HYDERABAD: Amid the rising inflation and economic slowdown, every industry is pinning hopes for some relief on the Union Budget 2023-24, which will be presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament on Wednesday.
According to experts, IT, health and electronic vehicle (EV) manufacturing, and real estate sectors are expected to see a significant push with more allocations. The industry leaders have urged the Centre to consider the introduction of policies and schemes that could bolster small industries and businesses. It would fill the supply chain gaps and restore the market balance by curbing the rising prices.
Kiran Chandra, president of the Forum of IT Professionals, said the tax exemption bracket of the salaried class should be raised to Rs 10 lakh. “The government has reduced the corporate tax from 32% to 22%, which costs the public exchequer 1.8 lakh crore. The government should restore the corporate tax if needed,” he said.
EV sector
In all likelihood, the Union Budget 2023-24 will be a turning point for the EV sector. The industry expects a GST cut from 18% to 5% on lithium-ion battery packs and cells. To boost the manufacturing and adoption of EVs, the industry hopes the government promotes carbon credits by enacting regulations that encourage businesses to cut their carbon emissions.
“The FAME-II Subsidy Program has effectively encouraged EV adoption in India. We expect that the government will extend the programme beyond March 2024. Also, with the announcement of the Budget, the government is expected to implement a PLI scheme for battery pack manufacturers to support the EV market and make electric vehicles more affordable and accessible to customers. This will ensure the availability of sufficient capacity to meet the anticipated demand for electric vehicle batteries,” said Pratik Kamdar, co-founder of Neuron Energy
Logistics
The logistics industry has proliferated at a CAGR of 15% and will continue to grow faster in the coming years. The industry expects the government to prioritise strengthening logistics and related infrastructure that would lead to economic growth for the country. “To ensure that logistics infrastructure and multimodal connectivity continue to develop, the government should allocate funds to multimodal logistics parks to improve the country’s logistics efficiency in a time-bound manner,” said Nikhil Agarwal, president of CJ Darcl Logistics.
Affordable housing
The realtors expect the Centre to make efforts to boost affordable housing after the sector faced a 26% slump in 2022. One way the Budget can help is by revising the price bandwidths for homes that qualify as affordable housing, as per the specific market dynamics of different cities.
“The Union Budget can also push the government’s affordable rental housing scheme that was launched after the pandemic. Covid-19 has imposed serious constraints on low-income groups, dissuading many from the aspirations of buying a house. To propel its ‘Housing for All’ vision, the government can use the Budget to incentivise ARHCs (Affordable Rental Housing Complexes), which can fill the gap until home buying capacity in the low-income groups improves,” said Anuj Puri, chairman of Anarock Group.
Healthcare
“India currently has a deficit of 2.5 beds per 1,000 people compared to the global average. Furthermore, the deficit is uneven across geographies and specialities. In this section, we have looked into incentives and financial levers the government could consider to improve bed capacity and penetration on quality healthcare services,” said the president of Apollo Group of Hospitals.