Hike in Budget capex an excellent move: Jaya Prakash Narayana

Hyderabad: Dr Jaya Prakash Narayana, founder and General Secretary of Foundation for Democratic Reforms (FDR), on Friday said that increase in capital expenditure in the recent Union Budget 2022-23 was an excellent move. Speaking at the webinar on 'Post Budget Analysis 2022-23' organised by World Trade Centre Shamshabad & Visakhapatnam and National Institute for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (ni-msme) here on Friday, he said that the central government massively increased capital expenditure allocation by 35 per cent to Rs 7.5 lakh crore in 2022-23 'which is a positive thing for from the Budget The fiscal discipline seen in the Budget shows credible efforts from the Modi government. The Budget has also made tax compliance easier.

The emphasis from the government to manage problems in urban clusters is a welcome move, he said. Mentioning the points which could have included in the Budget to fight poverty, he said: "The government did not take any effort to create credible healthcare system. Nearly 60 million people in India are pushed into poverty due to lack of robust public healthcare infrastructure.

We all know that India's strength lies in its pharmaceutical and vaccine sector, all we need is to leverage this strength. India also needs to develop a universal healthcare system to fight the poverty." According to him, India needs to strengthen its dispute resolution mechanism, criminal justice system to gain confidence of people particularly the business community in the rule of law. "The Budget could have focussed more on small town growth. Lack of rural development makes people to migrate, pushing them into the fold of urban poverty. India needs to reimagine its villages, encourage village economy, build infrastructure in small towns to stop migration," he pointed out.

Enumerating challenges that lie ahead, he said: "Privatisation is a big challenge and there is a need to reshape the debate surrounding privatisation. We also need to rediscover the purpose of government- a government that fails to deliver better healthcare and education is failed government".

He underline the need for a legislative framework on the lines of Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, 2003 (FRBM) to control unproductive subsidies being showered on people by politicians to get votes. Dr Tada Prabhakar Reddy, development economist; Ramdev Bhutada, Co-Chair, Direct Taxes Committee, FTCCI; Sudhir VS, Chair, GST and Customs Committee, FTCCI; Uma Reddy, MD, Hitech Magnetics & Electronics and Dr S Glory Swarupa, Director General, ni-msme, spoke in the webinar. Bose K Nair, president, WTC Shamshabad and Visakhapatnam, moderated the discussion.

Basically, it's a growth-oriented budget that focuses on growth and stability. It tried to touch many sectors. Increased capex will fuel employment generation in the country. Credit guarantee scheme for MSMEs, modernization of anganwadis, converting 16 ministries into one platform under PM Gati Shakti, installing 75 digital banks, digital university, digital records of lands, construction of housing units, will create employment. But there are no additional allocations to MGNREGS that creates employment in rural areas

- Dr Tada Prabhakar Reddy, development economist

30 per cent tax on income of any transfer of virtual digital asset (VDA) other than Indian rupee without directly mentioning about cryptocurrency has ambiguity in its definition but 1per cent TDS on VDAs is a good move. Taxpayers are disappointed as there was no rationalisation of tax slab and rates. There is no mention of double taxation as well. We have been requesting the govt to remove this anomaly

- Ramdev Bhutada, Co-Chair, Direct Taxes Committee, FTCCI

Getting GST is a wonderful achievement, but methodology of implementation and administration needs improvement. The key modifications of GST in Budget are input tax reversal, last date extension, retrospective exemption, e-cash ledger, etc

-Sudhir VS, Chair, GST and Customs Committee, FTCCI

Finance Minister talked about three pillars of MSMEs such as ease of doing business, technology adoption and skill development as well as infusion of funds in the industry. MSMEs will benefit from this. The funding support for startups can be used to train and improving employment in the sector.

-Uma Reddy, MD, Hitech Magnetics & Electronics

Establishing digital university will help creating digital financial literacy awareness. As we are in skill mission, our ministry is doing reskilling, upskilling. Disappointed that there is not much for women entrepreneurs in Budget

-Dr S Glory Swarupa, Director General, ni-msme