Expectations of Hyderabad Inc.from Union Budget

We strongly believe that the EV (Electric Vehicles) adoption in our country certainly needs support from the government. Though the long-term benefits of EVs are multi-fold still the relatively higher cost of acquisition of an EV is a bottleneck in its adoption. We expect the government to include Electric Vehicles in Priority lending sector so that the prospective buyers can be encouraged to move towards this environment friendly transport option. The financial assistance will help in compensating the cost difference of the EVs making it more attractive for the buyers.
Mr. N Nagasatyam, Executive Director, Olectra Greentech

"We feel that the industry sentiment is currently low and a stimuli may be needed to accelerate the economy back onto the growth track. Reforms in the housing sector, and government spending on healthcare & education should be a focus area. Stability in the policies is extremely critical to encourage the business owners to take calculated risks and generate more employment. Sustained initiatives to incentivise environment protection and sustainability should be rolled out in the larger interest of the people."
Mr. Uttam Malani, Executive Director, Centuary Mattresses

"Over the last few years, the Indian healthcare sector has witnessed a major overhaul in order to attain the Prime Minister's goal of 'Healthcare for all'. This year, we are looking forward to some measures from the Government that incentivize HealthTech companies to improve the accessibility and affordability of quality healthcare. With more people adopting technology for various needs, it will be most appropriate if the government's health policy will accelerate the adoption of technology to address the unmet medical needs for millions. In this budget we are hoping to have clearer policies around different segments of heath-tech including e-pharmacy, remote monitoring of patients, digital prescriptions and video consultations. We are excited to see a positive turn out from the Government to encourage start-ups across all domains, particularly in Healthcare".
Mr. Hari Thalapalli, Chief Executive Officer, CallHealth

Renewable energy has a lot of importance these days, especially Solar. Though subsidies are provided to some of the customer categories but instead of that we would recommend an income tax benefit which is an easier way for the government to monitor and monetize the current action plan. These would benefit an individual, residential, commercial or an industrial customer as they don't have any Income Tax benefits to go solar at this point.
In current times, water and power are the two things we must conserve very efficiently, hence, we would expect government to mandate the industrial establishments to have Solar as a certain percentage of their power mix.
The net metering policy announced by the Central Government are witnessing implementation issues at the State level hence transparency in the same is very much required to see the desired results.
Ms. Radhika Choudary, Co-Founder and Director, Freyr Energy

"For Healthcare Industry, I believe there are 3 areas that need immediate attention in this budget.
First of it being the Public Private partnerships - Ayushman Bharat was a great initiative by the Government of India that was much required for the country. But in order to realize its full potential and maximize the benefits, there is a need of enhanced fund allocation and introduction of PPP models for larger participation from private players, as 80% of the healthcare services in the country are provided by the private sector. PPP models would not only ensure a business boost for the private sector including the start-ups but will also contribute to nation's growth.
Second key area would be the GST benefits which also need to be extended to the start-ups and other players in the healthcare sector, beyond the core healthcare service providers. Due to its absence, we are not able to capitalize on the pass-through benefits. While we pay GST when we procure anything for our business, we are GST free when sell the services to customer. Resulting in a cost burden for us. In industries like IT, there is input and output GST which provides a balance.
Third important aspect is the 'Angel Tax' - Government needs to take solid steps to reduce this burden for start-ups. Getting an investment in the current economic scenario is not easy. Angel Tax deduction from the difficultly brought in investment greatly hurts the start-ups.
Overall, healthcare as an industry touches each and every citizen of the country and people have been seeking positive reforms for the sector. We expect the government to take it as a priority area this budget, allocate more funds, announce steps that encourage private sector and start-ups to do business and provide quality services to every section of the society".
Mr. Rahul Paith, Chief Operating Officer, DocOnline

"In the upcoming budget, we look forward to seeing some steps from the government to promote local manufacturing and tax reforms. One of the critical campaigns like Make in India is already transforming India into a global manufacturing hub however an equal focus should be kept on implementing Skill India Mission to fulfil the growing need of skilled manpower to sustain the manufacturing entities.
Adding more jobs to rural economy that is currently suffering due to agrarian distress would definitely help in employment generation as well as better spending capacities.
And, since GST is evidently helping India progress financially, the government should further ease the GST norms encouraging more commercial establishments to register and add to the GST collections. Lowering the Income tax rates would help in increased purchasing capacity and with the growth in consumption, the indirect tax earning of the government would increase. Currently, 21% of government spending is borne by earnings through individual income tax. This can be compensated to some extent by indirect taxes that stand to benefit with increased consumption due to fall in individual tax burden. I think this is something that government should definitely explore."
Mr. Ameen Khwaja, Co-Founder and CEO, PTron