Retail secto
“In the run up to the budget, our expectation from the government is to simplify GST system and grant industry status to the sector for easier access to finance and attract more investments. The industry status will help us in borrowing, which in turn supports us in raising money, which helps us even portraying ourselves to the world in what expertise we use to be in real estate or more than any other things else. That is a big change that we expect that will help us. For Retail development, people like us who are doing shopping centres for whom the real estate plays really for 3-4 years not extend to that while planning building it so it’s more like Hotel operators who are not into real estate. And we are not in real estate; we are mall operator owners so that is the difference we want to bring into the industry. Besides, the Retail industry is also seeking relaxed FDI regime for multi-brand retail trade (MBRT) as also incentives to be provided for setting up warehousing and cold-chain storage facilities”.
Real Estate
Mr Abhishek Bansal, Executive Director of Pacific Mall, Tagore Garden.
“The Real Estate sector hopes that the Union Budget 2018-19, which will come on February 1, will help realty recovery. The ruling government has taken several new initiatives to accelerate economic growth and hope that this trend continues with many more efforts to redress the plethora of pending issues in the realty sector. The most sought-after demand from the real estate sector is getting an industry status. This is something which is being asked for years so that funds can be easily availed for the purpose of long term and short-term finances. Industry stuff will enable the sector to access loan at better interest rates. With a competitive cost of funding, benefit can easily be passed on to the customers. We also expect a single window clearance system so that we can fulfil our promise of timely project delivery. In terms of financial instruments, what we expect is that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) should bring rules in order to direct implementation of lending rate policies that would benefit end users. With a Real Estate regulator, realty sector would go in a maturity phase bringing positive outcomes which is the need of the hour”.
Mr Sarjan P Shah
Managing Director, Group Satellite
"If the government is serious about their target of 'Housing for All by 2022' we should expect to see significant action on reviving and incentivising the housing sector - specific, targeted tax breaks and steps to make the purchasing and ownership of private homes more efficient, transparent and cost effective would be welcome."
Mr Prashant Solomon, Managing Director, Chintels India and Hon. Treasurer, CREDAI NCR and Convenor of CREDAI National (Media and PR Committee).
“It is expected that the budget will focus more on infrastructure projects and housing sector this year. Some of the major issues that have been pending for some time now demand closure this year like granting of industry status to the sector, single window clearance to reduce delays in the approval process, reduction in GST rates and corporate tax rates. I believe that the real potential of REITs is yet to be realised in India. The reduction in long-term capital gains holding period for REITs and streamlining of taxation norms will make it more attractive and incentivised for investors. REITs should be extended to residential as well (presently it is only for commercial projects in India, however in all other countries it is allowed for residential and commercial both). The sector holds immense potential and investment opportunities and with the right reforms it can, not only address the future challenges to the society but also go a long way in boosting the country’s economic confidence”.
Auto Sector
Dharmesh Arora - CEO, Schaeffler India
India holds huge potential for growth. Increased allocation towards key infrastructure sectors like road construction, railways expansion and up-gradation, raw material sectors like steel and cement etc. will bode well for spurring economic activity. These sectors also hold promise for large scale job creation. Government should come out with a clear long term policy on supporting mobility needs of future. We believe the transition to e-mobility is a good step but it must include hybrid vehicles as a necessary and viable intermediate step. Appropriate support to the industry in creating the pull from end consumers and tax breaks to component industry by means of zero duty imports of components going into e-mobility, tax breaks for investments in local research and development will encourage quicker adaption of new technology. On taxation front, continuing the announced roadmap for reduction of corporate taxes will support industrial growth and investments. We expect a balanced budget supported by right monetary policy that creates a positive investment climate and promotes consumption led growth.
Education Sector
Dr Sanjay Gupta, Director General, World University of Design (WUD)
“We expect the upcoming budget will introduce measures to encourage more Indian Universities to make it to the global ranking list. In order to make our universities world class and emerge as centers of excellence, Indian institutions need to focus on ‘Educating the Educator’. Faculty members in existing HEIs need to upgrade their qualifications. If they can be encouraged to take up enrolment in Master/ Doctoral programmes, while on the job, many purposes will be served – more qualified faculty, improved quality, more research output and more publications. For encouragement, multiple benefits in terms of tax-relief, student loan eligibility, and longer duration pay-back would provide the right impetus.
To improve ranking in the near future, Indian institutions need to focus on 'Internationalisation' with utmost priority.
Over the past few years, the Ministry of Human Development Resources (MHRD) and the University Grants Commission (UGC) have on several occasions considered hiring foreign faculty for India’s universities on a short-term and/or contractual basis. Under the Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN), professors from abroad are already being invited to India’s universities for short stints. We observe that most of our higher education institutions have traditionally been teaching-oriented. While overall academic standards – including teaching – may have declined substantially over the past three decades or so due to diverse reasons, teaching is still the focus and strength of our universities. India’s universities still produce good or good-enough teachers. Research has never been a strong point of our universities. In order to build the research capabilities of our universities and bring in innovation, it may be quite useful to hire foreign faculty. The benefits of hiring foreign faculty lie only with those institutions which the government is seeking to promote as heavyweight competitors in world university rankings or ambitious private institutions which have the same goal. We need to ease Foreign Faculty hiring as it is one of the factors that pull-down ranking of Indian Universities. Foreign faculty hiring norms in terms of duration and minimum wages are restrictive and clearance cumbersome. To help Indian institutions employ global faculty to augment the institutional performance, a little ease on both fronts will give the required push to presence of foreign faculty and consequently to foreign students on campus.
Quality education is a must for a complete and successful life. For many, it is equivalent to graduating from a top institution. The cost of education is, however, increasing rapidly. In fact, the cost of studying at reputed institutions is already quite high. An education loan, therefore, plays a vital role in such a scenario by helping to bridge the gap between the shortfall and the required amount. Therefore, we need to increase the duration of education loan deduction from 8 to 15 years”.
IT Sector
Spokesperson – Aloke Ghosh, CFO, Infogain
2018 will be a year of growth and buoyancy for the Indian economy. Last year’s budget did not see much in terms of provisions for the ITeS sector and the demands of the sector especially wrt software products and services were left out. This year disruptive technologies and digital services like Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Robotics Process Automation will drive growth creating a huge demand for skill development. We are expecting sanctions that will aid to further R&D in India and the streamlining of taxes post the GST implementation to facilitate ease of doing business.
About Infogain
Infogain provides front-end, customer-facing technologies, processes and applications that lead to a more efficient and streamlined customer experience for enterprises in the US, Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and India. Offering solutions for the high-tech, retail, insurance, healthcare and travel & hospitality verticals, Infogain specializes in areas such as software product engineering, digital service automation, cloud, mobility, testing and business intelligence & analytics. The company has 9 delivery centers and close to 4,000 employees globally. Infogain has a customer retention rate of 90%+ over a five-year period.