Here's what the Industry Leaders had to say about Budget 2022

Budget 2022-23  is a step towards a modern and self-reliant India. The Union Budget was focused on providing basic amenities to the poor, middle class, and youths. The emphasis is on infrastructure, technology, skill development, and health. On the other hand, there is no specific announcement on tourism, radio, advertising, and entertainment. The whole industry welcomes the latest move on the e-Passport initiative and the digital currency introduction. Let’s take a look at the post-budget reaction of various Industry leaders.

“Consistency, Continuity & Stability’ are the leading mantras of the 2022-23 Budget. The Budget is well-balanced, growth and capital expenditure oriented and is aimed at increasing people's opportunities. However, the success of any budget lies in its execution. We welcome the honorable Finance Minister’s focus and impetus on job creation and urban development, it will spur the growth of the Indian economy.

The PMAY scheme has delivered 53.42 lakh households till date. The allocation of 48,000 CR to housing projects with an aim to build 80 lakh residences for PM Awas Yojana for FY23 is a much-needed push to create newer and affordable inventories for home buyers. We appreciate the central government’s intervention to expedite all land and construction related approvals to promote affordable housing for the middle class and economically weaker sections in urban areas.

The Special Economic Zones Act will be replaced with new legislation that will enable the states to become partners in ‘Development of Enterprise and Service Hubs’. The industry expects the new policy to ensure domestic companies be able to utilize the SEZ infrastructure, and the policy shall enable unit by unit de notification.

The increased Capex allocation is a big move for the coming fiscal year. Everything from providing infra status to data centers, the introduction of ‘digital rupee’, green bonds and purity bonds unveil a further looking growth-oriented budget. This will facilitate credit availability for digital infrastructure and clean energy storage as well. Schemes like one nation, one registration for land reforms will be ground-breaking for the sector, the impact of which is yet to be seen.

One of the key agendas of Budget 2022 was the idea for systematic urban development by consorting between the central and state governments. It is a pertinent step to address the housing issue in the urban areas with state-center coordination.

From a logistics and infrastructure standpoint, allocation of Rs 25,000 Cr for the expansion of national highways will ensure a collective development across regions for logistics, housing, and allied sectors. The launch of ‘DESH-stack E-portal unified logistics interface platform is the right step to promote digital infrastructure.

The government has also decided to exempt custom duty on certain steel scrap. These anti-dumping laws for steel will ease inflation, reduce construction costs and will lead to a potential reduction in steel cost.

Furthermore, Rs 19,500 crore for performance-linked incentives (PLI) for solar modules will help residential and commercial real estate for a greener future. Solar incentives are crucial for commercial projects, and they will lead to more production at lesser costs. Green Bonds have proved to be a promising mechanism, and hence today’s budget announcement of launching sovereign green bonds to fund green infrastructure projects is the need of the hour. In the past, India had issued $6.11 billion in green bonds till November 2021, marking the strongest year since their launch in the country in 2015. The aim is to lure investors to the domestic green bond market and eventually create a long-term financing avenue for private sector players.

Moreover, if executed correctly, India can potentially surpass the estimated economic growth of 9.2% in no time.”