New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the Union Budget 2021 on Monday (February 1) that outlined a slew of measures to pull the economy out of the pandemic-induced slump.
Industry leaders hailed the Union Budget 2021 for being pro-infrastructure and investment Budget.
“The budget 2021 is extremely positive, driving the country towards Aatmanirbhar Bharat by laying huge stress on health care, infrastructure, banking and insurance, textile and agriculture that will aid the country not only towards economic revival but also spur growth. The Infrastructure spending is going up by 34% through NIP and a welcome Focus on boost in Road and Railway infrastructure”, Rajiv Agarwal, CEO and MD, Essar Ports Ltd said.
Samantak Das, Chief Economist and Head of Research, JLL India has termed the Budget as a pro-infrastructure and investment Budget. “The proposed easing of restrictions on leverage by InvITs/REITs will attract more REITs listings and thus higher investments into real estate. The announced monetisation of surplus land of government and government bodies is a welcome move; however, the implementation will need to be monitored,” he added.
Sanjay Palve, Senior Managing Director, Essar Capital Ltd, said that This is a ‘spend big’ budget with clear focus on banking and infrastructure sector which is exactly what the economy needed and in sectors that required it.
“Especially the manner in which the FM has sought to clean up the balance sheet of banks by creating a bad bank for stressed assets. This will certainly give banks the elbowroom they need to start lending aided by the proposed Development Finance Institution with ₹ 20,000 cr capital. All these initiatives will spur corporate investments. With this comprehensive approach, the FM has reset the economy for a V shaped recovery,” he said.
Abhijit Malkani, Co-CEO & Country Head, ESR India termed the Budget as a progressive one with a welcome change to drive India towards a $5 trillion economy by 2024.
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“National infrastructure pipeline extended to cover over 7,000 projects is a welcome move towards driving economic growth. The commissioning of Eastern and western dedicated freight corridors by 2022 and 3 new dedicated freight corridors will boost connectivity and will have an impact towards lowering the logistics cost as a percentage of GDP and provide momentum to the industrial and warehousing sector,” he added.
