragmatic and realistic and was in line with expectations. Defined focus on domestic manufacturing & infrastructure, investment allocations to build Smart Cities & to increase broadband penetration of Indian villages, liberalization of FDI in ecommerce sector, promised actions to finalize GST this year, clarity on transfer pricing along with a collaborative framework to minimize future disputes etc., are all steps in the right direction and indicative of a positive start to a long-term process. To conclude, this Budget is quite optimistic with clear roadmap ahead and it will be quite interesting to track how it plays out eventually.”
