Budget 2024 Highlights: FM disappoints investors, rewards (some) taxpayers

Budget 2024 LIVE Updates: Arun Alagappan, Executive Chairman, Coromandel International Limited, said, “With agriculture remaining the backbone of the Indian economy, we welcome the Union Budget’s emphasis on ensuring food security, strengthening rural economy, as well as building resilience and productivity in agriculture. The proposed comprehensive review of the agricultural research setup to focus on improving productivity and developing climate resilient crops will lend an impetus to ensuring that Indian agriculture can withstand climate impact. The initiative to bring together experts from both the government and the private sector will lend a much-needed fillip to the R&D in the agri sector."

Budget 2024 LIVE Updates: Riju Jhunjhunwala, CMD RSWM Ltd & MD Bhilwara Energy Ltd, said, “The Union Budget 2024 presents a holistic approach to India's economic growth, with a strong emphasis on manufacturing, energy, and sustainability. The employment incentives for the manufacturing sector are poised to stimulate job creation and strengthen our workforce. The focus on nuclear energy development and indigenous thermal power technologies demonstrates a commitment to energy security and efficiency.”

Budget 2024 LIVE Updates: Debopam Chaudhuri, Chief Economist of Piramal Group said, “India is a frontrunner in filling the vacuum created by China’s economic slowdown. A key requirement for this is sustained capex in Infrastructure supported by availability of cheap capital. Afterall, China in its heydays, used to invest 10-20% of GDP in building infrastructure. This Union Budget remains committed in the public capex agenda, while maintaining fiscal discipline. It is impressive to note that despite political considerations, the Finance Ministry delivered a largely zero sum budget, with the exchequer rising by a mere ₹50,000 crores (entirely revenue expenses), compared to Interim budget estimates.”

Budget 2024 LIVE Updates: Vinnaayak Mehta, Founder, The Infinity Group, “In light of the recent market fluctuations, the Union Budget for 2024-25, presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, offers a strategic blueprint to stabilize and invigorate India's economic landscape. The budget's focus on setting up additional Debt Recovery Tribunals for faster debt resolution will significantly enhance financial stability and investor confidence. This move is crucial in restoring market equilibrium and ensuring efficient recovery of overdue debts.”

Budget 2024 LIVE Updates: Pranav Bajaj, Co - Founder, Medulance, said, “The Finance Minister has allocated ₹89,287 crores for healthcare this year, surpassing last year's allocation of ₹88,956 crores. This increase underscores the government's commitment to enhancing healthcare services across the nation. We also commend the launch of Phase 4 of the PM Gram Sadak Yojana, which will extend all-weather roads to 25,000 rural habitats.”

Budget 2024 LIVE Updates: Anil Agarwal, Chairman, Vedanta Ltd said on the Union Budget 2024-25, “The focus on job creation with three innovative employment-linked schemes is timely. The abolition of angel tax will give a big boost to our startups and young entrepreneurs who are the job creators of the future. The commitment to speed up IBC resolution will lead to 12000 businesses restarting operations and many more jobs. I am also delighted to see the announcement related to Critical Minerals Mission. India must explore, mine and process these metals of the future domestically.”

Budget 2024 LIVE Updates: Girish Kousgi, MD & CEO, PNB Housing Finance, said, “The Finance Minister’s progressive and inclusive Budget lays a solid foundation for sustainable real estate development and economic growth, benefiting millions across the nation. Expanding the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), by making provision for 3 crore more houses in urban and rural areas under the scheme, is a significant step towards realising the government’s vision of ‘Housing for All.’"

Budget 2024 LIVE Updates: Debashis Chatterjee, CEO and Managing Director, LTIMindtree, said, “The Union Budget 2024 – 25 is a significant step towards realizing the vision of a Viksit Bharat. The government’s comprehensive approach, encompassing skilling, infrastructure development, and digital transformation, is truly commendable. The budget's emphasis on fostering a skilled workforce through initiatives such as the comprehensive internship program is particularly noteworthy. At LTIMindtree, we are deeply committed to nurturing talent and driving technological innovation. By equipping young talent with practical experience, these initiatives will fully empower them to make substantial contributions to the nation’s progress.”

Budget 2024 LIVE Updates: Anil G Verma, Executive Director and CEO, Godrej & Boyce, said, “The first full budget of the new Government was a balanced one with the Government delicately balancing the needs of the economy through its focus on the nine priority areas of agriculture, employment, inclusive development, manufacturing and services, urban development, energy, infrastructure, innovation and R&D, and next generation reforms.”

Budget 2024 LIVE Updates: Manoj Bhat, MD & CEO, Mahindra Holidays and Resorts India Ltd, said, "The budget is focused on fiscal prudence, stimulating investments, providing employment, and encouraging growth in the economy. The emphasis on improved connectivity and infrastructure will greatly benefit the domestic tourism sector. The spotlight on developing religious tourism, will further boost the local economy by providing investment and employment.”

Budget 2024 LIVE Updates: Girish Kousgi, MD & CEO, PNB Housing Finance, said, “The Finance Minister’s progressive and inclusive Budget lays a solid foundation for sustainable real estate development and economic growth, benefiting millions across the nation. Expanding the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), by making provision for 3 crore more houses in urban and rural areas under the scheme, is a significant step towards realising the government’s vision of ‘Housing for All.’"

Budget 2024 LIVE Updates: ‘ Radhika Rao, Executive Director and Senior Economist, DBS Bank, said, “Faced by a trade-off between fiscal consolidation and expectations for measures to boost demand, the FY25 Budget struck a fine balance by continuing to consolidate finances while also tackling social sector demands, with a focus on saving over spending. The strong revenue handover from the prior year was evenly split between tightening the fiscal deficit target by a further 20bp to -4.9% of GDP vs the interim budget and rest towards the increase in revenue spending. Nominal GDP forecast was maintained with conservative tax buoyancy assumptions, leaving the room for additional revenue cushion."

Rajat Agrawal, CEO, Barista Coffee said, “Budget 2024 is forward looking and looks at creating employment opportunities with direct benefits to the corporates by compensating with payroll cost of new joiners, this would further assist a new set of retail client base. Further, there is a small window of tax savings with new tax rates which may also result in more money in hand of the consumers.

Budget 2024 LIVE Updates: Raghav Gupta, Managing Director, APAC and India, Coursera, said “The Union Budget 2024-2025 showcases a crucial commitment to boosting education, employment, and skill-building capacity, perfectly aligning with the Government's vision of Viksit Bharat by 2047. The budget’s special focus on skilling 20 lakh youth over the next five years through centrally sponsored schemes, the upgradation of 1,000 training institutes, and the provision of skilling loans are steps in the right direction.”

Budget 2024 LIVE Updates: Dhiraj Relli, MD & CEO, HDFC Securities said, “The latest Union Budget on an overall basis is broadly positive despite the higher tax on capital gains and higher STT. The negative sentimental effect of the higher taxes may be over in a couple of days. The provision for boosting spends in the agri sector, increase in spend on affordable housing, new schemes to provide incentives for employment generation etc. may lay the foundation for medium-term inclusive growth.”

Arpit Chug, Chief Financial Officer, Razorpay, said, “Despite challenges, the startup ecosystem has significantly contributed to the country’s GDP and has played a crucial role in putting India on the global map. Today’s announcement of abolishing angel tax for all tax classes as well as the reduction of TDS for ecommerce operators from 1% to 0.5% underscores the government’s commitment to nurturing entrepreneurship and startup growth in India. This move is a major encouragement for startup investments, easing the tax burden, thereby paving the way for India to become a global innovation hub, led by startups.”

Budget 2024 LIVE Updates: Hamza Arsiwala , President IEEMA, said, “Out of the nine priority areas identified by the government energy security, infrastructure, innovation, employment & skilling, R&D and manufacturing are among the government's key focus areas. The emphasis is on building a roadmap for Viksit Bharat by 2047 by focusing on job creation, skill upgradation programs and employment-linked incentives on the one hand and creating an environment of boosting manufacturing, infrastructure and MSME sectors."

Budget 2024 LIVE Updates: Sameer Aggarwal, Founder & CEO, Revfin, said, “The Union Finance Budget 2024 announced by the Hon'ble Finance Minister lays a comprehensive roadmap towards transforming India into a developed economy. The significant focus on skill development, employment generation, and empowering women through skilling and employability initiatives will undoubtedly foster a more inclusive and robust workforce.”

Pranav S, Founder & CEO, Control One AI, said, “The decision to abolish the angel tax for all classes of investors marks a significant milestone for the Indian startup ecosystem. This move will provide a substantial boost to startups, enabling them to raise capital more effectively amid the ongoing funding challenges. By eliminating the 30 percent income tax on investments exceeding fair market value, the government has addressed a critical pain point that has been hindering innovation and growth.”

Anil G Verma, Executive Director and CEO, Godrej & Boyce, said, “The first full budget of the new Government was a balanced one with the Government delicately balancing the needs of the economy through its focus on the nine priority areas of agriculture, employment, inclusive development, manufacturing and services, urban development, energy, infrastructure, innovation and R&D, and next generation reforms. The reduction in FY25 fiscal deficit target from 5.1% to 4.9% is macro-positive. The capex outlay kept unchanged as Rs.11.1 lakh crore, shows the government’s unwavering focus on investments to drive the economy forward.”

Amit Chadha, CEO and Managing Director, L&T Technology Services, said, “Union Budget FY25 by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presents a holistic approach to boosting employment, skilling, and infrastructure development. The allocation of ₹2 lakh crore towards employment and skilling schemes, coupled with groundbreaking initiatives for women empowerment and an ambitious internship program, will create a robust talent pipeline vital for the industry.”

Achala Jethmalani, Economist, RBL Bank said, “From a macroeconomic standpoint, the increased revenue receipts led fiscal consolidation augments well for the economy at large. The social sector spending and the focus on extending loans under several schemes implies increased financial intermediation. The land related reforms proposed in the budget if gets implemented would help facilitating credit flow and other agricultural services to the end-user.”

Budget 2024 LIVE Updates: Tribhuwan Adhikari, MD & CEO, LIC Housing Finance, said, “The Union Budget has put comprehensive focus on housing and rural development alongside the economic growth narrative. The allocation of ₹2.66 lakh crore for rural infrastructure and the construction of 3 crore additional houses under the PM Awas Yojana in both rural and urban areas are complementary and would significantly boost housing demand. Rental housing has received the attention and will improve the housing stock. Other positives are digitization of land records, PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana, encouraging states on moderation of high stamp duty rates and considering lower stamp duty on properties purchased by women. These measures will stimulate the housing market, driving demand and fostering socio-economic growth."

Budget 2024 LIVE Updates: Ajay Kumar Srivastava, Managing Director & CEO, Indian Overseas Bank, said, “The focus given in the Union Budget 2024 to the MSME sector is going to provide a huge boost to the growing number of entrepreneurs in the country. The initiatives announced such as - credit guarantee schemes for MSMEs, increasing the limit of Mudra loans to INR 20 lakhs to those who have paid back the loans earlier, creating alternate methods to evaluate eligibility of MSME for loans, as well as expanding branches by SIDBI, all of these initiatives is expected to provide the much-needed accessibility to credit and additional support required for further growth of the sector. We are optimistic and committed to leveraging these initiatives to foster growth and create socio-economic impact across the country.”

Budget 2024 LIVE Updates: Amit Kishore Prasad, Founder & MD, SatNav Group, said, “Women in workforce will get a major boost with the FM's assurance that Creches will be set up to help them, this is already a part of the Maternity Act 2017, just needs to be implemented with a sense of much greater urgency in Government Departments, PSUs and Private Companies.”