Budget Reaction 2018: Very Balanced Budget, says Vipin Sondhi, MD, JCB India
In an exclusive interview with BW Businessworld, Vipin Sondhi, MD, JCB India, shares his views on the Budget introduced on February 1st. Edited excerpts:
There will be a BW Report Card – On a scale of 1 to 10, how do you rate the budget?
I would never rate budgets. That is not fair. What is important is the outcome and the budget has to be compared.
Is the employment issue adequately addressed in the Union Budget?
There is a corporate tax relief for them and covers 99% of them. Some of the issues that they raised from time to time must also be addressed. Employment generation will come from MSMEs.
Do you think it is a populist budget?
I would say it is a balanced budget because it is about the creation of assets, education, and skilling. An area that can be looked at more is exports because global growth is back. We need more dollars to fund what could be higher oil prices.
Is the rural distress / agriculture crisis adequately addressed in the Budget?
Well, I wouldn’t know too much in terms of MSPs, etc. I would look at whether infrastructure development is happening in India. I think that has been given a thrust. That will not only ensure connectivity but also rural employment.
If you can summarize the budget in brief.
I think a lot of thrust is on the infrastructure sectors. When you look at it, he virtually listed most of the infrastructure sectors one by one by one. Rural Roads specially, Connectivity, Railway stations, upgradations, safety on railway tracks. So the sector I found missing was Irrigation. But otherwise it was listed almost sequentially. I think MSMEs will always be the bulwark of industrial development.
