LIVE: Budget 2022 Expectations: What India Inc. wants from Modi government, FM Nirmala Sitharaman in Union Budget 2022-23 By - Zee Business

Budget 2022 Expectations LIVE Updates: The Union Budget 2022-23 is all set to be presented by the Union Finance & Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on 1st February, 2022 in Paperless form. This is the 4th Budget of the PM Narendra Modi-led NDA government in its second tenure. The Budget 2022 will be presented around 11 am on 1st February 2022.

To mark the final stage of the Union Budget making process, sweets were provided to the core staff due to undergo “lock-in” at their workplaces, instead of a customary Halwa ceremony every year in view of the prevailing pandemic situation and the need to observe health safety protocols. 

Union Budget of 2021-22

-In a historic move, the Union Budget of 2021-22 was delivered in paperless form for the first time. 

 - A “Union Budget Mobile App” was also launched for hassle-free access of Budget documents by Members of Parliament (MPs) and the general public. 

Union Budget 2022-23

-The Union Budget 2022-23 would also be available on the Mobile App after the process of Budget presentation has been completed on 1st February 2022 in the Parliament.

Union Budget: Mobile App

- The mobile App allows complete access to 14 Union Budget documents, including the Budget Speech, Annual Financial Statement (commonly known as Budget), Demand for Grants (DG), Finance Bill etc. as prescribed by the Constitution. 

- The mobile app is bilingual (English & Hindi) and is available on both Android and iOS platforms.

- The App can also be downloaded from the Union Budget Web Portal (www.indiabudget.gov.in). The budget documents will also be available for download by the general public on Union Budget Web Portal (www.indiabudget.gov.in).

Budget 2022 Expectations

There are a lot of expectations from Budget 2022 as people from various walks are pinning high hopes on the Modi government's decisions and announcements on various sectors.

Here are all the LIVE updates on Budget 2022 Expectations:-

Nitin Rao, CEO - InCred Wealth

"While there are murmurs going around on budget expectations, we must remember that the budget is coming in the midst of many State Election campaigns. It is unlikely that the Govt will be able to announce any earth shattering reforms or populist measures since the Code of Conduct is in place at state levels. I would therefore expect a low-key budget this time and the markets would likely discount sentiments revolving around earnings and election expectations in this period."

Rajiv K Vij, Founder, Plug Mobility

We expect the budget to be Growth oriented and to give relief to Commercial Car industry and other sectors which have been badly impacted due to the pandemic and lockdowns.   
 

Rahul Jha, Chief Executive Officer at LEI Register India

Although LEI registration has picked up pace over the past few years, it is imperative that certain measures are taken for improved adoption at a large scale. One long-standing demand from the government has been to start e-registration for proprietorship and partnership firms. It would go a long way in helping business firms with better credit penetration.

Furthermore, some more measures may be considered in the Budget. A few recommendations include allowing and making an easy process to register businesses as a digital nomad, easing KYC norms for corporates and business firms, and linking the Legal Entity Identifier with other registration IDs, which would be helpful for regulators and banks to understand companies better.

However, the industry is also concerned about KYC norms. Currently, one needs to get the open data for all business registration ids at one platform for business entities like LEI, GST, IEC, PAN, CIN, and others. If these measures are implemented effectively, it will propel the sector ahead immensely, allowing it to reach greater heights.

The Fleet owners/commercial car industry has suffered hugely during the pandemic and while it makes sense to induct Electric cars, the fleet owners are financially stressed and financial sector is maintaining a negative view about the sector to fund Electric cars for commercial fleet segment.

Government must declare EV’s for commercial car industry as a priority sector, implement First Loss Guarantee Scheme for the sector and ensure that the public sector banks and financial institutions offer easy finance with minimal margin money requirement at low interest rates for EV fleets.

 Dr. Angeli Misra (MD Path), Founder & Director, Lifeline Laboratory

“To combat the pandemic crisis, increased fund allocation in every aspect of the healthcare sector, a reduction in GST and import duty for critical care equipment and components (86% of which are dependent on imports) as an initiative for government support for the medical devices manufacturing industry, more funding to boost the development of the digital health sector and the production of point-of-care equipment can bring the highest level of quality care to the interiors and remote areas of India. In addition, the establishment of more medical education institutions and imparting of advanced training to enhance the skills of healthcare workers is of considerable significance and the need of the hour.”

Harvinder Singh Sikka, MD, Sikka Group

The Government should focus on extending infrastructure status to the sector that has been contributing significantly to country’s GDP. The buyers expect that prices remain stagnant, but it is becoming difficult for the developers to hold on to the current prices owing to the increased cost of raw materials. The government should take steps in the upcoming Budget to ensure that real estate gets relief from the cartelization, ensuring that prices remain under control and benefits can be passed on to the buyers.

Sagar Saxena, Project Head, Spectrum Metro

The need is to have measures and steps to help the sector sustain demand. The growth would depend on tax rationalization, more affordable housing incentives, and initiatives to solve stuck projects issues. Real estate growth will also depend on the overall measures to boost economic growth, including an increased focus on overall infrastructure development.

RCM Reddy, MD & CEO, Schoolnet India Ltd

”Schoolnet India looks forward to the Budget 2022-23, as the past year has been very challenging for school education. In keeping with the National Education Policy 2020, we hope that the Government of India announces measures to strengthen the digital capability of each school, owing to the great digital divide that still exists, on a mission mode. Such a digital initiative should be holistic including access to the internet, affordable & appropriate devices, projectors, teacher training in digital pedagogy, curriculum centric multimedia content, adaptive assessments, and analytics to track progress. Given the considerable expertise of private sector in Edutech, PPP models could be explored to execute such a mission. This will set the foundation on which the effectiveness of teaching and learning will improve and pave the path to democratise access to education.”

Neerja Birla, Founder and Chairperson, Aditya Birla Education Trust (ABET)

“The Union Budget of 2021-22, allocated over 71,000 crores to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Mental healthcare, however, received only 597 crores. Out of this, 500 crores were set aside for National Institute of Mental Health and Sciences (NIMHANS) and 57 crores for the mental health institute in Tezpur, Assam, leaving a mere 40 crores for the National Mental Health Program that caters to the needs of 14% of India’s population that suffers from mental health issues.
The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated India’s mental health crisis by unimaginable proportions. The 86,000 calls that we have received on the BMC-Mpower 1on1 Helpline clearly indicate that social distancing, isolation from family and friends, loneliness, financial hardships and other difficulties have given exponential rise to stress, depression, anxiety, alcohol and substance abuse, domestic violence and suicidal tendencies in people. Pre-existing conditions have gotten aggravated for so many. 
The pandemic has changed the world as we knew it. In the aftermath of the contagion and the negative impact it has had on all our lives, we need to rethink how we look at mental health. The Union Budget 2022-23 needs to put focus not only on India’s overall healthcare but also categorically on India’s mental healthcare. A substantial budgetary allocation can pave the way for infrastructure to be rapidly developed and comprehensive mental healthcare made accessible everywhere, especially in the rural areas, so that all those who need help can get it in timely manner.
India’s mental health issues have remained neglected for far too long. It is time we take concrete steps and start caring for those who are suffering silently.”

Dheeraj Jain, Founder, Redcliffe Labs

“The ongoing pandemic has put the healthcare sector in the spotlight. The Govt of India has been very supportive to companies working in the healthcare domain. Diagnostic companies to be specific are using advanced technologies in the early diagnosis and predictive analysis that give healthcare experts an early insight into complex health conditions. The upcoming budget is expected to be more focused on increased investments for R&D in terms of developing new technologies that enable faster and efficient healthcare delivery at affordable costs. Tax deduction on import duties of diagnostic equipments, beneficial tax rates to attract investments and considering healthcare for zero-rated GST can be crucial steps by the Govt in the advancement of the sector. Another welcome step would be to promote medical education in the country to increase the number of skilled healthcare workers which is the need of the hour.”

Dheeraj Jain, Founder, Crysta IVF

"While the Government has reaffirmed its commitment to improve healthcare delivery methods and infrastructure in recent months, as well as taken significant strides towards its aim of "universal healthcare for everyone," a more holistic approach needs to be taken. The major focus of the Budget 2022 in regards to the healthcare sector should be increased healthcare expenditure to cater to - upgradation of medical infrastructure, shortage of medical manpower in India, improve healthcare funding with subsidized loans, training of skilled workforce.  The budget should also promise investment in the development of ICU facilities, diagnostic laboratories, and Fertility Treatments as these medical expertise areas have the potential to attract revenues and become an important element in India's overall growth. Most importantly, depending upon the budget structure, insurance companies can play a vital role in covering fertility treatments under health insurance as only maternity costs are covered until now by the companies.”

Kunal Bhalla, Founder & CEO, CRC Group
The real estate sector is eagerly waiting for the upcoming budget announcement this year. As industry gradually started treading back on the path of revival, with the support of low home loan interest rates and stamp duty cuts in some regions; need of more such measures and policy support still remains that can help the sector sustain growing demand. It is crucial for the Finance Ministry to understand how reviving the industry of real estate will help in creating a ripple effect to the ancillaries and boost economy overall. Some of the major expectations are tax sops and higher relief on the home loan rates which will ultimately woo a broader segment of end-users and investors to buy property. Additionally, the existing tax exemption on housing loans should be raised for giving impetus to prevalent buyer sentiment and stimulating the sector. A liquidity support must also be extended to the developer community, so that smooth work flow can be maintained and timely delivery of projects can be achieved. GST reforms, industry status and single window clearance also remain some of the long standing demands from the developers.

Uddhav Poddar, MD, Bhumika Group

“The commercial real estate has managed to sustain itself despite the adverse circumstances that occurred due to the pandemic. Some of the major commercial projects in Tier-I and Tier-II cities of the country are on the verge of successful completion. However, we seek following reforms in the upcoming budget like real estate sector to get awarded with industry status, GST input tax credit on development of leased properties. We also seek the governments intervention to decrease the number of approvals for real estate projects and also availability of finance for real estate development projects.  Providing industry status will be the much needed boost for the sector, as it will be clearing multiple hurdles related to capital procurement and will be much appreciated by the entire developer community and associated industries for fast-tracking deals. The end result will be faster construction and deliveries which will be majorly reviving nation’s economy overall.”

Pawan Sharma, Director, Trisol RED Infraventures Pvt Ltd.

The sector needs handholding when sales are picking up pace at this crucial juncture. The need is for steps to boost demand and enable buyers to have increased disposable income. We expect the Budget to have more income tax exemptions to empower the common man. We are seeking Finance Ministry to reduce the GST rates on commercial properties; our suggestion is to bring it down to 5% from the present prevailing rate of 12%. The Budget should also take stock of the long pending demand of industry status to the real estate sector, which will streamline several things, including ease of financing and ultimately generating scope of more employment opportunities in the sector and associated industries.

Arun Nayyar, CEO, NeoGrowth Credit Pvt Ltd.

“In the upcoming Union Budget 2022-23, we expect to see initiatives that would further strengthen the financial inclusion of MSMEs in India and encourage digitisation. With the third wave upon us, we expect to see an extension on priority sector lending to NBFCs by banks extending credit to underserved and unserved MSME segments. To boost adoption of digital payments by the MSME sector, we would like to see the introduction of incentives such as tax breaks for merchants who adopt digital payments. For instance: A scheme under which a retailer with digital sales above 75% of all the sales, cash and digital, should incur a lower rate of income tax to accelerate/encourage digital payment adoption. This scheme would help in financial inclusion of small businesses under the formal tax system and help formalize the business transactions.”

Anuj Khosla, Chief Executive Officer – Digital Business, Hitachi Payment Services

“The Budget 2022 should incentivise the MSME sector to adopt digital payments progressively. The digital payment ecosystem can unlock value for MSMEs by helping them expand customer base, improving cash flows through faster realization of funds, providing upsell opportunities, reducing costs and creating a digital footprint that would enable easy access to credit at cheaper rates. With the impact of the pandemic and the shift towards online purchases and adoption of digital payment modes by consumers, MSMEs need to be adequately equipped to cater to changing customer needs and behaviour while enabling them to thrive in an evolving digital landscape”.

 Surjendu Kuila, Founder and CEO, Zopper

“Insurance in India has a long history and has grown at a rapid pace over the last two decades as a result of key government initiatives, strong democratic forces, a favourable regulatory environment, expanded collaborations, product innovations, and lively distribution channels. Embedded Insurance is amongst the new and interesting concepts that India is looking forward to adopting, with partnership between insurers and other industries. The economic importance of Embedded Insurance, as well as the need to enhance insurance coverage and density in India, have been highlighted by previous pandemics and natural disasters. Furthermore, the elimination of GST on insurance premiums, as well as an extension of the exemption for premiums paid for insurance under income tax regulations, will lower financial costs.”

Vijeta Soni, Co-Founder & CEO, Sciative Solutions

“The Indian retail business has been hit particularly hard by the COVID-19 outbreak. While there was some improvement in demand throughout the holiday season, maintaining this demand is crucial for the industry's overall revenue prospects. The main expectation from the Union Budget 2022 is for the Government to take initiatives to increase consumer discretionary income. Given the organized retail industry's massive under-penetration in India, the upcoming Budget FY22 should be projected to focus on strengthening physical and digital infrastructure, as well as addressing supply chain inefficiencies, and encourage retailers to expand into tier II, tier III and small towns as well. The pandemic has accelerated e-commerce penetration. However, this segment is currently beset by a number of challenges, the most serious of which is a lack of clarity regarding the regulatory framework that governs the sector.”

Harsh Vaidya, Founder & CEO,WareIQ

The prospects for the logistics industry are a series of probative initiatives, such as effective prosecution of a well-defined National Logistics Policy (NLP), vindication, and relaxation of taxes for warehousing, and concentrate on creating a professed workforce for logistics and supply chain. Several players, driven largely by the e-commerce boom, have enforced some of the advanced technologies similar to IoT, AI/ ML for smart warehousing and logistics. In order to give the important- demanded impetus, the industry is awaiting policy support and duty relaxations that will help inoculate investment particularly on technology and make India’s logistics industry more competitive.

Punit Gupta, Founder & CEO, EasyEcom

 " Due to a rapid increase in the internet user penetration and increased desire for quick access to goods and services among consumers, India's e-commerce business has experienced a significant expansion in recent years. When it comes to e-commerce, the options are unlimited, whether it's fashion, clothes, or consumer durables industry. As a result, we are seeing a multiplicity of new business models emerge inside ecommerce, such as social ecommerce, recommerce, subscription-based ecommerce, vertical e-commerce focused on women, children, and male grooming and fashion. Expectations in the ecommerce sector are directed towards the MSME sector, particularly for B2B players. It would be wonderful to see the Government implement policies that encourage ecommerce activities along with MSMEs branding to promote their market presence."

Vineet Tyagi, Global CTO, Biz2X
 
“The pandemic that shook the entire world has brought immense innovation by startups and new-age technology companies and it is quite evident that the trend will only pick up in the year 2022 as well. In the spirit of tech innovation and digital transformation, we hope, through the union budget 2022-23, the government will bring game-changing reforms, new policies, and regulations that will offer relief and tax sops to MSMEs and the overall startup ecosystem. With the pandemic providing the boost to digital payments, there is an increased need for revolutionary advancements of end-to-end infrastructural as fragmentary solutions may not sustain in the long run. In 2022, we expect that the government to focus more on the development of digital infrastructure to enhance customer experiences, credit quality, and streamline the growth of financial entities in FY22-23.”
 
 
Vivek Banka, Founding Team, Goalteller
 
"As the old adage goes “ No News is Good News” . As a startup founder, I think there are a lot of tailwinds that are existent in terms of ample liquidity, regulatory changes and broad based digital adoption. Other benefits have also been passed in over last many years for startups and small businesses and hence my expectations towards this years budget is status quo which in itself would bode well for everyone in the ecosystem. Whether it be personal taxes, corporate taxes or capital gain taxes the regime should be made easier and progressively lower as the government has themselves stated earlier. 
Focus we believe should continue to remain on more transparency, greater compliance and finally easier rules of doing business ( whether it be relaxed norms or  government portals working smoothly every single thing that helps empower startups with easier processes eventually helps us save time and money. "
 

 Aditya Damani, Founder, Credit Fair
 
"The government needs to play a fine balancing act between spurring economic growth while consolidating its finances. We expect Credit Fair’s focus sectors of Healthcare, Housing and Education to get policy support from the government as they’re key to improve our social infrastructure as well as for job creation. The LIC IPO and other measures to raise revenues will be crucial for the government. We hope it’s a fiscally responsible budget since inflation has been rising and that could lead to higher interest rates which would be a headwind for fintechs.  Subdued interest rates especially in Government bonds and Fixed deposits will be needed to spur capex, SMEs and fintech lending. As a creator of Alternative Assets we hope the Budget will nudge individuals to diversify their portfolio and enable pension funds to invest in a wider range of fixed income or equity assets that have been created by fintechs."
 

 
Anuj Kumbhat, Founder & CEO,  Weather Risk Management Services(WRMS)
 
“As agriculture remains the backbone of the rural economy in India, the sector is always the key spotlight in the Union Budget. In the current scenario, where the country is making all the possible ways to deal with another wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, we expect the government to allocate a significant amount of budget that paves the way for economic revival for the farmers. As we know, COVID has given a booster dose to the digital transformation; we would like the government to put policies in place that allows farmers to be better aware of technology-enabled smart approaches in farming. This can be done as an offshoot of the much-publicised “Digital India” where there was added impetus on the adoption of digital technology.
 
We envision a future where technology becomes the best companion of the farmer and provides them the best productivity from their limited means. This can only be achieved by de-risking farming to impart the confidence to adopt the latest innovations and technology among the farmers, especially smallholders. Hope the government imparts the agritech sector necessary opportunities and incentives to grow as a robust sector within the country’s economy.”
 

 
Kapil Bhatia, Founder & CEO, UNIREC

The fashion startups are expecting the government to improve the disposable income of the consumers as well as the reduction in GST rates of readymade clothings. Current GST rates of readymade clothes that cost above INR 1000 fall under the category of 12 percent and the government should bring it down to 5 percent. The government, with its budget, should focus on improving the infrastructure and remove any kind of inconveniences in the supply chain for a smoother functioning of the fashion retail industry. In addition to tax rate reduction, easier compliance and simplification of taxes are two of the major expectations of the functional fashion startups in the market. Moreover, the prime motive of the government should be to empower both skilled and unskilled employees.”
 

 
Punit Sindhwani, CEO, Paxcom

The last two years have been challenging, especially for SMB, but have also provided opportunities for businesses that were able to successfully embrace eCommerce and Digital Payments. For SMB to survive and thrive, a greater impetus is needed to provide digital tools, training and guidance. Our expectation from the union budget is financial support/incentives, particularly for small and medium-sized businesses, to help accelerate the digital India vision.
 

 
Sharad Bansal, Co- Founder, Tinkerly
 
" With the country witnessing the 3rd wave of Covid, online classes have become mainstream now but they currently come under 18% GST slab. Relaxation on GST for online classes and STEM toys will encourage more enrollments of interested students. Due to COVID, we saw the demand-supply gap and it is crucial to bridge the gap by providing internet connectivity, better infrastructure in tier 3 and tier 4 cities, and running schemes like One student One laptop, scholarships should be provided for outstanding performances. Technical and soft skills training should be made mandatory for teachers. They should be trained to teach and maintain the engagement of the students in online classes. A provision of budget can be made under SSA for the same. Funds and disbursements to Atal tinkering Labs should be speeded up to improve the quality of education. Currently only schools can get grants for Atal Tinkering Labs, this should be extended to private learning centres and independent educators so that community driven Tinkering Labs can be established. We strongly believe Futuristic tech skills such as IoT, AI, coding should be included in the curriculum.Currently India’s government expenditure  on education per child studying in government schools is significantly higher than the private education spent per child studying in private schools. This inefficiency can be reduced by providing Vouchers for direct education with the liberty to choose where and how to spend it. As mentioned in NEP 2020, the foundational pillars of technology such as equity, access, quality, affordability, and accountability should be leveraged and imposed."
 

 
Amit Damanl, Co- Founder and  Head Sales & Marketing, Vista Rooms
 
 *If we look at the homestay villa segment especially, it's always in the grey area, and we'd need more clarification at the national level on rules and tax systems that apply to the segment. Currently, it's fairly fragmented, and each state may have its own set of laws surrounding what constitutes a homestay or bnb, and that's more of a recognition than a policy. We're trying to simplify and get each and every property registered as a BNB nationally.

Travellers have recognized homestays in the last two years, and they have become an extremely integral and significant component of domestic tourism, employment-generating pathways, and the subsequent prosperity of local communities. As a result, sufficient legislation and policy recognition are critical, and we expect to see suggestions in this year's budget.*
 

Gururaj Bhat, Chief Finance Officer, Karle Infra Pvt. Ltd.

Being into mixed development, our Budget expectations on two areas of developments are as under.
RESIDENTIAL:-

Off-late, the developers are witnessing robust sales in the residential segment as many people are being eligible for increased quantum of loan due to drastic reduction in the interest cost.

Earlier the developers use to take GST input credit on the construction cost paid and use to adjust against GST collected from the ultimate customers. Subsequently the GST payment on residential purchase was slashed by Govt. from 12% to 5% and the provision to set off GST paid by the developers on construction cost against GST collected from the customers was taken off. In the present scenario, the developers are compelled to add the GST paid on construction cost to the total cost of sale. During the current budget ,if the Govt allows the builders to set off the GST at least to the extent of collection against the payment made by them on construction cost, customers would be benefited and the increased sales in the sector can be witnessed wherein the entire inventory/project will be sold.

OFFICE SPACE:-

With regards to SEZ office space developments, as per the present provisions, SEZ developers (IT/ITES) has to lease out the developed space only to 100% export oriented business units. Whereas due to continued pandemic situation, lot of IT and IT enabled services have started consolidating the office space to cut down the cost and many of the IT companies continued to allow its employees to work from home(WFH) options due to which lot of SEZ office spaces are being vacated. Since the sun set clause of Income tax exemptions were not extended, no new companies are looking for SEZ office space for their requirements. In such situation, if the Govt.extends its helping hand by allowing the SEZ developers to have the flexibility to lease to out the SEZ office space to Non-SEZ  IT companies, the vacant space can be filled which  will facilitate the developers to repay the borrowed loan without any default.

 
 Ashish Chandra, Co-founder, COO & CFO GlobalFair,

Great Economic Opportunity 
India today is sitting on a cusp of a great economic opportunity. Covid has had a seismic impact on global production networks such that the logistics cost and sourcing networks have altered fundamentally. Businesses today are more worried about resilience in their supply chain and therefore looking to expand their supplier networks.  Over the last few decades China has been the de-facto factory of the world. From industrial raw material to chemicals to finished building materials were all being sourced from China. But the pandemic has made businesses realize that they cannot just rely one a single production hub - what the commentators have dubbed as “China+1” business sentiment. This is a once in a century economic opportunity for India. A small 10% shift of demand from China to India can double India’s exports. 

What India needs
The export sector has been supported in successive budgets through a number of schemes. However some strategic issues persist. We need to put more impetus on a trade deal with the UK, EU, US and other like-minded countries in the Asia Pacific region. While India has passed on the opportunity to join regional networks like RECEP, more focus on bilateral deals could bring increased trade activity in these corridors. India’s economy and private sector today are strong enough to compete with global MNCs. India has far more to gain from these trade agreements than we can possibly lose.  We need to shed our protective mindset and play from the front foot. Lower trade barriers, special treatment for Indian merchandise, synchronization of product specifications and certifications can open demand floodgates. 
India needs to give a renewed focus on promotion of industrial clusters. More manufacturing capacity needs to come up and fast. Promoters need support around land, labour and capital to execute planned projects at great speed. Number of industrial corridors along Delhi-Mumbai, Chennai-Bangalore, Vizag-Chennai etc were planned but the execution is lagging behind. It is also time to revamp SEZ zones policy and provide more focussed export incentives and remove inverted tax structures in import of raw materials."

Vikram Thaploo, CEO of Apollo Telehealth 

"India is combating a massive global pandemic with its resources available in the health sector. The health sector is expecting more specific allotments in this year’s budget to mitigate COVID-19 and help in the growth of the telemedicine sector. The telemedicine segment is growing at a rapid pace and in the future, we are expecting more technological innovations to take place in the industry therefore, the budget should be well allocated to the healthcare sector to initiate new innovations to be prepared for the fight with pandemics like covid-19 in the future. It is important especially in a country like India where digital health can truly provide care to areas with short supply of doctors. Increased allocation of budget for promotion of telemedicine, home-based healthcare and national digital health mission implementation will help in building a strong healthcare ecosystem in the country. Telemedicine has potential to improve access to healthcare in remote and rural areas. Home-based healthcare will reduce burden on limited healthcare facilities. Digital Health along with various innovations should be encouraged for India’s future growth in population health. The government should also support private players and startups in this segment to increase the current coverage of the locations including tier-2 and tier-3 cities to provide the advanced healthcare facilities in these areas."

Rajesh Khosla, President & CEO of AGI glaspac

Vibhor Sahare, CEO & Co-Founder, ANS Commerce

Startups and MSMEs are looking for measures to improve the credit lending and accessibility of funds that can mobilise growth. We expect that the Union Budget will focus on simplifying taxation, investment, and offering further incentives to Indian startups, that can help in generating more revenue and employment.

Further, measures such as streamlining approvals, compliance for ease of doing business, quicker adoption of technology, and automation by traditional retailers would be immensely helpful to the e-commerce industry. More entrepreneurship and incubation programs should also be a priority.

Naman Jain, Education Expert and Director, Silverline Prestige School, Ghaziabad. 

Education is a subject of the concurrent list (Central and State Governments both spend on education). In last year’s budget, INR 93224 crores was allocated for education. Where school education was allocated 59% of this spent - INR 54874 crores and 41% for higher education – INR 38351 crores. While there was an annualized increment in the allocation of more than 2%, the accumulated allocation amounted to less than 3% of the total budget. This needs to be analysed with the fact that The National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020) emphasizes the need for at least 6% of the total budget to be allocated to education with financial support for critical components of education such as provision of adequate teachers, teacher training, etc. Without which the indented effectiveness is impossible to achieve. While increased allocation of budget for education is advocated and required, it is equally critical to concentrate on increasing the effectiveness of the resources. Underutilization of resources needs to be curbed through policy implementation.

There have been some welcomed steps taken by the government in the field of higher education, especially setting up more world-class institutes. But our country requires more focus and work on school education that builds the foundation. Public private partnership towards strengthening school education through teacher training and capacity building for education delivery can transform the system bringing it more in line for future requirements.   

The pandemic has unveiled the huge potential, advantages and capability of EdTech intervention in delivering and execution of education through appropriate methodologies. The future needs hybrid, online, blended, flipped, discovery, experiential and various other learning methods. The upcoming budget should also support and encourage development of new education technologies and innovations.

Sameer Kalra, Co-Founder & Chief Growth Officer, PumPumPum 

"Recovering industries are looking towards the upcoming Union Budget for policies and ground plan for better business opportunity and growth. The automobile industry especially desires a reduction in GST and CESS to push sales. Rationalisation of GST can be translated in better offers for the end consumers and pump traction in sales. Recently government has shown interest in promoting EVs for a more sustainable future. Many auto brands have developed and even rolled out cutting edge EVs. In order to encourage their adoption by public Tax Sops of driving EVs should also be introduced. The transition from traditional fuel to EVs will not be easy and comes with unique teething problems. This process could be eased by supporting the Auto Leasing industry, which will not only prove to be a promising route for early and quick adoption of EVs but also create a lot of employment opportunity for the youth.

Vijay Kumar Mikkilineni, Head of Marketing, TCL India

“Reduction on import tariff is something we are expecting, this will help us compete with countries like China, Mexico, Thailand and more. In the last two years, the PLI schemes have provided momentum to domestic and international investments, but so the investment from the Government side for infrastructure building will boost the ‘Make in India’ movement. We have to integrate India into the global supply chain scenario, to achieve that tariffs should be equal or less than competitive markets.”

Hamish Patel, Chief Product Officer, World of Play

"On the supply side, a much needed relief would be to waive customs duty on the import of electronic components. This will provide a boost to a growing electronics manufacturing sector and relieve stress that has built up over the last 18 months.

It is important that we see a reduction in GST rates, given the component shortages we have seen the price of electronics skyrocketing. Lowering GST will make products affordable and give a boost to the electronics industry.

A progressive take by the government would be to see the government providing incentives to companies with spends on research and development."

Sai Srinivas, Co-Founder and CEO, Mobile Premier League (MPL)

The online skill gaming and esports industry has been one of the very few sectors that has not just weathered the pandemic-induced slowdown, but has witnessed exponential growth. The industry is bound to grow even further, opening up new career opportunities for both gamers and game developers, and helping take Made in India games to the world.
 
As we look ahead, we hope the Government of India will introduce measures to adequately support this next phase of growth. Online skill gaming companies, which have flourished amid phenomenal investor interest, are well-placed to create jobs in roles ranging from VFX designing to software development. The Budget should consider levying a lower tax slab than the existing 18% to aid this. With esports a medal event at the Asian Games, and continuing to gain prominence, this will also help incentivise a greater number of professionals to get into esports and represent the country at global tournaments of this stature.
 
The industry will also benefit from a fund that can provide capital to talented developers and designers, putting India on the path to becoming the hub for game development globally. Access to infrastructure will be crucial in this regard. This can be achieved by establishing specialised AVGC Centres and Universities for talented designers, visual artists, and developers who may have the capabilities but not the resources to build world-class games. Lastly, we hope that this year will bring more clarity from a regulatory standpoint. Online skill gaming suffers from a lack of differentiation from prohibited categories and games of chance. A uniform policy will be welcome and provide much-needed stability to the sunrise sector. 

Aakrit Vaish, Co-Founder & CEO, Haptik

"Due to the increased push toward digitalization, the usage of AI across industries has increased remarkably. While the previous two budgets had recognized the importance of technology in shaping the new India, we now anticipate opportunities and significant government efforts to locate India as one of the world's preferred AI attractions this year. Considering this, we hope this time too the Finance Minister will put special emphasis on AI and technology for future ready solutions. We at Haptik.ai are optimistic about the center's vision for a digital strong Bharat and are looking forward to favorable measures that will boost the tech ecosystem in India."

Jesal Doshi, Deputy CEO, B Medical Systems

“One of the expectations is for increased allocation in the healthcare sector - across the entire infrastructure, specifically for immunization. COVID-19 is far from over and it is vital that the country is well prepared to fight the pandemic and any future pandemics, and a reliable medical cold chain is critical for the success of any immunization program. We believe that creating a sub-industry for medical cold chain and separating it from commercial refrigeration, along with reduced GST rates could further boost the sector. The government should reduce import duties on critical components that are essential for manufacturing reliable medical cold chain units. This, along with production-linked incentives will help improve the country’s ability to access world-class medical cold chain products and also improve India’s export competitiveness in this industry.

Mughilan Thiru Ramasamy, CEO & Co-founder Skylark Drones

2021 has been a great year for UAVs with the introduction of new drones rules and PLI scheme. The global pandemic has accelerated digitisation and the digital shift offers a great opportunity for the drone industry to flourish and grow in the years to come. Businesses and other stakeholders have started realising the exciting possibilities that drones offer and we have witnessed a significant increase in usage of UAVs by the government and enterprises across sectors.
Today, both enterprises and the government are realising the economic and social opportunities that India’s widespread and dispersed geospatial assets can provide to the nation. UAVs offer an ideal compromise between scalability, economic feasibility, immunity to error and productivity compared to aerial data obtained from satellites and terrestrial data from scanners. The faster adoption of UAVs is therefore critical to realise the potential of these geospatial assets. The country would also benefit from a structured training system for aspirants who want to join the UAV industry, thereby accelerating job creation. The market has great potential and will need trained professionals to realise the aim of making India the global drone hub by 2030. Initiatives must be taken to introduce more training institutes for the industry. We are hopeful that Budget 2022 allocates more tax and non-tax incentives to the UAV sector to catalyse the growth of the industry and have a positive and cascading effect across the enterprise and social ecosystems.

Siddharth Chaturvedi, Director at AISECT Group

For Higher Education, the government should allocate funds to promote research, the establishment of the National Research Foundation that can fund research in both Govt and Private Institutions, with investment in the Faculty Development and National Mentoring Programme as envisaged under the NEP. Creation of dedicated funds for Ed-tech startups/ initiatives that are trying to build content and programmes for Indian learners from tier-2 and Tier-3 markets; Increased collaboration for the NEAT platform and activate the National Education Technology Fund planned under NEP. There should also be increased investment in the internationalization of higher education and attracting more students to "Study in India".

In this budget, the government should Rework GST from 18% to 5% on skilling programmes and pay special attention to Skills and Vocational Training. They should strengthen the Skill Hub Scheme further and allocate funds for greater outreach and coverage of students under skill training as per NEP provisions. One of the prime focuses of the Budget should be to facilitate investments for creating content for skills training in vernacular languages. An increased outlay should be towards the promotion of the Apprenticeship programme for wider coverage of students and MSME segment, while promoting Skills as a public good, integrating skills as part of all formal education as per NEP. The government should also fund centres of excellence in dedicated areas of skilling across Govt and Pvt Institutions. The budget should also increase its focus and outlays on e-government projects and initiatives to improve transparency & convenience and should seek and promote local CSP (Citizen Service Points) partnerships for the last-mile delivery of G2C (Govt to citizen) services.

Jayant Khosla, MD & Group Head of VLCC Health Care Limited
The adverse economic impact and the oft repeated lives-versus-livelihood debate apart, the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic has amply demonstrated that being healthy and fit has become more consequential than ever before, with now more and more people across age groups embracing proactive health management and giving attention to nurture their mind, body and soul. The Government would do well to capitalize on this trend.

Historically, resource allocations for the Healthcare sector in the annual Union budget have been overwhelmingly skewed towards curative healthcare. It is now time that that preventive healthcare gets larger attention while planning these allocations for the sector. Investment in preventive healthcare will help increase longevity and overall productivity of people. Preventive healthcare check-ups could be made mandatory and diseases could be treated with subsidized medicines and access to better health enhancement services such as wellness clinics, dietary consultations and sports activities, etc. The spend on preventive healthcare activities should be considered for tax exemption up to a limit in addition to mediclaim insurance which is covered for curative measures.  It is worth encouraging investment in preventive healthcare measures which will considerably reduce the curative health spend in a higher proportion.
 
Also like curative service providers are provided exemptions from GST, we could also include this to preventive healthcare services providers like wellness clinics and obesity management services in order to make it more accessible.

Aditya Kushwaha, CEO and Director, Axis Ecorp said, “Growth in the real estate sector is essential for the growth of the economy. We are hoping that the government will introduce deep policy reforms that will help in accelerating the growth in real estate, especially at this juncture. The pandemic has played a significant role in changing the perception of home-ownership for all, especially for the NRIs. In the last couple of years, the demand from the NRI segment has risen sharply. In order to encourage this segment, we propose that the government should consider revising the applicable tax deducted at source (TDS) on property transactions for NRIs. This will not only boost investment in the sector but also help our country to build its forex reserves. There has been an uptick in rental housing as people continue to work from anywhere (WFA). To further promote the rental segment, we propose that the government should offer taxation benefits for tenants which could include enhancement in HRA Tax Exemption.”

Vinit Dungarwal, Director at AMs Project Consultants Pvt. Ltd. said, “This year's budget is crucial as the demand in the real estate sector, especially in the residential segment, has just started to witness a revival post the pandemic-induced slowdown. The continued intervention by RBI and holding on to the interest rates have helped in demand generation in the real estate sector and we are expecting the budget 2022 to also focus on aspects of demand generation.  We believe that the escalating prices of critical raw materials such as iron, cement can have an adverse impact on this growth momentum. The government should consider reducing GST on these to offset the price rise. Overall, we believe that the government should continue to focus on infrastructure and investments because that will help in generating jobs and lead to the economic growth of the country.”

Manjari Singh, Co-founder, The Chhaunk

With many of these cloud kitchen companies coming under the ambit of GST due to an explosion in popularity. The GST council has clarified in its circular that cloud kitchens provide the same services that a restaurant does, and as such, they would be covered under the definition of a restaurant under the act. cloud kitchen firms charge GST at the rate of 5%, without taking any input tax credit (ITC), under the GST composition scheme. Alternatively, they can charge GST at the rate of 18% if they want to claim the input tax credit. This makes taxation complicated for cloud kitchen owners. In addition, Due to such tax aversions, the small players in the sector might end up paying taxes irrespective of the revenue slab caps.

As a cloud kitchen owner, we would expect some tax relief until a certain revenue hits the sheets so that as business owners, we can show growth reflecting on the performance of the overall industry. 

Secondly, any cloud kitchen operation requires a purchase of machines & appliances which can be subject to machinery endowment schemes under manufacturing assistance from the government which is not reflected yet. There also needs to be a defined definition of qualification & definition of cloud kitchen which is currently defined under “e-commerce food business operator” making even last-mile delivery operators run as cloud kitchens which is not the exact case. 

The scrutiny of the restaurants is not as per any predefined standard or guideline, which we seek from the officials so that substandard operations in the name of cloud kitchen can be scrapped. 

To bring to notice, According to a report by RedSeer Management Consulting, cloud kitchens are set to be a $2 billion industry in India by 2024. According to DataLabs by Inc42, the food ordering market of India is expanding at a CAGR of 16% to reach $17 billion by 2023. The projected market size of cloud kitchens is expected to reach $1.05 billion by 2023. Such numbers seem to be important for the government to bring positive reforms. 

On a positive note, cloud kitchens being able to get an MSME certificate brings an advantage of taking the benefits under the scheme. 

Overall, we propose a better formal structure on the investment subsidiary, tax reforms & operations for the cloud kitchen owners.

Sahil Dharia - Founder & Chief Executive- Soothe Healthcare
 
"India is at the inflection point of a COVID recovery phase coupled with a ‘demographic dividend’ opportunity.  For both reasons – internal of giving jobs to its millions of youth and external to be able to balance emerging geo-political compulsions, India needs to leapfrog to a double digit GDP growth rate.Accordingly, industry expects meaningful efforts on two fronts– Simplification of Regulation and a Push for Make in India.Simplification of regulations specially with respect to unlocking Land, Labour & Capital use will create an overall ‘encouraging’ environment for entrepreneurs to take risk and business to thrive given the large domestic opportunity.Make in India is the pointed edge of that weapon that gives jobs, builds capacity, reduces our fiscal deficit and maybe even helps build technological prowess in time.  These are all essential ingredients if India wants to project as a global power.  
 
Flat GST Rate: 
A major simplification drive for instance, a flat GST rate will go a long way in creating an impetus for a cyclical bull run in the industry.  Moreover, there are anomalies in GST, for example, in the feminine hygiene sector with GST on sanitary pads being ‘zero’ the input tax credit can’t be availed by industry, making the transaction tax inefficient thereby reducing the growth CAGR.  
 Though manufacturing-based companies in India appreciate no Zero GST on sanitary pads, it is still significantly affected by high raw material and manufacturing costs. Hence, we look for some relaxation in this area. 
 
Government support towards Non- Tech Companies to push Make in India Agenda: 
To promote Make in India, the government should encourage more investment in the non-Tech companies. Right now, capital is increasingly being deployed towards Tech companies majorly Fintech. Government investments via e.g SIDBI serves the purpose of crowding capital into a sector which is already getting more than sufficient attention.  
 Indian entrepreneurs need this support to shift the materials supply chain from China and sell products not only via the internet economy but also offline for easy access to a large population residing in the hinterland of Bharat. 
 
Mortgage Free Loans to Small Entrepreneurs: 
Lastly, banks need to reduce formalities and provide small entrepreneurs with loans without a collateral. The CGTSME for instance can be increased from the current max 1 crore to 5 crore and make any MSME business eligible for it. An environment where small entrepreneurs can get loans without having to mortgage any personal asset will drive growth of new businesses as well as expansion of existing businesses and unlock the potential of our robust trading & manufacturing sector.  If we get just a couple of things right, then the momentum we can build in the next decade will be comparable to the ‘great leap forward’ of China in the 90’s and Indian economy will still grow at 5-7% in the coming decade. This can truly solidify India’s position in the global pecking order."

Neeraj Gupta, Founder, and CEO, Genes2Me Pvt Ltd

Health was one of the major focuses of the Government last year, and we are routing for the same in Budget 2022. The COVID-19 pandemic's teachings highlight the urgent need to capitalize on health, which is no longer an option, but a necessity. The healthcare sector is anticipating a good Union Budget, and hoping that the Covid -19 scenario will be turned into an opportunity to prioritize and implement structural changes that would benefit the general public. The Government should propose interest subsidies, lower GST on clinical trials and research activities, to boost innovation and R&D. Over the next few years, the government should increase public healthcare spending from 1.8 percent of GDP to at least 6 Percentage. The priority should be on the expansion of physical, remote access healthcare facilities as well as digital health and telemedicine. Also, the Covid testing and vaccine budget should be increased.

Shailesh Guntu, CEO - Milann Fertility & Birthing Hospitals

Allocating a sufficient budget for the healthcare sector is extremely important as it has a significant impact on the overall economy. With increasing lifestyle problems and diseases, it is predicted to have a huge impact on lifestyle-refining health care expenses in the coming years. Dropping fertility rates in both sexes is one of the alarming concerns, and therefore, the government should spend more on customised medicines as they show potential for progress. It is crucial to allocate funds for genetic research and the development of resources to conduct refined studies around genetics, as customised medicines can only be prescribed after genetic profiling. Due to unhealthy lifestyle patterns, childbirth would require expert care and infrastructure support in the future. The government should consider developing a long-term approach for implementing a system to deal with future pandemic situations, and it would require adequate funding for this sector to have healthy adults in the country.

Anand. K, CEO, SRL Diagnostics

"The pandemic has brought the diagnostic industry into focus. We have realised the importance of accurate testing and how accurate lab insights can actually bring down health and hospital costs for a patient. It is high time the government looks at minimum quality standards for the industry and also appoint a nodal agency to standardise lab tests across the country. Standardising test codes by adopting LOINC Codes and homogenising lab report formats can help patients as well as clinicians.

The government could look at reducing the high custom duty on the import of diagnostic equipment and kits. This can help large laboratories like SRL to improve efficiencies and increase investments in R&D. Easing the cost burden by giving input tax credit for GST will aid the entire healthcare industry to reduce input costs.

We have also witnessed some level of shortage of kits for COVID and COVID allied tests during the first two waves as we are dependent on imports and international logistics. Taking a cue from the CLIA standards in the US for lab developed tests, our regulatory bodies like CDSCO can open up the regulatory framework that will help laboratories build indigenous tests customised to the Indian population, encourage more research and foster innovation. This will reduce our dependence on imported kits for laboratory tests. India could become self-reliant in test kits in a few years with the right kind of support from the policymakers and the government.

The government could also look at collaborating on public private partnerships. SRL has executed large projects in Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh and these partnerships have greatly benefited the citizens of those states. Private healthcare providers with huge infrastructure and experience in delivering high quality service can truly help deliver quality diagnostics and wellness to the masses. Policymakers can customize health delivery to districts, cities and towns by harnessing the big data generated by laboratories. PPPs for such collaborations could be useful as labs can provide actionable health insights that can improve the health indicators of a particular state.

We also hope that the government will look at instituting an official council that can help establish credibility and credentials of medical laboratory professionals and allied health professionals. In absence of any regulatory legal mechanism to oversee the educational and professional standards, educational institutions have been mushrooming unabatedly across the country. As seen in the pandemic, along with doctors, medical lab and allied health professionals are the backbone of the industry and it is important to provide avenues for up-skilling and reskilling by way of continuous technical education."

Aman Puri, Founder, Steadfast Nutrition- 

"India has the lowest public healthcare expenditure in the world. The health expenditure has only been between 1.2 to 1.8% of the GDP all these years as compared to the world average of 6%. Covid-19 has put the spotlight on this hitherto neglected sector. The second wave brought about a collapse of the healthcare sector in many parts of the country. The Omicron wave has shown us that the virus is constantly evolving and can still overwhelm the healthcare system. Hence, our expectation from this year’s budget would be to allocate more funds to healthcare in order to strengthen primary, secondary as well as tertiary healthcare, public health delivery, and research. Notwithstanding the pandemic, the government allocated only 1.8% of the GDP to health in last year’s budget. The National Health Policy 2017 had recommended this be increased to 2.5 to 3% of the GDP. Given the Covid-19 situation, the allocation should be up to 5% of the GDP in this year's budget. There should also be increased budgetary allocation to the pharmaceuticals industry to remove its current dependence on China and other countries for imports of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients. Lakh crores of investment are required and not the current amount of hundred crores.

Covid-19 has also highlighted the role of nutraceuticals- particularly immunity boosters- as the first line of defence against the disease. Vitamin D, fish oil, multivitamins, and zinc supplements have been prescribed by doctors to Covid patients and survivors. The government should give a further fillip to this industry in this year’s budget to make India ‘Atmanirbhar’ in the manufacturing of nutritional supplements and also an exporter to the world. Moreover, only 70% of India’s population takes less than half the daily recommended dietary allowance of micronutrients. To address the prevalent anaemia and micronutrient deficiency in the country, the government should announce public-private partnerships with the nutraceutical industry to revolutionise the Indian health and wellness market."

Sunil Yadav, CEO, PlayerzPot

"Online gaming is one of the fastest growing sectors with numerous investments, enormous employment opportunities and immense growth potential in terms of expansion and revenue. The industry was originally scheduled to become a US$122.05 billion industry by 2025, but the pandemic has greatly accelerated and helped this sector to grow tremendously, much sooner than expected. The sector has the potential to transform the way the younger generation learns, consumes content, and gets entertained. We look forward to transparent and progressive regulations that clearly differentiate games of skill from those of chance.

In this budget, we welcome conducive Govt solutions that will help us overcome current industry challenges. We would also welcome clarification on data privacy and third parties to safeguard user privacy and avoid any breaches in the same. With a proper policy structure, legal framework, regulatory ecosystem and data privacy procedures, the online gaming sector can easily support the government's initiatives under the campaign Digital India, Make in India and contribute remarkably to the economy."

Taranjeet Singh Bhamra, CEO & Founder, AgNext Technologies- 

"2021 was a good year for the agritech sector, which flourished with strong investments and greater adoption of technologies in the market. To support this growth momentum, acute focus on the development of the burgeoning agritech ecosystem is pivotal. We hope that the upcoming budget will prioritize R&D incentivization in agriculture, along with the supportive impetus to allow agritech businesses, particularly start-ups, to scale domestically at a greater pace.

The emerging agritech ecosystem also requires a focus on infrastructure development and governance frameworks to spur more innovation in the sector. Fiscal considerations can be beneficial to facilitate the growth of the Indian agritech sector in 2022."

Sahil Sheth, Founder & CEO - LIDO Learning.

"Watching the ed-tech sector gain steam in 2021 has been extremely rewarding, and to a substantial extent, we have the government to thank for facilitating the growing ed-tech movement. I hope the upcoming Union Budget helps ed-tech platforms like Lido scale further up. I know the new budget will be all about economic recovery, and empowering the common man, with a focus on job creation, credit growth, and infrastructure development. In education, I'm hoping for a bigger budget allocation so that more and more students can get the educational support they need, and for the integration of technology within traditional learning. A critical component that will play a role in the progress of ed-tech in 2022 is smartphone and Internet penetration, so I hope the Union budget announces programs to solidify Internet infrastructure and ensure last-mile connectivity in tier 2 and tier 3 cities. With so many startups now a part of the ed-tech segment, I am also hoping for a simplified loan approval process for MSMEs. We need robust data protection laws, and ramped up investments and partnerships within the ed-tech sector for further growth this year."

Siddharth Maurya, Resource Specialist, Expertise Real-Estate and Fund Management:

Real estate is one of the key pillars of the Indian economy contributing around ~ 8% to the overall GDP. The government must acknowledge the important role played by the sector and make deep policy reforms to accelerate growth in realty demand. Currently, concession can be availed in income tax on up to 2 lakhs paid as interest on home loans. This should be revised and increased to build healthy demand in the sector. Likewise, waivers or reductions should be offered on GSTs on raw materials such as cement, steel, etc. Raw material prices are increasing and reduction in GST rates can give a lot of relief to the developer fraternity. Giving infrastructure status to the sector is also long due as it can help in building liquidity in the sector.

Rajamanohar Somasundaram, Founder & CEO Aquaconnect

“The PMMSY has shown some great results since its implementation. To accelerate the Blue Revolution 2.0, we expect a greater push to promote digital solutions across the value chain right from pre-production to post-harvest to bring predictability, efficiency, and traceability. Incentivizing farmers with better subsidies to adopt data-driven farming, farm monitoring & automation tools will eventually ease and accelerate the wider tech adoption and drive the transition of farmers towards modern farming systems with improved productivity. 
 
To achieve the PMMSY targets, the need of the hour is to drive the inclusion of formal finance and insurance in aquaculture. High insurance premiums demotivate the farmers from availing any risk mitigation for their crops, hence subsidizing insurance premiums will help fish and shrimp farmers to mitigate production risks and reduce production costs to a great extent. Further, increasing the fisheries KCC limit from the current range will help farmers meet their farming expenses entirely.”

Raja Vishal Oberoi, CEO at Market Xcel

"MSMEs are the second largest employment generators, providing jobs to around 11 crore people in India. Furthermore, they account for 48% of exports from our country. With the rising cases of omicron and the ongoing restrictions imposed by govt, MSMEs expect financial support from the government to revive the growth of the sector and reforms surrounding import substitutes to promote self-reliance and boost domestic manufacturing. As 30% contributors of the GDP, MSMEs are expecting the government to reduce the compliance burden in all aspects, be it taxes, loans, audits, or licencing. Including green energy as part of the policies formulated for MSMEs will also help create a sustainable economy and decrease domestic reliance on energy imports."

Prashant Jain, CEO, Oswaal Books

"The foundation of the education system has been shaken by the pandemic but not the will of India. With the right policies and investments in human capital, India holds a key to empower young people to catapult themselves out of this crisis and tread the path of economic and social development.
In most countries, basic education is nowadays perceived not only as a right but a duty. Governments around the world are nowadays widely perceived to be responsible for ensuring the provision of accessible quality education.

As incomes – measured by GDP per capita – are increasing around the world, so are the global resources spent on education in absolute terms.

NEP 2020 is a welcome step by the Center. But FM needs to double down the Education budget to increase the public investment from 3 to 6% of GDP at the earliest. As the youth of India will not remain young forever this demographic dividend opportunity will only be accessible for a couple of decades say till 2030. So, the best way to predict the future is to invest in the present.

And to make our democracy thrive we need contributing citizens for building an equitable, inclusive, plural and economically developed society, if the youth is not educated today, they can never become good citizens of the country. If you do not have good citizens, you will not have good politicians. If you do not have good politicians, you are less likely to have a good future.

So, doubling down on this year's education budget holds the golden key to contribute to the vision of a vibrant society and global knowledge superpower."

Vinay Sharma, CEO & Director - Convergia (S Chand Publishers)
 
“The biggest disruption in the education sector was seen during the pandemic. Though all businesses were impacted, but the education sector faced challenges initially with the online shift. Though the EdTech companies have played an active role with conducting online classes supporting schools and colleges, the challenges of affordability and accessibility still persist when it comes to remote corners of the country.  
 
The Government can play an important role in rolling out a vaccine for kids and other measures to ensure schools can open like in other countries. Also, a reduction in GST on digital content will help improve its usage and penetration.  Many path-breaking initiatives in NEP can be implemented if the education budget is increased to make investments in infrastructure and capacity building.”

Tarun Mehta, Co-founder & CEO, Ather Energy

“The demand for electric vehicles continues to surge ahead as consumers reap benefits offered by the FAME II subsidy and tax rebates. To keep up the consumer demand and to drive faster adoption of EVs, we are hopeful that the FAME II subsidy would continue well beyond 2023. The EV sector requires such early bird incentives to accelerate manufacturing and consumer adoption to ensure stability in the coming years as we see new players emerging offering reliable products and value compared to petrol vehicles. 

In 2021, the government launched several initiatives including the PLI scheme to enhance the country’s manufacturing capability. However, while the startups form the majority of the EV ecosystem in India and have led the EV revolution from the front, a majority of them are ineligible for the PLI scheme. There is a need to be inclusive in this approach as startups would help open up more opportunities for the industry to help drive growth and innovation in the sector. Similarly, EV manufacturers have highlighted concerns around GST inverted structure and have requested reducing taxes on input costs. 

Another key aspect to drive faster EV adoption is the charging infrastructure development to boost consumer confidence. There is a tremendous requirement to mandatorily ensure EV charging infrastructure to be set up in all existing and upcoming housing projects and commercial establishments. Also, incentivising setting up EV charging stations in existing residential areas, housing complexes and commercial establishments will go a long way in setting up the infrastructure.  

I feel 2022 is going to be a landmark year for the EV industry and define the roadmap for the coming years. The introduction of progressive policies backed by speedier implementation will drive faster adoption of EVs in the country.

Rajiv K Vij, Founder, Plug Mobility

We expect the budget to be Growth-oriented and to give relief to Commercial Car industry and other sectors which have been badly impacted due to the pandemic and lockdowns.   

The Fleet owners/commercial car industry has suffered hugely during the pandemic and while it makes sense to induct Electric cars, the fleet owners are financially stressed and financial sector is maintaining a negative view about the sector to fund Electric cars for commercial fleet segment.

Government must declare EV’s for commercial car industry as a priority sector, implement First Loss Guarantee Scheme for the sector and ensure that the public sector banks and financial institutions offer easy finance with minimal margin money requirement at low interest rates for EV fleets.

Rasesh Seth- Founder of Nextyn

"With the rise in the number of unicorns in 2021, the Government, in their budget must consider the immense potential of the start up community to help attain its goal of the single largest economy in the world. The Government must be committed to building a steady digital ecosystem capable of supporting this astronomical growth. They must also ensure seamless access to funding through government schemes and favourable taxation rates for startups at various stages of growth. The government must work on simplifying procedures for foreign investments, and launch schemes to attract International start ups to investment and create employment in the country." 

Kamal Narayan Omer, CEO IHW COUNCIL

 “Amid the Omicron variant that has ushered in a new and disorienting phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, the countdown for the Union Budget 2022 has begun. Last year, the Government of India rolled out a slew of people-friendly packages at the height of this pandemic which boosted the economy in an unprecedented manner. This year, too, we all look forward to a budget that will ensure social health protection to the needy and disadvantaged.” “First and foremost, there should be a tax reduction on any form of treatment related to the Coronavirus. Ever since the pandemic struck us, both the Government of India and state governments have provided financial assistance to the infected people and their families. However, it has been seen that many people have been deprived of it. So, providing tax relief for such financial expenses will help all and sundry, especially to the poor citizens. A complete tax relief and an extension of it will also immensely benefit two groups of people. One, the middle-class taxpayers. Two, people who still don’t have medical insurance. While the Section 80D currently allows a deduction of medical expenditure only for senior citizens, the same should be provided to people irrespective of age.”

“Secondly, including all life-saving drugs in the generic category is a must. For instance, every year millions of Indians are diagnosed with different types of cancer. Given the high cost of the life-saving cancer drugs, many patients are financially stretched to the limit while paying out of their own pockets. Therefore, reduction of GST on these drugs are essential.”

“Thirdly, and most importantly, the COVID-19 pandemic has reinstated the importance of having basic healthcare across the country, especially in the rural set-ups. In India, over 75% of the healthcare infrastructure is concentrated in urban areas and there is a serious degradation in the quality or infrastructure in the rural areas. In fact, tens of thousands of patients in the rural areas are still in the hands of quacks and unscientific medical practices. The villagers travel a long distance to the nearest hospital in case of emergencies and the only viable transportation is private transport which many cannot afford because of their financial condition. Therefore, there is a growing need to create and deploy innovative technologies to ensure last-mile delivery of basic healthcare services, even in the hinterlands.”

Amit Agarwal, Co-founder and CEO of NoBroker.com

"The real estate sector has shown extraordinary resilience against the pandemic, and is now riding on a positive growth trajectory. The sector’s buoyancy is attributed to numerous factors like stable property prices, lucrative discounts by builders, and historic low home loan interest rates. And this growth can be accelerated with a few measures that could be considered in this year’s budget," Amit Agarwal said.

Rs 5 lakh home loan interest

"Home purchase is currently on the priority list for many people. The same was revealed in NoBroker annual real estate survey 2021.  As of now, the interest rates on home loans are in the range of 6.5-7 percent per year, but buyers who are looking to avail a loan of over INR 30 lakh cannot claim deduction against the entire interest paid in the initial years due to a cap of Rs 2 lakh per annum against interest rate deduction under section 24(b) of the Act.   The need of the hour is to bring in more robust demand in the home-buying segment.  Pushing the tax rebate on housing loan interest rates from the current Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 Lakh or above could trigger healthier demand for housing, especially in the affordable and mid-segment categories," he said.

"Another relevant thing that can be looked at is the definition of affordable housing. While the size of units can be standardized, the standardization of price is not viable across cities. For instance, property prices in Mumbai are significantly higher than those in Kanpur or Kolkata. That is one area the budget could look into and redefine. If the definition of affordable housing be readjusted to city specific standards, it will have a positive impact on the sector," he added.

Moreover, many benefits have been outlined for the affordable segment over the years. Along these lines, if the government introduces some benefits to the mid-segment housing as well, it would ring in better demand and translate into the faster recovery of the real estate sector. 

Section 80C of the Income Tax Act, 1961

"The budget should pay special attention to creating a much healthier banking system to drive accessibility and availability of improved and low-cost credit to home buyers. This can be achieved through priority sector lending categorization of home loans. The budget could focus on amending Section 80C of the Income Tax Act, 1961 to increase the repayment time limit of housing loan principal. This will reduce the burden of home buyers to some extent by allowing them more time to repay the money. It would pull in more buyers in the coming days," he further added.

GST

"There is also an urgent need to further streamline the Goods and Services Tax, which is applicable at 1% for affordable homes and 5% for other segments. A 1% cap on GST for projects under-construction would aid the quick completion of projects stalled due to financial reasons.
Commercial real estate developers, for example, should be allowed to set off the GST paid on construction materials. Improving the credit availability to smaller developers, who continue to face cashflow challenges due to the pandemic is also an area that requires government stimulus," he said.

Stamp duty Reduction

"Reduction of stamp duty in Maharashtra has reaped good results. If this can be mirrored in other states too, fence-sitters would be quick to take the plunge, and this would further boost real estate," he further sought.

GST reductions on raw materials, industry status

"A single window clearance has been due for many years now. Additionally, it is an appropriate time to award industry status to the real estate sector so that it can avail cheaper credit facilities from financial institutions. The budget should also focus on providing GST reductions on raw materials, including cement, steel, etc. Doing so can give a lot of relief to the overall developer community and help it recover faster from the slowdowns caused by COVID-19," he further added.

"There is a huge opportunity in real estate that would enable faster economic recovery. Despite the pandemic induced-challenges the sector that contributes 8% to the country’s GDP has acted resilient and home-buying is still top priority for a great majority of people for end use as well as for investment.  It is time to capitalise on the sentiment by offering some irresistible benefits which we hope budget 2022 will incorporate," he concluded on Budget 2022 Expectations for Real Estate sector.

Shriya Naheta Wadhwa, Founder, Zama Organics

We anticipate that the Union Budget will concentrate on easing taxation, encouraging investment, and providing more subsidies to startups, which will help generate more income and employment. The development of the agritech ecosystem is critical as well. We expect that the budget will prioritize agricultural R&D incentives, and provide a push that will allow agritech companies, particularly start-ups, to scale domestically at a faster rate. Infrastructure development and governance frameworks must be addressed to drive more innovation in the agritech ecosystem. We also believe that any reforms aimed at enhancing India's supply chain infrastructure will aid the eCommerce industry's growth.

Shreyas Hegde, CEO, Viral Fission

The pandemic has accelerated technology adoption across India, transforming how young people access and absorb information. Since 2020, the education sector has witnessed a substantial transition with young professionals and students retreating to the safe confines of the digital realm. We need the future to be more accommodative of such hybrid methods where the youth can not only focus on online learning but also incorporate holistic & experiential learning that helps them upskill. The forthcoming Union Budget should encourage institutions to integrate new-age skills into their curriculum and focus on creating more such avenues that will provide them with the right tools and experiences to become leaders of tomorrow.

Gaurav Agarwal, Co-founder, Gamezop

India's digital economy is booming and is aiding the country's recovery from the pandemic.

In the recent past, some states have banned online gaming without differentiating between games of skill and games of chance. We are certain that the central government is cognisant of the contribution of gaming to the GDPs of countries like the US, Japan, and South Korea. Regulatory clarity on games of skill will help the gaming industry grow.

Further, the interest and opportunities in cryptocurrencies are at an all-time high globally. Regulatory clarity around the use of cryptocurrencies by businesses and individuals will be highly appreciated. Given that New Delhi has been supportive of blockchain technologies, and India has high adoption for cryptocurrencies, the government stance on this subject will be closely followed.

Finally, while the government supports exporters through duty credit scrips, preferential rates to exports of digital goods and services will be a welcome move, and one that will strengthen India's journey to becoming an IT giant.

Sanjay Agarwal, MD & CEO, AU Small Finance Bank

"MSME sector is gradually recovering from the impact of the pandemic and needs continued handholding and policy support to take advantage of the opportunities provided by the evolving global supply chain dynamics. Given the strong employment generation potential of the MSME sector, my humble request is that the upcoming budget should include affirmative measures and schemes to support MSMEs and make access to capital for MSMEs simpler and seamless so that they can play a meaningful role in the 'Make in India' and ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ initiatives of the Government."

 Uday Narang, Chairman and Founder, Omega Seiki Mobility from the Union Budget 2022 “As a part of India’s growing EV industry, we hope that the Union Budget includes lowering of GST rates on raw materials, especially for the EV players. Support for R&D and indigenous technology development while lowering of GST on auto components should be on the top of FM’s agenda list. Allocating funds for the Clean Air Campaign, which could be brought under the Swachh Bharat Mission to create better awareness & improve adoption of electric mobility.

To further strengthen the EV market, the government should consider categorizing EVs in the priority lending sector. It will make EVs more affordable for the users & help in incentivising the whole transition.

Export concessions can also be looked at to support the Indian EV manufacturers like us, so that we can tap new markets, making India not just ‘Aatmanirbhar’ but a global powerhouse. The EV sector is growing, but it needs continuous support from the government via better policy curation, implementations so that maximum benefits can be passed on to the end users.``

Rajat Deshpande, Co-founder, and CEO of  FinBox

Fintech viability for the most part is piggybacking on operating at scale. Therefore, internet and telecom penetration into India’s villages are crucial, both for fostering financial inclusion and enabling business viability. The secret to unlocking higher fintech adoption can be nothing but a strong public-private collaboration that solves India’s problem of reach and access.

In short: Credit starved Indians beyond the metropolitans are hankering to be included in the formal financial system but it’s up to the government’s enablement through special-purpose funds, vehicles, and regulations to give the digital lending sector the tailwinds it needs to create a UPI-like revolution in lending.

Saahil Goel (CEO & Co-founder of Shiprocket)

Quote - "We have a lot of expectations of support to the start-up ecosystems which can really boost the economy. There should be a single window for all the relevant registrations like company incorporation, shop establishment, GST registration, MSME certificate etc. which will help save time, efforts, and money considerably. For start-ups, ESOP’s are key to attract & incentivize talent, these should not be taxed on vesting as recipients do not have ready cash in the hands at that point, the taxation should be on the final Sale of shares. Further, there is a deduction of TDS by the e-commerce operators on sale of goods, which leads to blockage of capital – that should be done away with. India’s Logistics cost are high. Steps towards Subsuming petroleum products under the GST regime have been under discussion for long; these will reduce fuel cost and progress needs to be made in that direction"

Kartik Shah, CEO, Coldrush Logistics

 "The logistics industry is dealing with non-predictable fuel prices, and its non-inclusion in the GST regime is already making it hard for companies in this space. This sector also has a higher CAPEX cost, making the liquidity cycle more stringent for businesses. Currently, the processed food segment is growing rapidly and needs reefer transport. But the GST on fully built reefer vehicles is 18%; thus, reducing it would significantly encourage businesses to invest in it and thrive in their journeys. Similarly, extending the subsidy scheme on these vehicles would also be a step in the right direction and help players operate more seamlessly without any financial burden. 
Moreover, the central and state governments currently have huge unused land parcels at prime locations. These can be leveraged to create warehouses and cold storage. The government has also pushed for the use of solar in this sector. However, it is not viable for medium-level players like us. As a result, the government can incentivize this and explore other possibilities to make solar power duty-free for cold storage providers. This move will serve a bigger goal of reducing carbon footprints and building a sustainable ecosystem for businesses."

Ashish Agarwal (Director & CEO at SEROS Logistics)

Quote - India has been pushing for an auto-fuel transition with the twin objectives of containing emissions as well as diversifying away from India’s rising dependence on crude oil imports. In line with the Hon PM’s vision of a Gas based economy, we expect the government to induce a conducive environment for the development of Natural Gas as a fuel in the Automotive sector.
A 5% GST rate for the sale and purchase of vehicles powered with LNG/CNG engines similar to EV can be levied in the same direction. 

The government could also look at amending the Motor Vehicle Regulations to issue BLUE registration plates for CNG/LNG powered commercial vehicles (similar to GREEN registration plates issued for EV) and BLUE plate registration would qualify for exemption of road tax and waiver in toll. This will promote the adoption of Gas-powered CVs

Lastly, we are hoping there will be a reduction in import duty of LNG CVs as LNG powered vehicles are used globally and regarded as the most viable clean alternative to diesel for long haul trucking

Kapil Makhija, CEO Unicommerce

"Amidst the pandemic,  e-commerce has become an integral part of India’s retail industry. India has the world's fastest-growing e-commerce and SaaS markets. Both sectors have garnered attention from investors and companies across the globe. We are an e-commerce focused SaaS solution company and we expect that the upcoming budget should focus on increasing digitization in Tier-II+ cities of India. The young aspirational Indian’s from these regions have started adopting e-commerce extensively and if the government continues to focus on the infrastructure there is immense growth potential. Also, we expect that the government will further provide clarity on the tax obligations of e-commerce companies and brands as it will help them further streamline their operations. We also believe that logistics infrastructure will play a pivotal role and any reform in improving India’s supply chain infrastructure will help in further driving the growth of India’s e-commerce industry."

 Sanjay Kaul, Founder & CEO, Xpand

 "India's technology sector, which is famed for its cutting-edge innovative capabilities and global success has been working diligently to combat the pandemic without causing commercial disruption. The industry is expecting a deduction for working from home/remote working set up and exemptions on medical and insurance expenditure. The government should consider 5% GST on health insurance to improve coverage, especially in rural areas. Additionally, the government should provide better allocation towards social security schemes-especially MNREGA and improve the digital literacy of women in rural areas. Salaries paid to people working in rural areas are to be deducted from the taxable income of a company. We are expecting an increase in credit for agriculture to ensure farmers' interest. To encourage more rural citizens to build their own houses in rural areas, interest on the loan taken by them should be completely exempted from taxation."

Kinner N Sacchdev, Co-founder and CEO, Knorish

Quote - When Benjamin Franklin was thinking of a bright future for America, he decided to focus mostly on building the Public Library System. The gurukul system of ancient India was also based on the premise that the 'Guru' is the best source of knowledge and learning. As India stands on the verge of becoming a global powerhouse in all spheres, we are not just competing with ourselves but the world altogether. Today, the thirst for good learning content amongst students, lifelong learners and corporates is witnessing unprecedented growth. So if we are to compete with the best in this global economy, access to learning that teaches new-age skills needed to survive and thrive in the 21st century must be made available to all. As such, I believe that GST on all online learning programs and enablers should be exempted from GST to make it more affordable for all. 

Shiv Sharma, VP International, Stocktwits. 

Quote - Based on our social media surveys, most retail investors "avoid trading" during the Budget, likely because many own blue-chip, secular winners for the long-term. Meanwhile, active retail traders usually ride momentum on sectors expected to hear bullish commentary in the Budget session. This year our data shows retail investors expect renewable energy to see increased focus. Retail investors are also hoping for relaxing of Long Term Capital Gains Tax and clarity on crypto tax policy.

Anil Nagar, (Founder and CEO at Adda247)

Quote - The companies in the startup ecosystem will play a significant role in transforming the country’s image. The EdTech industry has flourished at an accelerated rate as it broke new territory and entered tier 3 and 4 cities of the country. It will play a major role in educating our workforce for a better tomorrow. This is possible only if we make online education affordable to all. The Government should support this through a lower GST, while focusing on creating a strong digital infrastructure to improve the quality & experience of online education for students in cities as well as remote areas. The government should also forge alliances with Edtech companies to accelerate the learning outcomes with the help of cutting-edge technologies in the education ecosystem.

Saurabh Srivastava (Chairman at Indian Angel Network)

Quote - The startup ecosystem showed commendable grit and spirit to overcome the seismic COVID challenge and turn it into an opportunity instead. We welcome the Prime Minister's gesture of declaring 16th Jan as the National Startup Day signalling recognition of startups as the backbone of New India. Our expectations from the upcoming union budget are that the capital gains tax regime for listed companies be extended to startups as these investments create more value and new jobs, are illiquid and inherently much riskier. Also, ESOPs given by startups should be taxed at the time of sale, instead of at exercise as the shares are illiquid and employees have no resources to pay the taxes on a notionally high value at that time. And finally, in order to enable India based startups to compete globally, they should be allowed to raise capital by listing on overseas stock exchanges.

Padmaja Ruparel (Co-founder of Indian Angel Network & Founding Partner, IAN Fund)

Quote - India has today grown to the third-largest startup ecosystem in the World with more than 60k startups and 42 unicorns, with 4 of them emerging in the very first month of 2022. With over 2250 startups added in 2021 and $24.1 billion investment it is very clear that startups are one of the key drivers of the economy. We expect Union Budget 2022 to be an enabling budget for the startup economy. As India is the fastest-growing startup ecosystem, we need an enabler for the country to become the fastest growing angel investor ecosystem. This can only happen if investor exits are eased and therefore expect the removal of section 281 for overseas buyers of shares of Indian Unlisted Companies, amendment of Section 79 so that acquired companies are allowed to carry forward the losses once acquired.

Rajat Deshpande, Co-founder, and CEO of  FinBox

"Fintech viability for the most part is piggybacking on operating at scale. Therefore, internet and telecom penetration into India’s villages are crucial, both for fostering financial inclusion and enabling business viability. The secret to unlocking higher fintech adoption can be nothing but a strong public-private collaboration that solves India’s problem of reach and access.

In short: Credit starved Indians beyond the metropolitans are hankering to be included in the formal financial system but it’s up to the government’s enablement through special-purpose funds, vehicles, and regulations to give the digital lending sector the tailwinds it needs to create a UPI-like revolution in lending."

Shachindra Nath, Executive Chairman and Managing Director, U GRO Capital 

Union Budget 2022-23 is highly crucial to align Indian economy’s growth trajectory. It is essential that the Hon'ble Finance Minister announces effective measures to enable speedy recovery and growth of the MSMEs, considering the sector’s significant contribution to the economy. It is encouraging to see Government’s support for the MSME sector in last 12-15 months and we believe the efforts will only become more prominent in the time to come. 
 
In past few years, operationally nimble and technologically oriented NBFCs and Fintechs have deepened the credit penetration to the underserved regions of the country. Hence, in the upcoming budget, policymakers should provide due consideration to boost liquidity support to the NBFCs as well as encourage frameworks like co-lending, which will greatly boost the reach of financial institutions and progress in the financial inclusion imperative. EASE 4.0 talks about Co – Lending between Banks and NBFC as a means to increase the credit penetration, however the treatment of Tax Deduction at Source (TDS) treatment for NBFC and Banks are different and that is proving to be a major operational challenge to accelerate credit. It is expected that TDS rules would be harmonised between Banks and NBFCs.

Debajit Sensharma, Group CFO, Paras Healthcare

To begin with, we would like to thank the government for the support provided during and ongoing tough times. Going forward, we expect that the government should look at increasing the healthcare expenditure above 2.5% of GDP and extend the National Health Protection Scheme to all migrant workers, in addition to the BPL population. The need of the hour is to improve healthcare funding with subsidized loans, incentivizing CSR investment by making it a tax-deductible expense, and allocating land for new hospitals. The government should also look at allocating a budget to include trauma centers in Primary Health Centers (PHCs) and Community Health Centers (CHCs) as trauma systems result in high financial costs. Our country has the youngest workforce, but with dropping fertility rates and increasing mutations, there will be a huge spike in healthcare expenses over the next couple of decades. The incidence of lifestyle diseases is doubling every 10 years. Therefore, it is imperative for the government to get genome mapping done, which will assist in collecting the much-needed data to discover cures for complex conditions. In order to achieve the same, the government should promote public-private partnerships for genome mapping projects. Another important aspect for the government to consider is including all the life-saving drugs in the generic category and providing tax cuts on these drugs. However, providing adequate funding for the healthcare sector is needed at this hour, as it will have a substantial impact on the whole economy." 

Dr. Ankit Gupta, Managing Director, Park Group of Hospitals 

 "The healthcare sector should be the focus of this year's budget. India is facing a new challenge in the form of Omicron, and many more Covid waves are expected in the coming years. As a result, it is critical to strengthen the healthcare infrastructure. In the budget, more funds should be allocated to health expenditure. Incentives should be provided to the private sector so that they can establish Covid Care Centers. A Medical Innovation Fund should be set up to provide capital to companies promoting digital healthcare infrastructure. Many startups are utilizing Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to provide detailed reports to patients regarding medical conditions. India is also a popular medical tourism destination due to the availability of skilled labour. Hence, the government should ease visa restrictions and create more green corridors in order to promote medical tourism. We hope that the upcoming budget will serve as a source of motivation for the entire sector, fostering new innovations and development."

Praveen Sikri, CEO of Ikris Pharma Network

 "In the shadow of the pandemic and the ongoing battle against the virus, the budget should focus on the following areas: first, healthcare expenditure as a proportion of GDP must be raised to at least 2.5% if not more. Second, in view of the rising frequency of infectious diseases, the government must allocate enough resources for genetic and genome research, epidemiological studies besides hiking allocations for general healthcare-related R&D. Third, the budget must also provide for increased investment into infrastructure-building in terms of more critical care and ICU facilities and diagnostic labs along with ambulatory and home care. Fourth, smaller towns and the hinterland too should get sufficient public and private health infrastructure. Accordingly, the private sector should be encouraged with easy and inexpensive loan availability, tax exemptions and other financial and policy support through this budget. Fifth, similar encouragement must also be extended to the pharma and medical device sector.  Sixth, the budget should also earmark funds for ramping up infrastructure for medical education and training with an eye on elevating the quality and quantity of our healthcare manpower."

Dr. Gauri Agarwal, Founder & Director, Genestrings Diagnostic and Seeds of Innocence 

"During the pandemic, medical diagnostics emerged as the first line of disease containment and the most important public health measure. The World Health Organization's T3: Test. Treat. Track. initiative to combat COVID-19 has brought diagnostics to the forefront, emphasizing the growing need for better testing capabilities and the importance of quality. People have begun to understand the importance and needs of molecular/genetic testing, and it has invariably resulted in increased investments by large private labs and establishment of more RT PCR labs across the country. In this sense, the government's collaboration with the private sector, while refocusing on life science, healthcare, and diagnostics, will play a critical role in deciding the future of diagnostics in the country.

Public Private Partnership models as have been proposed earlier by National Health Authority, are promising initiatives of mutual efforts, whereby models for partnership with private diagnostic companies were proposed for bettering the infrastructure, services and quality of testing in Tier II and Tier III Indian Cities.  We advocate the principle of introducing high end molecular/genetic testing at a micro level in Indian Cities for reducing the difficulties in accessing quality testing and for strengthening regional medical infrastructure at a micro level. We further are staunch believers of developing indigenous testing technologies, medical devices and related infrastructure to promote an environment of Research and Development in this field. Accordingly, with the help of the Government’s grants, we can collectively formulate and implement cheaper alternatives to expensive genetic testing.

For the IVF industry, The Assisted Reproductive Technology Bill, 2021 is a quantum leap by the Union Government to promote the Indian IVF industry. However, it is pertinent to focus that the nodal concern still remains to be the general people of the country and their struggles with access to Assisted Reproductive Technologies, popularly, IVF. The problem is complemented by a failure by leading insurance companies to cover infertility, which makes it highly difficult for general people to avail these services. Recent research in this field has constantly warned us about the expected increase in the infertility rates of the country. Hence, it becomes significant to undertake preventive measures against this. Accordingly, increasing accessibility to ARTs in rural areas and providing more incentives to people to avail these services will come as a boon to the Indian IVF industry which is expected to become a $12 Billion Global Market in the coming Financial Year.”

Dipika Jaikishan, Co-Founder & COO of Basis

"It's no secret that women who run businesses are far and few in-between. Incentives for women entrepreneurs and investors backing women-run businesses will be a welcome change. While budgets year-on-year have been catering to the asks of the start-up ecosystem, a systemic nudge to bring more entrepreneurs into the fold should be encouraged by establishing SOPs in place — allowing women to take the plunge when it comes to running a business".

Aanan Khurma, Co-Founder & CEO of Wellversed

"It’s futile to expect anything from the government when it comes to start-ups. Even the so-called Startup India Programme is of little actual help to entrepreneurs. For e.g. The government proudly claims that start-ups will not have to pay income tax for the first seven years of its incorporation. Now any real entrepreneur knows that anything worth building runs in losses for the first few years of it’s incorporation and hence such policies are just a way for government officials to pat each other's back in the boardroom (probably over chai and samosas). So we don’t really think or care about what the government has on the charts for Start-ups as we understand that we are on our own."

Ashish Aggarwal, Founder & CEO of VA-YU

“The EV industry is in need of funding and the government can play a major role by bringing it into priority sector lending and by financially supporting start-ups in this sector. GST on battery packs should be aligned with the GST on EV’s and the government should implement a cohesive strategy for the domestic manufacture of EV batteries. And lastly, while tax incentives are offered to individuals on EV purchase, the same should also be available for corporates and start-ups.”

Subodh Garg, CFO and Growth leader Pickrr

With India aiming to be a $5 trillion economy by 2030, the logistics sector will be a crucial enabler in achieving this. According to the reports, currently, the Indian logistics sector contributes 14.4 percent to the country's GDP and incurs a cost of 14 percent of the GDP against the global average of approximately 8 percent. Keeping these numbers under consideration, we expect the focus of this year's budget to be growth-oriented for the supply chain industry. We foresee new policies being introduced to help strengthen logistics-related infrastructure and rationalize the dwell time across all major ports and customs to expedite connectivity. 

The government should also make a concrete move on the National Logistics Policy as it will help positively impact the logistics industry. 

While the previous two budgets had recognized the importance of technology in shaping the new India, we now anticipate opportunities and significant government efforts to recognize India as one of the world's preferred AI and SaaS attractions this year. 

Gaurav  Mangla, CEO Pickrr

The year 2022 started positively, with our Prime Minister announcing a day dedicated to start-ups.
Indian start-ups have played a vital role in the economy's growth, and this base continues to witness steady growth. With technology playing a crucial role in shaping the country's start-ups, the Union Budget 2022-23 should introduce start-up-friendly policies and tax relaxations to enable innovation and ease-of-doing-business and reduce compliance costs. We hope this year's budget will continue to deliver on the government's vision under Start-up India to focus on digitalization, favourable infrastructure development, and strengthening the ecosystem.

Ashok Patel, CEO and Founder Max Ventilator 

"Apart from the need to raise the share of healthcare as a proportion of GDP to at least 2.5 percent in the upcoming budget, the government must also further build on its earlier policy incentives such as PLI schemes and dedicated medtech parks by increasing allocations. In fact, the government should ensure that the smaller medical device players also get included and can benefit from the special schemes and offers that it has extended with a view to catalyze domestic manufacturing and to achieve the larger goal of self-reliance. Given the repeated occurrences of infectious diseases of epidemic scale in recent years, the government should also invest sufficiently into genetic and genomic research, epidemiology and vaccine research besides increasing allocation for broader healthcare R&D. Of course, the diagnostics and preventive health device segment must be given as much policy and financial support as possible. Further, the budget could also incentivize the consumables as well as medical device accessory segments which hold huge promise for the domestic sector. At the same time, adequate allocation must be made for training of personnel required for the deployment and usage of critical care equipment such as ventilators and other similar lifesaving devices."

 
Nikkhil K Masurkar, Executive Director, ENTOD Pharmaceuticals 

"The pharmaceutical and medical devices industry has gained significant momentum owing to the government’s AatmaNirbhar Bharat initiative. The Union Budget 2022 is expected to build on the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes and encourage continued investments in capacity expansion of sensitive APIs, drug intermediates, complex excipients, biopharmaceuticals and medical devices. While the draft R&D policy focuses on creating an ecosystem for research and innovation, certain tax incentives for the investment in ‘R&D focused funds’, set up for R&D based activities, could be introduced. India should participate in the innovation area at a global level. Along with a scheme similar to the PLI, the government needs to consider tax incentives to attract innovation. Interaction with industry and global players can help India's pharmaceutical sector to move from a generic manufacturer to an innovator developer and manufacturer for the world. Apart from that, Technology/digital transformation is another key area of focus. In fact, it would be the building block for the much-expected universal healthcare in India. Presently, GST on drugs is taxed under four categories - nil, 5%, 12% and 18%. While a few life-saving drugs are taxed at nil rates, some are taxed at 5 per cent and the majority fall under the 12 per cent GST slab. Extensions of a tax deduction on product development and R&D are some of the other demands of the pharmaceutical sector. The industry also seeks a 150% deduction in tax on in-house R&D.”

Vasanth Madhav Kamath Founder & CEO of Hydrogreens Agri Solutions

"In the upcoming Union Budget, we look forward to the Government announcing stimulus packages for Green projects, especially enabling first loss default guarantees. This would help the first time green bond issuers who may be unable to service the coupon or principal payments and would surely go a long way in inspiring the dairy industry to consider and access more green debt capital, as well as to execute high-quality genuine projects that get the dairy value chain closer to Net-zero."

Abhishek Goel, CEO & Co-Founder, CACTUS

The recent pandemic has anything but thought us the importance of science and research. As governments across the globe were scrambling in the race for vaccine development, they realized the importance of investing in creating the infrastructure to foster the growth of science, research and imbibing a scientific temper. While the Indian Government is leading the way by initiatives like setting up the NRF, it would be good to see how it can incentivize the private sector, HNI's to fund R&D in universities, and research institutions to take India to the next level.

Akshay Daftary, Director, SIRO Clinpharm

"Over the last 2 years, the healthcare sector has been at the forefront of all conversations given the large role it has played towards alleviating the harsh effects of this pandemic. We would look forward to an increase in the allocation of budget towards healthcare sector, along with continued support and incentivization in the drug development space. We have clearly seen the important role the healthcare sector has played towards economic revival during the last few months with the impact of COVID-19, which enable a strong bounce back through vaccination and treatment regimens for COVID-19 patients.

In addition, this unprecedented scenario has forced organizations to take a flexible approach of hybrid working, or complete work from home to ensure safety of all employees. In this light, a few tax exemptions/reliefs for employees could go a long way in ensuring they remain satisfied. While companies can provide certain benefits, reimbursements (for electricity, internet expenses) and providing movable assets to ensure work does not get impacted, the tax implication could fall on employees, which could be looked into due to no current tax exemptions. In a normal scenario of working form office, these expenses would have been borne by the company and tax would be levied onto the organization itself.

Kunal Vaid, Founder-Resham Sutra

"We would like to see a more inclusive budget with higher levels of focus on women’s development and on rural employment and livelihood generation, as these sectors currently constitute over 50 percent of the Indian economy. New and fresh ideas are needed to improve income opportunities and to increase the productivity of rural women in the poor and underserved parts of the country. Additionally, the Government must focus on the creation of non-agricultural income streams for bettering livelihoods for the rural women, as well as increase investments in community rural livelihood infrastructure building and development and furthering training infrastructure, including skill training for aspiring micro-entrepreneurs in rural India as well as technical training to the rural producers.

We also strongly feel that the scope of existing schemes/initiatives like textile mega parks need to be broadened and implemented for distributed rural production centres and producer companies -- as they are the backbone of the Indian textile industry. Furthermore, the Government should address the need of setting up village-level procurement centres, and prioritize on ensuring easier access to affordable credit for all rural women textile producers with minimum documentation. To this end, including the implementation of schemes like the PM Kisaan to be in the name of women, irrespective of land ownership can be a great step. Lastly, I would like to suggest that the Government should simplify the process of formation of rural-based producer companies and allow partial shareholding to promoter organizations. Such initiatives will go a long way and have a multiplier effect on rural incomes and the economy at large, and these have the potential to further reduce the need for mass migration to urban areas for low-paid, unskilled work."

Rahul Goel, VP Finance, Moglix
 
The union budget 2022 should address the double edged challenge of stagflation emerging out of the COVID19 led supply chain disruption in manufacturing while remaining within the boundaries of fiscal prudence. A realistic trade-off between fiscal consolidation and economic growth enablement initiatives to support job creation would be to cap the fiscal deficit at 6% of the GDP.  The economy is picking up momentum. As such, growth enablement initiatives  should be outcome based, not outlay based and designed to target the long term horizon.
 
Demand side measures that can cool inflation rates would be to rationalize GST rates on raw materials like iron & steel, cement, fabrics, and petrochemicals.  Overall  nominal incidence of GST on manufacturing may be rationalized from 18% to 12%. It will go a long way in giving inflation relief to MSME units and strengthening their balance sheets. The budget should continue the streak of endeavors made in the previous budgets to reduce compliance and litigation burdens for MSMEs. 
 
According "Industry" status to the real estate sector is another measure that can be considered. It will enable easy access to credit from lenders for the real estate sector, unlock demand in the affordable housing segment, and boost job creation opportunities for blue collar workers. Raising the income tax deduction limit on home loans  from INR 2 lakhs to INR 5 lakhs is another demand generation avenue that the FM may want to consider to boost sentiments of first time home buyers, many of whom are millennials. 
 
On the supply side, the union budget 2022 should continue to focus on the execution of fiscal outlay initiatives that have already been announced. The CAPEX spending on the National Infrastructure Pipeline is one major area where government spending will generate a crowding-in effect in the long term. The PLI schemes have begun to bear fruit in sectors like mobile handset manufacturing. The union budget 2022 will do well to scale up the PLI umbrella for the manufacturing of other categories of white label goods under the Make in India initiative. It will create new growth opportunities for India’s MSMEs in electronics manufacturing that is expected to grow amid heightened demand due to digital adoption for ease of living and doing business.

Sharad Chaudhary, Founder, Dreamz Production House 

After the initial blow of the Covid-19 pandemic, there is little doubt that 2021 continued to disrupt the world of events. Those businesses directly related to mass events are facing tough times. With the event industry facing an anomalous situation, we have a lot of expectations from the government to look into its revival and help the event industry strive in these challenging times. The industry is remaining stagnant for almost two years now and the livelihood of millions of people has come to a standstill. Just when we thought we could see some light at the end of the tunnel, we’re back to where we began. Rising covid-19 cases and fresh curbs and lockdown have left the events industry staring at a dismal future yet again. The industry has crashed and still the government doesn’t see the need to protect livelihoods as event industry has been completely ignored. Each state has its own set of protocols making it difficult to organise or plan anything. 

In the recent past, the association representatives have regularly shared a set of standard operating procedures (SOPs) with the government, highlighting our readiness for conducting events as well as the importance of the sector in kick-starting the economic engine. The industry has requested the government to take immediate measures to rescue and revive the sector which had come to a standstill due to the Covid-19 related restrictions. Be it a labourer or a contractor, a fabricator or a florist to people who actually get the industry going, there is no relief given to us. We do not come under the purview of any ministry that is looking into us and actually taking cognizance of what we do. The event industry which is trying to get the due recognition that it deserves to stay afloat in these dire times needs to get the status of an organised sector, for us to be heard. Hence industry status is absolutely important for us to stay afloat & excel going forward. 

We also hope that the startup-friendly policies should be made simplified to register and there should be a relaxation in the taxation policies and simplified GST returns as well in the upcoming budget. The startup sector will continue to look for the government’s support in helping ease of access to capital, encouraging domestic investment environment, scaling up the business, easy exit processes, and reducing regulatory and compliance burden on startups.

The constant on-again off-again approach that we can't avoid is having an impact. We know one thing for sure, events will never be the same. However, the interpersonal communication, fostering connections and pleasure associated with physical events can’t be savored in the online space. Also, revenue generation and ROI of virtual events are difficult to gauge and achieve. The core values of events and functions have not changed, and there is a hope that they will be the same in the future either. It’s on all of us now to be ready to produce and execute based on the current landscape. The biggest opportunity now is that we lived through the worst. This time has tested our ability of innovation and agility. Thankfully, now things seem to be far better while we are still, probably not out of the woods completely. It’s amazing to see how the pandemic has brought people together, created unity and given us perspective on how we could be more responsible. Hope we are able to keep supporting each other the same way because it will only mean that we get back on our feet much quicker.

 The government should introduce policies that are more inclusive of the private sector and enable their participation more. This will not only be an economically progressive step but will also bring in more transparency into the system. It is also essential that top priority is given to job creation and boosting entrepreneurial activity. The increase in tax slab limit can offer some relief to the common man by giving them more disposable income which in turn will help spur consumption, thereby benefitting multiple industries. Overall we expect that the budget is expansionary and focuses on the nation’s growth, bringing a positive sentiment to the overall economy.

Parag Kulkarni, Managing Director, A. O. Smith India 

The consumer durables industry has faced challenges with raw material costs for more than a year, and we are optimistic that the Union Budget will help reduce cost pressures for manufacturers and improve affordability for consumers. The budget may also look at reducing taxes on eco-friendly and energy-efficient products, which could help drive demand and increase consumer adoption of sustainable products.

Water purifiers and water heaters have become essential household items. We expect the budget to help rationalize tax rates on these consumer durable items, increasing the popularity and need for  these products in India. We hope that the residential real estate market will also be positively impacted by the budget. Real estate is the second largest market after agriculture, generating large scale employment and supporting multiple allied industries. We are hopeful that the upcoming Union Budget will help usher in a balanced combination of reforms and regulations, which will contribute positively to India’s growth. 

Sachin Jain, Managing Director, De Beers India

The Gems and Jewellery sector contributes to 7% of India’s GDP and forms around 12% of our export basket and plays a critical role in terms of employment generation. Over the past year the industry bounced back and performed well due to multiple positive steps taken by the government including reducing the import duty on gold and silver as well as ensuring there were no drastic increases in personal taxes. Beginning 2021, we also noticed that consumers moved towards purchases that were meaningful and brought value to their lives where jewellery played an important role. We look forward to the forthcoming budget in view that the gems and jewellery sector plays a pivotal role in the growth of the economy.

Nikhil Mathur, Managing Director - India, GfK

"In the coming Union Budget session, the industry is expecting an increased focus on energy-efficient products with reduced GST tax slabs and added incentives. Some reforms that is likely to boost manufacturing include reduction of corporate tax, expansion on Production Linked Incentives, rationalization of tax rates on products like Air conditioners, televisions, etc., The government’s commitment to make India a global manufacturing hub and ‘AtmaNirbhar’ with ‘Make in India’ vision will potentially help in increasing penetration and expansion of tech & durables market.”

Reetesh Dhingra, Co-Founder, WiZ Care

"With the global pandemic and huge hit to worldwide supply chains Western economies look to substitute manufacturing from China by creating new sources for the same, manufacturing in India is on the cusp of exponential growth by fulfilling this demand, the demand is in all sectors and products. The Union government can enable the same by providing subsidies, Incentives and Finance to both new manufacturing projects and also increase in capacities of exiting plants, this needs to be central and uniform across the country and not dependent on State governments, Manufacturing needs to be focused area for next 5 years".

Vibhor Sahare, CEO & Co-Founder, ANS Commerce

Startups and MSMEs are looking for measures to improve the credit lending and accessibility of funds that can mobilise growth. We expect that the Union Budget will focus on simplifying taxation, investment, and offering further incentives to Indian startups, that can help in generating more revenue and employment.

Further, measures such as streamlining approvals, compliance for ease of doing business, quicker adoption of technology, and automation by traditional retailers would be immensely helpful to the e-commerce industry. More entrepreneurship and incubation programs should also be a priority.

Srinivas Ganadinni, Founder and CEO, The Tea Planet

The tea industry is looking forward to the proposed Tea Promotion and Development Act of 2022 in the coming year as the Tea Act, 1953 has lost relevance in today’s context. The Budget should introduce new objectives so that the tea board can act as a facilitator for optimizing the development, promotion, and research in the tea industry.

Indian tea has a large demand in export markets, but we are still ranked fourth in the industry. Hopefully, this budget will make it easier to promote Indian teas on the global market through international trade shows by providing trade fair subsidiary schemes to large, medium, and small scale industries that are currently exporting. This will invariably help build a resilient ecosystem for these sectors that will bolster our overall growth. Additionally, industries that are into the second line of packaging and contributing to value addition to the tea industry should be encouraged and subsidies should be given to enable infrastructure upgrades that will encourage exports to world markets.

For F&B and restaurant business, GST input should be revived which will help the industry to move at a faster pace. Also, Govt should think of some insurance mechanisms or Business interruption insurance policies as we have in other countries. The reason being the risk of business today is completely different compared to a decade ago due to increased disruption in the industry affected by factors like pandemic and cyber thefts.

Neeraj Gupta, Founder, and CEO, Genes2Me Pvt Ltd

Health was one of the major focuses of the Government last year, and we are routing for the same in Budget 2022. The COVID-19 pandemic's teachings highlight the urgent need to capitalize on health, which is no longer an option, but a necessity. The healthcare sector is anticipating a good Union Budget, and hoping that the Covid -19 scenario will be turned into an opportunity to prioritize and implement structural changes that would benefit the general public. The Government should propose interest subsidies, lower GST on clinical trials and research activities, to boost innovation and R&D. Over the next few years, the government should increase public healthcare spending from 1.8 percent of GDP to at least 6 Percentage. The priority should be on the expansion of physical, remote access healthcare facilities as well as digital health and telemedicine. Also, the Covid testing and vaccine budget should be increased.

Shailesh Guntu, CEO - Milann Fertility & Birthing Hospitals

Allocating a sufficient budget for the healthcare sector is extremely important as it has a significant impact on the overall economy. With increasing lifestyle problems and diseases, it is predicted to have a huge impact on lifestyle-refining health care expenses in the coming years. Dropping fertility rates in both sexes is one of the alarming concerns, and therefore, the government should spend more on customised medicines as they show potential for progress. It is crucial to allocate funds for genetic research and the development of resources to conduct refined studies around genetics, as customised medicines can only be prescribed after genetic profiling. Due to unhealthy lifestyle patterns, childbirth would require expert care and infrastructure support in the future. The government should consider developing a long-term approach for implementing a system to deal with future pandemic situations, and it would require adequate funding for this sector to have healthy adults in the country.

Kamal Manocha, Founder & CEO of PMS AIF World

"Govt Revenues today are far ahead of expenditures, so, budget will focus on boosting next level of growth towards Indian economy attaining $ 5 Trillion GDP aims, by focusing on Capex revival(infra, railways & others), and real estate sector. But, from equity market perspective, budget is not expected to bring in much volatility, and would be more or less a non-event, as markets are more looking to react to Fed actions and Inflation."

Shalin Maheshwari, Co-founder, Merqui

“In the upcoming budget under the new labor law, we are expecting the gig workers and platform workers to be eligible for social security benefits such as income protection, health insurance and better accessibility of ESI & pension funds. Leveraging large employment providers and intermediaries to drive government schemes and programs for better end reach. Incentivize apprenticeship opportunities for freshers straight out of education and provide easier operations among industrial partners which will encourage them to regularly deploy more apprentices and increase the skilled workforce of our country.”

Akash Sinha, Co-Founder & CEO, Cashfree Payments

The upcoming Union Budget holds high significance, as the Indian economy takes strides towards its complete recovery and growth post the pandemic. This imperative will be greatly supported by enhanced financial inclusion and digitalization which makes it crucial that appropriate measures are announced in this regard. It is heartening to see the Government's recognition of fintechs’ ability to reach out to the unserved and underserved sections of the country, as evident from multiple initiatives in recent times. To further scale financial inclusion, it is essential that the government’s support is directed towards boosting digital infrastructure and innovation. Additionally, policy and regulatory efforts should be aimed at creating a favorable investment environment. While ensuring an appropriate degree of regulation, easing the investments in unlisted private businesses, especially in non-metro cities is crucial for convenient capital flow to technology start-ups towards their healthy growth. In the same respect, reducing the entry limits for Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) and syndicates, aligning with the Government's allocation to priority sectors, will ensure fund infusion to businesses.

Rajiv K Vij, Founder, Plug Mobility

We expect the budget to be Growth oriented and to give relief to Commercial Car industry and other sectors which have been badly impacted due to the pandemic and lockdowns.   

The Fleet owners/commercial car industry has suffered hugely during the pandemic and while it makes sense to induct Electric cars, the fleet owners are financially stressed and financial sector is maintaining a negative view about the sector to fund Electric cars for commercial fleet segment.

Government must declare EV’s for commercial car industry as a priority sector, implement First Loss Guarantee Scheme for the sector and ensure that the public sector banks and financial institutions offer easy finance with minimal margin money requirement at low interest rates for EV fleets.

Naman Jain, Education Expert and Director, Silverline Prestige School, Ghaziabad. 

Education is a subject of the concurrent list (Central and State Governments both spend on education). In last year’s budget, INR 93224 crores was allocated for education. Where school education was allocated 59% of this spent - INR 54874 crores and 41% for higher education – INR 38351 crores. While there was an annualized increment in the allocation of more than 2%, the accumulated allocation amounted to less than 3% of the total budget. This needs to be analysed with the fact that The National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020) emphasizes the need for at least 6% of the total budget to be allocated to education with financial support for critical components of education such as provision of adequate teachers, teacher training, etc. Without which the indented effectiveness is impossible to achieve. While increased allocation of budget for education is advocated and required, it is equally critical to concentrate on increasing the effectiveness of the resources. Underutilization of resources needs to be curbed through policy implementation.

There have been some welcomed steps taken by the government in the field of higher education, especially setting up more world-class institutes. But our country requires more focus and work on school education that builds the foundation. Public private partnership towards strengthening school education through teacher training and capacity building for education delivery can transform the system bringing it more in line for future requirements.   

The pandemic has unveiled the huge potential, advantages and capability of EdTech intervention in delivering and execution of education through appropriate methodologies. The future needs hybrid, online, blended, flipped, discovery, experiential and various other learning methods. The upcoming budget should also support and encourage development of new education technologies and innovations.

Startup  Sector   

Vicky Jain, Founder, uknowva :

The pandemic has disrupted every sector and one thing that everyone wants from the UnionBudget 2022-23 is to bring the economy back on track.  While every sector has faced its own ups and downs over the past year, there is one sector that has witnessed immense growth and potential i.e. technology and automation. The technology and automation sector has become a significant contributor to the country's mission of digital empowerment. Given the role of the technology sector in the growth of Digital India, it is expected that the government may implement effective and favorable policies, in creating the digital infrastructure and the ecosystem to support innovation.

Similarly, incentivizing research and development of next-generation technologies like AI, ML, robotics, etc. could help leverage India’s cost-effective science and engineering talent to develop strategic capabilities in scientific and industrial research. Special provisions and schemes need to be introduced to increase Digital Education and relevant Digitization to foster employment generation as well as re-employment. Another important area to focus on is the upskilling and reskilling of the existing workforce. There has been a lot of change in the way we operate and do business post COVID. It’s quite clear that the skill gap from education to corporate remains quite huge. This gap is now increasing with the AI-driven work culture setting in. Youth unemployment is close to 20 percent and that’s quite alarming. Adequate allocation for upskilling and reskilling is the need of the hour.

Layak Singh, Founder & CEO- Artivatic.AI 
 

“India houses the third-largest cluster of startups in the world, which means nurturing them back to their feet can ensure an untold boost to employment rates, drawing maximum FDI channels to the country again and result in a quicker, more sustained recovery of the markets to their heydays. 
Since 2020, an atmosphere of uncertainties and challenges has plagued startups. And while startups have stepped up their game even during the pandemic, they could do with a helping hand from the budget. Less cumbersome, liberal IPO policy guidelines, a revised compliance policy that’s easy especially for taxation purposes, and relaxation of tax obligations will lift a huge burden off our shoulders.  Extending necessary exemptions to all companies that qualify as ‘startups’ such as the easing of angel tax and gift tax regulations will further incentivize Indian and overseas investors to engage with our sector—a heaven-sent opportunity for the industry. 
 
The COVID-19 pandemic has ensured that the health technology sector buckles up quickly to respond to this prolonged environment of heightened crisis. Digitization has aided the transformation to on-ground awareness and actual, calibrated penetration of information and treatment. But there’s always scope for improvement. Expenditure on genetic research in India is in no way comparable to even the world average. Experts are advising rich fund allocation for genome mapping programs in order to hasten the development of monitoring resources to calibrate the genome-related health status of the Indian population. Such projects are humungous in nature and are only successfully possible in a close public-private partnership. The “Make-in-India” initiative is another tough, timely call-to-action for the tech sector in general. This planned push for tech adoption is important to make the economy self-reliant again. Hence, health tech-centric startups will need the aid of policy and tax sops such as moderated GST rates. These will encourage them to continue building these scalable, digital infrastructures that can help in these challenging times, plus they streamline offline offerings and save costs and time."

Health & Wellness sector:

Vijender Reddy Muthyala, Co-Founder and CEO DrinkPrime :

The Government through programs such as Jal Jeevan Mission-Har Ghar Jal has been focusing on the laudable initiative of giving people access to potable water. While we have made great strides in building out access especially in rural areas, accessibility to drinking water remains a challenge. The government needs to provide incentives to inspire startups to tackle this issue. Only through a cohesive public and private partnership will we be able to solve this basic human right. One area the Government should investigate is the GST and other taxes levied on providers of drinking water. Water is an essential basic human necessity and should be taxed accordingly. DrinkPrime would like to work with the government to make drinking water more accessible and affordable to all Indians.

Darpan Saini, CEO, Phyt.health :

Medical expenses have increased over the past two years with Covid taking center stage. Many have lost jobs or have taken pay cuts, resulting in financial stress on families. To ease these problems, the government needs to make digital healthcare affordable.

A special focus on making health insurance affordable by reducing GST on premiums from 18% to 5% is a viable option. The government should make health insurance applicable for telehealth services such as doctor consultations or online physiotherapy to help patients recover from the comfort of their home. This is crucial for patients who can't visit a doctor due to Covid restrictions. Moreover, the FM could also look to increase the limit of deduction under Section 80D from Rs. 50k to 1 Lakh - This could help the common man combat the rising healthcare costs.

Jindal Naturecure Institute :

KR Raghunath, Senior Chairman, Jindal Naturecure Institute

"The need of the hour to spend more on creating awareness about why preventive healthcare is important, more so with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Food as a medicine should be promoted as much as possible. The benefits of making positive changes in the diet should be advertised. This can not be achieved without a nationwide programme of educating the masses. During the pandemic, PM Modi has given the much-needed push to the AYUSH sector as he encouraged the world-class R&D enablement and manufacturing capabilities of India. We are looking forward to more promising announcements from Budget 2022. Even though COVID is a communicable disease, its worst effects are visible in those with non-communicable diseases– cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, hypertension,  obesity and chronic respiratory diseases. Therefore, an allocation only for strengthening communicable disease surveillance is a sub-optimal solution. The budget for up-skilling of the youth to become Preventive Health Coaches is also required since this will address the problem of unemployment and build on PM Modi’s Atmanirbhar mission. We need to look at coming out of this pandemic as a healthier and fitter country. Apart from yoga, the government should promote naturopathy and make it a part of school and college curriculums, and set up a committee to introduce naturopathy practices in universities. Standardizing naturopathy practice is critical as it will enable us to lay down strict standards that have to be adhered to by all Naturopaths. Legitimizing naturopathy and conducting mass awareness campaigns to educate the masses is the right way forward."

Education Sector : 

Dr. Pankaj Sharma, Director, JK Lakshmipat University
 
Quality education is one of the fundamental rights of every child. When there is a pandemic in the environment, quality education has become a distant dream due to the widening gap in accessing education. As a result, in this budget, the Government should announce multiple schemes to enhance better Internet connectivity infrastructure across the nation so that last-mile connectivity can be ensured and access to affordable 5G devices. The education curriculum in the higher education institutes should be job-ready so that drop-out rates can be curtailed. If we see the education expenditure, India spends only 4.6 percent of its total GDP and ranks 62nd in total public expenditure on education per student, therefore it’s high time that the government should allocate at least 6 percent of Indian GDP to the education sector.

Ashwini Jain, CEO & Co-founder, ForeignAdmits 

With the idea of creating a huge impact of “Make in India”, it is important to understand the role of start-ups too. The start-ups and their new ideas to contribute to the economy and localization need proper funding and budget too. Many of the economy-related issues would be solved with better start-up conditions in the country. Not only would we be able to boost localization at its best, we would also be able to create jobs, more career opportunities, and customize the production according to the needs of our citizens. There are some important factors that the government needs to keep in mind during the upcoming fiscal year budget discussion. Some of them are reducing the GST, giving more funding to the start-ups, and making the public data accessible for us. Start-ups should also get equity and interest-free loans in the growth stage so that they can help in contributing to the country’s economy.
 

FinTech sector:

Mandar Marathe, CEO, Koppr: 

For the common man of India, medical expenses have increased over the past two years. Many have lost jobs or have taken pay cuts, resulting in additional financial stress. To alleviate these concerns, the government needs to make healthcare affordable & accessible. A special focus on making health insurance affordable by reducing GST on premiums from 18% to 5% is a viable option. The government could also look to increase the limit of deduction under Section 80D from Rs. 50k to 1 Lakh.

A significant allocation of the budget should be made towards bolstering the healthcare infrastructure of the nation. From the current 1.8% of GDP spent, the FM minister should further raise it to 3%. Apart from healthcare, the Modi government could do wonders to bring in more domestic equity investments by reducing the rate of capital gains tax from 10% to 5% or doing away with LTCG tax altogether.

Dr. Anish Desai MD., Founder & CEO, IntelliMed Healthcare Solutions- 

“Health care sector continues to face the new challenges presented by the ongoing pandemic, which continues to dominate the attention and resources from all stakeholders. Neglect of Rural Population, Inadequate Outlay for Health, Social Inequality, Shortage of Medical Personnel, Lack of Medical Research, Expensive Health Service, Health Insurance sector reforms., Lack of cheap finance for the healthcare delivery models are some of the major issues that have been ailing the Indian healthcare system.

To address some of the gaps, a 137% increase in healthcare expenditure was announced in Budget 2021. India spent around 1.8% of its GDP on healthcare. Increasing the healthcare expenditure above 2.5% of GDP and further going up to 4%, is one of the primary expectations from the Union Budget 2022. Widening the coverage and regulating the private insurance sector will be important to address few of the issues. Making finance available at low interest rates for hospitals and diagnostic chains & making it one of the priority infrastructure in the sector is critical. GST and import duties need to be minimal on life saving drugs and devices.

Investments in R&D & medical research need to be encouraged and positive steps are needed in this direction, with financial allocation for the same. This will help to boost the domestic healthcare sector. International companies need to be encouraged to have R&D and manufacturing in India in collaboration with domestic players to enhance the capabilities of the local players and make state of art technology available to Indian patients."

Sumesh Nair, CEO & Co-founder, Board Infinity-

"Apprentice levy: Our expectation from the budget is 2 fold - one is an apprentice levy on all organisations paying wage bills more than 15 crores. This levy should be charged at 0.5% - 1% of the wage bill. This levy can be used to build apprentice training programs which can help a massive number of students getting out of higher education to access these programs and get skilled. Employers will benefit from a great talent pipeline in this process. This model is very successful in the UK for many sectors.

The second expectation is a reduction in GST. Currently, 18% GST on educational services is a burden on the consumers especially for technical and supplementary education. If we can build more affordability for customers it would be great. More than 50% of the total addressable market can’t pay more than Rs 35,000 for a skilling course. This plus GST of 18% discourages many consumers to opt for learning and relearning. I would urge the government to reduce the GST from 18% to 5% on all educational services. This would encourage skill learning and create more skilled professionals which is the need of the hour

Better financing models: The government should move towards having better financing models and direct the banks to introduce new products apart from traditional educational loans. I would expect that a national institution or consortium should take this ahead as financing is a core need to increase skilling training adoption. This will generate more skilled professionals leading to a better economy. Although NBFCs and new age institutions are trying to innovate and introduce new products, the coverage is still not optimal.

Real Time SME Job Portal: We would also want a SME job portal being run in a Public Private partnership model. This portal should give real time visibility into jobs available with SMEs and skills required for the same. It is similar to airline inventory available in global distribution systems and there is full knowledge on inventory. In this case inventory means jobs available across SMEs. We need a central system to understand the real time job availability across SMEs.

Remove university degree requirement for Jobs: We would need basic entry level jobs at Rs 3 lacs to Rs 5 lacs without a university degree as it is an unnecessary burden on many people to complete higher education to get into jobs. The NEP spoke about multiple entries and exits, but this can be done if at a central government level a rule or legislation can be bought out and in fact incentivize employers to hire skilled youngsters who needn't go through a higher education system to find entry level jobs in digital, finance, management skills domain."

Ankit Arora, Founding Director, Saarthi Education-

“As we enter the third year of the pandemic, we have learned a great deal about the COVID19 disease and the virus. However, one thing that we still haven't learned is that indefinite school closures, especially without any plans of an alternate form of education for vulnerable children, is not an option. Indian schools for primary children have been closed for more than 600 days! There are multiple reports which peg this to be around 3-4 years worth of learning loss for children. Some studies, like the one by the Asian Development Bank, have also shown how this is going to affect the future incomes of our children.

While mindlessly opening up schools might not be the best idea, there are several steps the government must take. These include opening schools in batches while following COVID appropriate behaviour, setting up protocols for children in normal times and times when the wave is climbing, creating a community-focused approach by appointing community volunteers who can ensure learning continues while schools are shut or run at limited capacity.  All of this will require budget and resources - resources to be mobilised at the community level, training teachers to follow COVID appropriate behaviour, equipping schools to follow safety protocols and making children and parents feel safe. The government has a golden chance to increase the Education budget and set aside a hefty chunk to focus on school re-openings. A part of this extra budget should also be used to run remediation programmes for children who have lost their learning levels and need to come up to speed with their grade levels. This means engaging on-profit organisations in providing offline and digital resources to both, the teachers and children.

The waves will come and go before COVID can turn into an endemic. This does not mean that we should wait around and let our children suffer. Inaction today is going to result in massive inequalities tomorrow. Let us start by giving school education the priority (in terms of budget and resources) it deserves, especially at a crucial time like this."

Kunal Kislay, Integration Wizards Solutions-

“Indian startups are the torchbearers for innovation in the country. With the introduction of new schemes and policies as well as changes in the tax structure, 2021 witnessed the proliferation of Tech startups. Indian startups also raised larger financing rounds compared to previous years. The pace of growth signals the immense potential of the domestic market.

The upcoming budget must equate with the momentum at which these startups are progressing. We expect further developments to Make in India and Digital India initiatives in order to establish India as a deep-tech hub. As digital adoption and transformation accelerate, Budget 2022 needs to focus on building a strong IT and internet infrastructure as well.

On the other hand, the MSMEs sector has been one of the most vulnerable sectors during the pandemic. The focal point while preparing Budget 2022 should be devising a robust growth map to revive the economy thumped by COVID-19. MSMEs are a key contributor to the country’s GDP and employment. We expect Budget 2022 to provide reforms on reduction in GST and the eagerly-awaited tax relief for small businesses.

With the right policy push and resources, the budget can be a real game-changer for the Indian technology and small business sectors. The government should also take steps to reduce the compliance burden in all aspects - taxes, loans, or audits for both sectors.”

Kazim Rizvi, Founding Director, The Dialogue-

"The upcoming budget is going to be critical from the startups viewpoint. The third wave of pandemic might disrupt the business activities again, especially the manufacturing division, therefore, there would be a heavy reliance on the budget to give these startups much needed relief. The startups would be looking for ease and simplification in sector specific regulations and compliances to give them certainty and cost saving opportunities. Further, these startups would also be hoping for much needed impetus in form of tax exemptions and incentives along with resolution of issues relating to GST credits. Budget should give importance to the healthcare startups and may provide certain relief in the form of reduction of GST and investing in the R&D for this already stressed sector. Similarly, clearing the uncertainty in the pending crypto regulation would also support the startups operating in this sphere.

Startups are the enabler of opportunities and transform a job seeker into a job provider. These startups are going to play a crucial role in India’s digital growth while creating employment opportunities and the government must support the ecosystem and help them achieve success. The evolving business models must be taken into account while crafting policy decisions. For these startups, funding is one of the major issues. Simplifying funding routes and creating a business-friendly environment would help them attract foreign investors and increase India’s ease of doing business and help them compete with global players. Government may also focus on bringing the startups into the global supply chain network and further invest in enhancing the domestic research and innovation capabilities."

Mayank Tiwari, Founder and CEO, Reshamandi-

"2022 marks potential for commendable growth and bigger-than-ever expansion with the right boost from the upcoming budget. On foresight, some remarkable reforms have to be made in enabling the three significant stakeholders that benefit from the three evolutionary stages of any product; suppliers of raw materials, manufacturers and the product sellers.

When it comes to the textiles and apparel industry, they are the farmers, reelers and weavers, and the retailers. India should recognise its farmers of natural fibres as an integral part of the agricultural sector. The government can invest in scientific methods of preventing crop failure at the early disease level which will ultimately increase the overall yield. This could turn the country into a significant game-changer in the world's textile and apparel industry.

The proposal for a GST hike for the textile industry has been deferred, which I believe is welcome news. Thousands of small businesses can be adversely affected if the hike is not devised, taking into account all the stakeholders.

Small scale manufacturers must be acknowledged as engineers of their own merit. Government can extend credit facilities for them and provide means for new-age technology adoption. In the textiles and apparel sector, the reeling units and the small-scale weavers would hugely benefit from such progressive measures. Besides, enough allocations for R&D would also make way for greater production quality.

At the seller level, tax burdens and rigid regulatory compliances should be remodelled, which can provide scope for growth and expansion. This will increase ease of doing business, and can largely contribute to the GDP.

All in all, the future holds great promise for all of us; and I'm excited to see how the Finance Ministry enables these stakeholders from the textiles and apparel sector."

Niraali Parekh, Founder and Creative Director, Bokaap Design

The tech and design sector is eager to know what the upcoming budget holds. I hope the government can ease access to resources, funds, and capital to startups and SMEs entrepreneurs in this space. For example, although COVID has boosted work in the tech space, businesses have curtailed their expenses in design services potentially compromising on quality. With a boost in the digital economy, UX/UI Design is more relevant than ever before. Experienced UX/UI talent in India is opting for remote jobs with American companies with higher-paying capacity or heavily funded startups. The incentives will bridge the gap between expectations and investment in branding and UX/UI services for small and medium-sized businesses. Eventually boosting studios to hire and retain the right talent and improve effectiveness without creating burnout."

Nitin Misra, Co-founder, indiagold

"With the government making progress on several fronts, we anticipate a policy framework in the budget that allows FinTechs to work closely with relevant government institutions to improve the distribution and adoption of existing gold monetization schemes, as well as launch new products like the gold savings account. All compliances, including incorporation, GST, other taxes, EPFO, and other registrations, should be handled through a single window in India.

To stimulate entrepreneurship in India, the government should also allow entrepreneurs to carry forward their loss of income to offset against future income. Furthermore, reduced capital gains on mergers and acquisitions will help the sector grow."

Ujjwal Singh, CEO and President, Infinity Learn

To address the rising demand for digital learning, the EdTech industry has embraced new technology and resources. EdTech companies in India are creating effective solutions and serving as vehicles for socioeconomic development and transformation through innovation and scalable technology. The use of technology in education, or digitalization, has aided the spread of quality education throughout the country, particularly in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. EdTech companies have helped to democratize access to high-quality education and improve student engagement by using technology technologies. For its expansion, the industry is looking for government help. Ramping up of digital infrastructure is the top demand of the edtech sector. Because of infrastructure issues, cities in Tier 3 and Tier 4 struggled with online education.

We also expect the government to recognize Edtech as an industry group, allowing it to engage in decentralizing learning at all levels and reconsidering the taxation of ESOPs. For a fair and equal system for offline and online education providers, the government should cut GST on online learning and materials. Infinity Learn by Sri Chaitanya believes in harnessing educational technologies to meet the country's ever-increasing demand for both online and offline, as well as collaborating with the government to reduce learning loss and develop a New India.

Nayan Gala, Founder, JPIN

“The union budget will create a great benefit for the startup ecosystem as the government will focus on investment driven growth that will push companies of all sizes both in the public as well as private sector. It would also raise additional resources through strategic investments, divestments and asset monetisation. 

The government should help in assisting startups through policies and support mechanisms towards domestic capital participation. Along with providing incentives to setup incubators, tax exemptions in FDIs and relaxing taxes for startups.

Prime Minister, Narendra Modi announcing National Startups Day this year, brings in an added advantage and benefit for the ecosystem and shows the rise and importance of startups in the country”

Prahlad Krishnamurti, Chief Business Officer, Cleartrip

We received this approved quote for another opportunity we will be using the same for all other media queries. sharing same with business today-
In terms of the Union Budget 2022, we have clear-cut, substantial expectations from the government as one of the worst-hit sectors by COVID-19. Given that the sector has taken a heavy blow, some relief measures like travel and tourism to be treated at par with the IT sectors would help quickly revive business and propel the industry towards growth and progress. Though Budget 2021 brought enhancements for public transport infrastructure, we are particularly looking for a proposal that talks specifically about the Indian travel and tourism industry’s short-term and long-term revival.

Alok Kumar, Founder & CEO at StockDaddy

Out of 3.1K Indian start-ups funded between 2014 and June 2020, 385 start-ups have shut down operations and it caused a loss of $760 Mn. Further, funds dried up and close to 40% of start-ups halted operations in May 2020, according to a NASSCOM report. Start-ups went through unprecedented challenges during the pandemic. Now, as the finance minister is going to present the Union Budget 2022-23 on February 1st, this sector is looking forward to the government’s decision to elevate the start-up ecosystem, including MSMEs. 

Their first demand will be the volume-based GST exemption for a span of 2-3 years. They also expect a broadening of the ambit for tax exemptions, suggesting that the government pass on this benefit to all the registered start-ups under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). Loan and finance procedures must be eased for start-ups that simply mean -- no collateral business loans along with zero service fees to make the finance part hassle-free for the new entrants. Moreover, profit-making start-ups should not be excluded from these benefits and relaxation.  

Annual targets of distribution of monetary funds should be used to allocate finances to new ventures and the process for that should be easy-going. Hence, designated banks should be constituted for ease of finance. Besides, as MSMEs are the backbone of India’s manufacturing sector, loans should be available to them at a very nominal rate of interest.

Nishant Arora, Co-Founder, Sixth Element Finserv’s Set Up Services

We expect relaxed tax structures and capital gains framework so that foreign institutional investors and investment funds can directly introduce their capital & provide funding to Indian registered entities and not divert their funds to the holding concerns of such startups, registered in countries like Singapore, that have been specifically registered to divert the governance & management control to foreign land to reduce the tax and compliance burden.
We recommend that Government should strengthen their startup promotion and facilitation schemes in Tier 2 & 3, which will also help in development of various zones like the silicon valley in India. We also recommend establishment of “Startup parks and zones” where in the cost of basic infrastructure is subsidized, and Center & State government organise “Startup fairs” and invite MNCs from all over the world to have a look at the Indian grown startups.
India faces issues relating to availability of workforce who have the due skill sets that are required in the Startup ecosystem such as Digital marketing, Website development, Blockchain development, Machine Learning optimization, UI/UX Design and development, and Artificial Intelligence development. If the Government facilitates growth of such skill universities, then not only will we solve a problem that relates to unemployment, but we will also see more startups from all over the world coming in India to setup their entities.

Vimal Alawadhi, MD, Best Agrolife Ltd. 

The Indian Agrochemical industry requires attractive PLI scheme, along with ease of transporting with lesser intermediates within the country. These implementations can prove vital in the coming year for the industry. We also hope the government comes up with reforms to rationalize GST on agrochemicals (reduce GST 18% to 6%) to meet the objective of “Doubling Farmer’s Income''. We would also like to propose Import duties on finished products to be increased to make local producers more competitive. The need of the hour is to make Indian products globally competitive and offer attractive incentives to export oriented domestic manufacturers for bringing a boom in the Indian agriculture market.  Government must provide financial and technical support to Indian manufacturers for backward integration, especially for import substituted intermediates that will help the industry to become a more tenacious competitor to China.

Divya Jain, Director  & Founder, TCO1

In the present times of pandemic, online education has proven to be a boon for the parents and students. The scope and reach of online learning tools has made sure students don’t lag behind in their studies and continue their academic journey without any challenges. Edtech platforms have been the safest contributor. We expect that in the upcoming budget, central government will closely look into introducing some prominent reforms for it. One of the key expectations from edtech industry is to reduce the GST slab of 18% to 5% for financial assistance and support. This will make the industry an attractive proposition for driving investments. The NEP 2020 was a visionary step for the industry, we expect moves on such lines that can bring about pivotal change in the remote learning sector

Aditya Chamaria, MD, Damodar Ropeways & Infra Limited

We expect the Government to introduce measures in this Union budget 2022-23 which will help to improve the potential of ropeways, boost tourism and enhance urban transport connectivity. GST on ropeways currently is at 18%, which is higher than that on air travel at 5% (economy) 12% (Business class), Railways (5%), Highway Tolls (0%). In fact, ropeways should be treated at least at par with Railways where the GST is 5% with input tax credit, because, they cater to all sections of society. Even this tax reduction will go a long way in boosting the industry and making it more viable to operate Ropeways without having to raise ticket prices to offset the increases in all other input costs. The ropeway projects are mostly situated in hilly areas, and the cross section of consumer availing the services comes from the average earning socio-economic class of people and a large % are villagers going on a pilgrimage. For ease of doing business and fast-tracking new / proposed projects, especially for tourism or Urban transport systems, support from government is needed. in streamlining the process of licensing, permits in construction of ropeway and cable car projects and even those under O&M. The Subsidies like those proposed for Varanasi project of 30 – 40% is a step in the right direction, and is needed to bolster this necessary industry. We are witnessing that larger number of tenders are being floated, but government is still focused on promoting CEN standards (European) for validating a ropeway project. Indian BIS standards have been upgraded recently and are very much at par with the CEN standards. Our recommendation to the authorities is to bring some kind of hybrid model for certification. Benefits of this hybrid model will go long way, as it will significantly reduce the cost of the overall projects by atleast 15% to 39% without any compromise on the standards of safety or quality. This will ultimately translate into faster RoI, more companies participating in the tenders and ultimately the pricing of tickets born by the customers.

Dhruv Agarwala, Group CEO, Housing.com, Makaan.com and Proptiger.com

 "Housing demand did bounce back strongly after the first as well as the second wave of the COVID pandemic, driven mainly by historical low interest rates on home loans. However, the sector is still plagued with two perennial problems -- unsold inventories and stalled projects.  The third wave -- in the form of the Omicron variant of the Coronavirus -- has emerged as a challenge for the sector and the economy. To deal with the legacy issues and also this new challenge, the real estate sector needs support in the upcoming Budget. The corpus of the government-backed stress fund SWAMIH should be hiked to at least Rs 1 lakh crore. The current corpus of Rs 25,000 crore has already been committed. This will help in completion of stuck projects and bring back the much-needed consumers' trust in the under construction property market. The government should give more tax incentives for both principal and interest paid on home loans. The Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS) should be extended for EWS-LIG and reintroduced for the MIG segment. The government has taken some bold measures to promote rental housing -- framing of model tenancy law and launch of Affordable Rental Housing Complexes. Tax sops should be provided to boost both supply and demand of rental housing. Rental yields are lower in residential properties compared with office assets. This can be compensated through tax incentives to developers and property buyers.

Pradeep Aggarwal, Co-Founder & Chairman, Signature Global and Chairman - ASSOCHAM National Council on Real Estate, Housing and Urban Development

In the Union Budget 2021-22, we expect the Government to double the amount of fund allocation for Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana to enable more people to realize the dream of owning a home and help the Government achieve the goal of Housing for All by 2022. Finance Minister will have to pay attention to the Input Tax Credit, reduce the GST to single-digit on building material, and continue tax holiday for affordable housing developer.

Manoj Gaur, CMD, Gaurs Group and Vice-President, North, CREDAI National

We look forward to a people and a business friendly budget. We request for the re-introduction of input tax credit in GST; with the input tax credit benefit, property prices will remain under control. Also, bringing stamp duty and registration charges in the ambit of GST will be highly appreciated if the Budget addresses it. We expect this year’s Budget to increase the income tax exemption limit of the Income Tax Act, 1961, encouraging people to buy their dream homes.
The need is to encourage people to buy homes, and one of the steps would be that the first-time homebuyer should get interest on home loan deducted from income or at least the Interest subsidy should be increased to Rs 5 lakh from the current Rs 2 lakh. Also, PMAY and CLSS schemes should continue for another three years, with the past two years severely hampered by covid: Pmay scheme extension is definitely required. 
The real estate sector needs more attention from the government as industry performance is directly proportional to housing. The long pending demand of granting industry status to real estate is need of the hour. The boost to this sector would generate more employment too. To strengthen the real estate sector, banks should extend loans to developers at the same rate of interest and same terms and conditions as that to the industries. The government should also look at the overall GST percentage, which is up to 28% in the real estate sector, and bring it equal to that of the industry.

Amarjit Bakshi, CMD, Central Park

As the government is making all efforts to minimise the pandemic’s impact on economy and give it a boost, there is a need to spur consumer demand and give the realty sector a big shot in the arm. The sector needs focused measures to further bolster demand in 2022. The demands go beyond getting infrastructure status; credit availability for the under-construction projects, more focus on SWAMIH, and more exemptions to buyers. We hope that Central and State Governments will work on reducing GST, circle rates, and stamp duty.

Ankit Kansal, Founder & MD, 360 Realtors

After a prolonged period of demand downcycle, and COVID-triggered lockdown, Indian real estate stands at the cusp of quick recovery. Despite fears of Omicron looming large, the industry is well-placed to cope with the crisis. Meanwhile, it is also imperative for the government to help the supply side through deeper and wider policy reforms such as interest subsidies to developers, faster mechanisms to obtain clearance and reduced GST rates. Likewise, the budget should also take prudent steps to boost demand in the form of increased tax subsidies, lowering of stamp duty, etc. This will be pivotal since Indian real estate is a mission-critical sector in terms of the government’s long-term agenda to achieve a USD 5 trillion economy.

Rajat Goel, JMD MRG World

Affordable Housing sector has been given the infrastructure status, but the implementation has not been up to the mark. We hope that the Budget will address the issue of making cheaper land available in main cities to develop affordable housing. Apart from that, income tax benefits must also increase, which will help in more investment in real estate. Apart from this, the Government should reduce the GST to a single digit on building materials like steel, cement etc and contractor service, among others.

Harpal Singh Chawla, Director, Spaze Group

The Budget should focus on the commercial segment, which has the potential to attract foreign investment and FDI. The granting of infrastructure status to the entire real estate sector is at the forefront as it will help attract more investment. The finance minister has to balance fiscal prudence and the urgent needs of the sector. Also, this Budget must also aim to increase the present savings limit so that the young population gets a higher spending power and look at the real estate sector as an investment avenue.

Amit Modi, Director, ABA Corp & President (Elect), CREDAI Western UP

We are undergoing the third wave of a global pandemic, and real estate sector being one of the largest employing sectors of the nation has so much to fulfill and achieve. Availability of affordable home loans and the importance of owning a home are two major driving factors for revival. However, there still remains certain aspect which needs government’s attention especially as the Union Budget 2022-23 draws near. One of the most long-standing demand being ‘Industry Status to Real Estate Sector’, not having an ‘industry status’ becomes difficult for real estate sector to avail legitimate finances from banks and other financial institutions.  It will help in getting low cost loans from the system, and then the cost benefit with regard to high interest loans from outside the system can be further moved on to the end-users. We also expect that the input credit regime should be brought back into the GST regime as far as the Residential real estate is concerned. With all the benefits being passed on to the homebuyers, if it gets implemented the benefits achieved will make the entire homebuying process affordable. It will also shield both buyers and developers from the cost implications of fluctuating cost of raw materials. Developing a home is a huge responsibility, and it takes in a lot of efforts from developers, authorities must address the long-standing demands from the developer community which include Single Window Clearance to facilitate faster deliveries and project completions, exemption limit on Interest on Home loan, for supporting millions of first time buyers across the nation, and Principal Deduction Rules Under Section 80 C to be implemented. This will make sure that the deduction of principal amount of housing loan repaid would not be clubbed with other deductions under Section 80C. Alternatively, the limit under Section 80C should be increased to Rs 3 lakhs.

Deepak Kapoor, Director, Gulshan Group

The market sentiment in real estate is much more positive this year when compared to the two pandemic years gone by. Owning a home is the best possible asset in present times due to the long term capital appreciation. Amid the third wave, it is the perfect time to provide industry status to the real estate sector. 
This will give developers ease of availing cheaper credit facilities from financial institutions and banks. Terminating stamp duty and registration charges in the gamut of GST would be highly acknowledged. The sector is counting on government; we hope that the Budget will help people to have more buying power by increasing their disposable incomes.  Due to WFH, the commercial segment has suffered the brunt so it is eagerly waiting for sops that could help in overcoming the after effects of multiple lockdowns and curfews.

Navdeep Sardana, CMD Whiteland Corporation

Our expectations from the Union Budget 2022-23 will be related to real estate sector being awarded the infrastructure status.  The status will help the sector achieve multiple tax benefits to boost foreign and local investment.  The investments from international institutional funds will be exempted from taxes, as they will be termed infrastructure funds. This will eventually reduce borrowing rates for the developer fraternity, which is already marred by unsold inventories and higher costs of credit. A GST waiver for under-construction properties and incentives for private investment in the housing sector will reap far reaching benefits. We sincerely hope these recommendations are considered in the upcoming budget.

Dhiraj Jain, Director, Mahagun Group

Being one of the core sectors of the economy, the real estate sector is still waiting to be granted infrastructure status. We expect this year’s Budget to increase the tax limit or increase the limit of the property value so that savings on taxation gets increased and the real estate sector gets more attention of buyers.

Sanjay Sharma, Director, SKA Group

To provide affordable housing to all, we request the Finance Minister to consider increasing the Income tax exception limit on housing loan interest from Rs 2 lakh to at least Rs 5 lakh, and continue the PMAY subsidy scheme. Also, this time, Budget should consider providing industry status to the real estate sector as it will reduce cost of funds and help in lowering the price of homes.
Kushagr Ansal, President CREDAI Haryana & Director, Ansal Housing
The real estate sector is also adopting and modernising itself day by day by implementing noble concepts like Green building. Budget 2019-20 must provide special incentives to the developers and projects offering eco-friendly concepts. It is time that real estate gets infrastructure status that will enable developers to raise funds at lower rates and reduce their cost of capital, which would eventually have a bearing on overall project cost.
 Dhiraj Bora, Head Corporate Communication, Paramount Group
Right now, the sector is going through a phase where buyers are showing an inclination towards real estate assets. To smoothen the path, the Government must announce tax sops and rate cuts that may entice buyers.

Yash Miglani, MD, Migsun group

The housing sector is a key indicator of the country's economic growth; it is not only a form of easy investment, but also helps in employment generation. There is an urgent need for the Government to support developers. We are looking forward to the infrastructure status of the real estate sector along with steps to bring in ease of doing business to help the sector.

Ram Raheja, Director at S Raheja Realty

Finance : YS Chakravarti, MD & CEO, Shriram City 

“The 2022 Union Budget should focus on reviving the financial sector, the backbone of the economy by focusing on rural development and MSMEs to increase livelihood opportunities and provide safety nets. We expect harmonization of regulations for NBFCs and Banks, specifically on tax and recovery measures. Deposit-taking NBFCs should be empowered to offer guarantees similar to banks under DICGC that will strengthen their liability pipeline. In addition to the above, to boost MSME lending, retail loans to individuals and small businesses need to be treated differently compared to large corporate loans. There is a need for an effective refinance mechanism (similar to NHB refinance) to ensure liquidity and easier access to finance. Push for environmentally friendly policies like the EV subsidy program - FAME (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicle) to help tackle climate change will go a long way in benefitting the ecosystem.”

Real Estate, GST, Homebuyers

What can the homebuyers expect from the Budget?

Anurag Mathur, CEO, Savills India says, “At a time when the economy is anxious about recovery due to the Omicron threat, we look forward to a positive approach from the budget. In addition to agriculture, the focus is likely to be maintained on the manufacturing, infrastructure, and real estate sector in the budget. On the wish list, there is extension of credit linked subsidy scheme (CLSS) and enhancement in interest deduction limits on housing loans.”

Farshid Cooper, MD, Spenta Corporation says, “With signs of revival already visible over the last few months, the realty sector is looking at robust housing demand in 2022 and beyond. While interest rates are already at their lowest, a tax holiday for homebuyers will go a long way in boosting the market sentiment, nudging fence sitters to take a decision.”

Personal tax relief, either by a cut in tax rates or favourably readjusted tax slabs, would be favourable for the homebuyers. The last deductions limit under Section 80C (to Rs 1.5 lakh a year) was in 2014 hence, this long pending demand from the buyers.

What can developers expect from the Budget?

Anurag Mathur, CEO, Savills India suggests that, “Focus will once again be on infrastructure status for the real estate sector. It has the potential to unlock a host of benefits for boosting foreign as well domestic investment. Reduction in GST rates of key construction material, Introduction of alternative asset classes in REITs could fundamentally increase both retail and investor participation in the real estate sector. A benevolent approach towards the financially depleted demand side through additional tax deductions will be welcome too. The country is poised for growth in Life sciences R&D. A special policy focus on this aimed at attracting investment in R&D real estate will provide a great platform for the future. All these will go a long way in attracting investment, accelerating demand, and supporting a higher growth trajectory.”

Farshid Cooper, MD, Spenta Corporation also adds that, “Emphasis should be given to stalled/ stressed projects, apart from providing impetus to affordable and rental housing as we enter 2022. This will likely free up capital and provide liquidity to the sector. Additionally, serious thoughts need to be given to GST towards major input materials as the rising cost structure could lead to long term increase in prices thereby softening demand.”

Real Estate: Shishir Baijal, Chairman, Managing Director, Knight Frank India

Rimo Bose, PR and Branding Manager, TCL India

“We are expecting that the import tariff will be reduced, so that our country can match up with the other competing countries like China, Mexico, Thailand and more. Additionally, we have witnessed much of compliance reforms in the last two years, the PLI schemes have indeed helped in domestic and international investments, but we have to keep in mind that setting up manufacturing units might take several years, so the investment from the Government side will boost the ‘Make in India’ movement.”

Lokesh Acharya, Director & Co- Founder- Fincorpit Consulting Private limited

Budget 2022 expectation: Standard deduction hike, income tax relief for saving for kids' education. For paid individuals and pensioners, the standard deduction is a deduction allowed from gross salary income. This deduction lowers the individual's taxable salary income, lowering his or her tax burden as well. After being removed in fiscal year (FY) 2005-06, the standard deduction for salaried taxpayers was reintroduced from FY2018-19 onwards at Rs 40,000. The deduction ceiling was eventually increased to Rs 50,000 from FY2019-20. Given the recurrent cost of inflation over the years and the current living expenses of paid workers, the amount of deduction is relatively low. Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 epidemic, household spending has been negatively impacted by rising medical costs and work-from-home expenses such as furniture, energy, and the Internet. Thus, the present standard deduction ceiling of Rs 50,000 should be increased to at least Rs 75,000. Furthermore, taxpayers who choose the concessional optional regime under section 115BAC of the Income-tax Act, 1961 may be eligible for the standard deduction.

The need for deduction for higher education savings for children. Saving for a child's higher education is an important financial objective for everyone, and most people set aside a percentage of their salary for this purpose. Except for the Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana, which is specifically for a girl child, there is currently no express deduction or exemption for such funds. Because the deduction is combined within the section 80C limit of Rs 1.5 lakh per year, the tax benefits are likewise minimal. A separate deduction of at least Rs 1.5 lakh for education funds would be a welcome gesture in this direction. Alternatively, the deduction for education expenses (including tuition expenses) can be carved out of the section 80C deduction and a separate deduction may be considered. In short, such an increase in standard deductions and additional deductions for education costs will bring more savings for future purposes while providing incentives for individuals through tax savings