‘Best delivered by this govt’: Nikhil Kamath, GA Muthoot, Chandrashekhar Ghosh react to Union Budget 2023

While the middle class rejoiced after Nirmala Sitharaman’s announcements on tax slabs, experts also believed that the Union Budget 2023 was a mostly positive one. In her Budget 2023 announcements, Finance Minister Sitharaman rejigged the existing tax slabs and said that the new tag regime will become the default one. Bringing cheer to the middle class and the markets alike, FM Sitharaman said that those with income up to Rs 7 lakh will not have to pay income tax in both old and the new tax regimes. 

FM Sitharaman also made a host of other announcements including the setting up of an agriculture aggregator fund, national digital library for children and adolescents, enhancing capex of Rs 10 lakh crore for infra development, highest-ever outlay of Rs 2.4 lakh crore for Railways, reducing customs duty on import of certain inputs for mobile phone manufacturing, hiking PM Aawas Yojana outlay by 66 per cent to Rs 79,000 crore, setting up Artificial Intelligence centres, and more.

While some called the Budget 2023 “blockbuster” one, some said it was “terrific”. Here’s what experts and the who’s who think of Nirmala Sitharaman’s Budget 2023:

Zerodha and True Beacon co-founder Nikhil Kamath said the Budget had both pros and cons.  “Reducing customs duty on certain categories was a good sign, signals opening up of sorts. Increasing the exception slab to Rs 7 lakh should help shore up consumer spends in turn helping many industries. No reduction in STT is a negative, a reduction will go a long way in helping retail investors and traders who provide much needed liquidity be profitable,” Kamath noted. 

Also read: Budget 2023: Cigarettes to jewellery, here are the items set to get costlier

Sunil Nayyar, Managing Director, Sony India said that the Budget was “quite progressive and growth-oriented”. He said that it is “in-line with the government's long term vision for India’s path to becoming a major global economy”. He said that the measures announced will give a major boost to the rural economy, thereby increasing business potential in Tier II and III towns in India.

Shishir Baijal, Chairman and Managing Director, Knight Frank India, called the Budget 2023 “growth-oriented”. “The Budget is cognizant of the need to empower the different segments of the economy and the society. In doing so, the allocations for the various infrastructure developments are very critical,” he said. 

Rajat Wahi, Partner, Deloitte India said that the Budget 2023 was “pro-growth and pro-development”. He said that the announcements are likely to start giving results in both short and medium term. “It is a common’s man’s budget with a focus on infrastructure related investment to support the ‘Make in India’ initiative by the PM that will help the Aam Aadmi and the Indian economy,” he said.

Also Watch: Union Budget 2023 Reactions: From ‘Pro Corporate Budget’ To ‘Balanced, Progressive Budget’

Chandrashekhar Ghosh, MD & CEO of Bandhan Bank said, “Budget 2023-24 is a well-rounded progressive and inclusive budget. The focus on important parameters like boosting consumption and inclusion is a welcome measure for our growing economy. The new slabs of taxes will further help boost economic parameters like consumption, thus providing more impetus to economic growth.”

George Alexander Muthoot, MD, Muthoot Finance said that Budget 2023 “touched upon all the right chords of the economy”. The measures announced will boost capital expenditure, infrastructure, housing, along with consumption, job creation, boosting housing sector, boosting rural connectivity, boosting the agriculture sector, and enhancing the scope of gold-loan NBFCs too, he said. 

Sunil Damania, Chief Investment Officer, MarketsMojo said that the Budget 2023 was a “terrific” one. “I believe that the most important aspect of the budget is that it is preparing India for the future. Whether it is through participation, limiting carbon footprint, or ensuring the rural economy has the money, and plans to reduce pressure on urban infrastructure. The government also recognized that there was a lot of strain on the common man as inflation ate into individual savings. The change in the tax system in the personal income tax is a step in the right way to put more money in the hands of taxpayers, which will encourage growth.”

Also read: Union Budget 2023: What are the new income tax slabs?

Lakshmi Iyer, CEO, Investment Advisory, Kotak Investment Advisors Ltd, said, “India budget 2023 has offered a multi-dimensional view. The 3 Cs which stand out are – capex increase, consumption boost, capital gains tax status quo. Mindful of the fact that there is hardly any space for fiscal expansion.” 

Manish R Sharma, Partner and Leader, Capital Projects & Infrastructure, PwC India said, “From a tax perspective, while commitment on electric mobility is seen on the battery segment, alternate fuels, like biogas, also finding a place clearly indicates that the future is open to innovation, and the best technology will win. This is in addition to the push coming on the generation side of biogas under the Gobardhan scheme. Alternate fuel like biogas and hydrogen is a push towards circular economy, but it also signals e-mobility players to plan for resilience if alternate fuel and technologies come up faster.”

NS Venkatesh, Chief Executive, AMFI called the Budget 2023 an “all-out pro-growth Budget that will spur further revival of the economy and will benefit investors who participate in the India growth story.”  

Abhijit Roy, MD & CEO Berger Paints called it a “great Budget” and “the best delivered by this government”. “The proposal to raise capex will have a multiplier effect on generation of jobs and demand creation, an increase in the capital outlay augurs well for long term mobility requirements of India, a strong push in the affordable housing segment will give a big boost to the housing industry. Direct tax benefits given in the budget, will enable more money in the hands of the consumer and will boost consumption and consumer sentiments,” said Roy. 

Keshav Bhajanka, Executive Director, CenturyPly said, “I think it’s a blockbuster budget . The government has continued to do what we had hoped for. They have increased the capital expenditure budget to Rs 10 lakh crore. This is double what we had two years ago and it's building India towards a $10 trillion economy in the very near future.  Along with that there has been some relief on the personal income tax front which the government has not done in years now. So it's a very welcome initiative.”

Also read: Budget 2023 key highlights: FM makes new tax regime attractive, raises capex outlay by 33%, and more