India growth story to evolve stronger in next 25 years

The event was attended by top industry experts like Motilal Oswal, managing director and chief executive officer, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd (MOFSL); Ved Jain, former president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI); and Dileep Sanghani, chairman, Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative (IFFCO), as a guest of honour.

India growth story will evolve stronger as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman continues to bring out the road map for the next 25 years, this was the consensus at a recently organised event — Indian Union Budget 2022-2023- Decoding the Union Budget: The NRI Perspective’ by The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), Dubai Chapter.

The event was attended by top industry experts like Motilal Oswal, managing director and chief executive officer, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd (MOFSL); Ved Jain, former president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI); and Dileep Sanghani, chairman, Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative (IFFCO), as a guest of honour.

The event also hosted a panel discussion with experts including Sunder Nurani, chairman, ICAI Dubai Chapter NPIO; Krishnan Ramachandran, CEO, Barjeel Geojit Financial Services LLC; Naveen Sharma, past chairman, ICAI Dubai Chapter NPIO; and Anish Mehta, immediate past chairman, ICAI Dubai Chapter NPIO.

Nurani said: “Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman has laid down four areas of focus: PM Gatishakti, Inclusive Development, Energy Transition and Climate Action and Financing of Investments. The big focus was a boost to capex which is up 35 per cent. No substantial changes to direct tax, except a one-year extension of the lower 15 per cent corporate tax rate for manufacturing units.”

Endorsing similar view Oswal, said: “The budget is clearly Capex driven through spending across the infra eco-system while being prudent on the fiscal front. It aims to sustain long-term economic growth through public spending which in turn would kick-start private capex and revive demand. We see the budget positively as it largely remains growth-focused. Despite fears in a few market pockets, the government didn’t present a populist budget in view of several upcoming state elections. We see sectors like capital goods, infra, cement, housing, and defense as major beneficiaries.”

Terming the budget as a ‘visionary budget’ Ved Jain, Tax Practitioner, said: “Laying a road map for next 25 years, unleashing the digital power of India will ensure stability in taxation regime. The quantum jump in capital expenditure will boost growth, generate employment and attract huge private investment. RBI coming out with its own cryptocurrency will ensure that India doesn’t lag behind in adopting future medium in which business is going to be transacted.”

Ramachandran strongly supporting the budget initiatives feels growth and investments will be propelled “if the initiatives are implemented in the indicated time frame”.

He said: “This is a budget with an impetus on growth. We also expect that the RBI will move in tandem with the growth objectives of the government. There are concerns on inflation, oil prices, geopolitical issues, etc., hopefully, these are expected to moderate in the coming quarters, which in turn will be an added positive to the overall economic growth and eventually reflect with a buoyant stock market.”

30% Crypto tax too high

A 35 per cent increase on infrastructure spending will help the Indian economy to grow double-digit and that will make India the fastest growing economy in the world, according to Sharma. “Push for technology, the launch of digital currency, e-passport, ease of doing business 2.0 will make India a more attractive investment destination for international investors. Tax on cryptocurrency is welcome but 30 per cent is too high. There is not much for NRI’s,” he said.

Mehta said: “Indian Union budget 2022 is a budget growth-oriented and capital expenditure-based. It is also a positive step towards removing various inconsistencies. The biggest positive outcome of this budget is clarity on income tax on crypto industry. The 30 per cent tax levy on crypto income and 1 per cent TDS on consideration is a step towards regularising and bringing the crypto transactions into the tax net. Further, the focus of the budget is on expanding the digital economy including the launching of Indian digital currency. The budget has taken prudent initiatives on startups and MSME’s which are considered to be the backbone of any growing economy. In short, this budget is all about short-term pain but long-term gain.”

— business@khaleejtimes.com