A panel session on ‘Implications of Union Budget 2019-20’ was organised by MVIRDC World Trade Center Mumbai and All India Association of Industries. Mr. Firoze B. Andhyarujina, Senior Counsel, Supreme Court of India said, “Union Budget contains a slew of proposals to leapfrog the economy to USD 5 trillion by 2024. The government will simplify 44 labour laws into four codes, set up National Research Foundation and a stock exchange for social enterprises. However, there are some provisions in the budget that will penalise honest tax payers. These provisions reflect the trust deficit of the government on tax payers.”

Mr. M. S. Mani, Partner - GST, Deloitte India said, “If the government sets realistic tax collection targets, assesses will not be harassed with unnecessary search, seizure and audits. Mr. Mani praised the government for attractively drafting the Sabka Vishwas Legacy Dispute Resolution Scheme, 2019. He informed that around Rs. 3.75 lakh crore is stuck in indirect tax disputes all over the country and the government can collect a sizeable proportion of this amount if it implements the scheme efficiently.

Mr. Mangesh Soman, Joint President, Corporate Economics Cell, Aditya Birla Group said, “The budget has announced innovative reforms such as accessing foreign market for sovereign borrowing, relaxing norms for foreign portfolio investors, attracting global bids for mega manufacturing plants in high-tech sectors, shifting NBFC regulation to RBI, setting up social stock exchange for voluntary organizations, etc. However, the impact of these measures will depend on how well they are implemented and the external economic environment.”

Mr. Soman raised concern that the capital expenditure of the government (including grants) has risen hardly 6% in the current financial year compared to 13.8% in the previous year. “On the whole, the budget is mildly positive for economic growth and it is also slightly inflationary,” he concluded.

Mr. Vijay Kalantri, Vice Chairman, MVIRDC World Trade Center Mumbai said, “We need to grow at the rate of 11.5% in order to achieve the USD 5 trillion GDP target by 2024. This is also important in order to increase employment generation. However, in recent times, we have observed revenue expenditure growing at the cost of capital expenditure, resulting in poor infrastructure and slowing economic growth.”

In Photo:

From (L-R): Mr. M. S. Mani, Mr. Vijay Kalantri, Vice Chairman, MVIRDC World Trade Center Mumbai, Mr. Firoze Andhyarujina, Mr. Mangesh Soman, Mr. Y. R. Warerkar, Ms. Rupa Naik.