: Post Budget Reaction from India Inc. #FinanceIndia #StockMarketNEWS Post Budget Reaction from India Inc. New Delhi, Feb 3 (KNN) Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented her first paperless union

@StockMarketNEWS Wed 03 Feb, 2021

Posted in: #FinanceIndia #StockMarketNEWS

Post Budget Reaction from India Inc. #FinanceIndia #StockMarketNEWS
Post Budget Reaction from India Inc. New Delhi, Feb 3 (KNN) Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented her first paperless union budget and announced a slew of measures on healthcare and infrastructure to give an impetus to the Covid-hit economy.

Dubbed as the most crucial Budget of India in recent years, the Budget has come in the backdrop of the largest gross domestic product (GDP) contraction India has suffered post-Independence due to the COVID-19 pandemic. India has been among the worst-hit major economies due to the virus-induced lockdown, with the economic growth contracting by a massive 23. 9 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in the June 2020 quarter, the first GDP contraction in over 40 years.

There are only four occasions in Indias history when GDP growth has suffered a contraction: 1957-58 (1. 2%), 1965-66 (3. 7%), 1972-73 (0. 3%) and 1979-80 (5. 2%).

The FMs budget focused on higher spending, healthcare expenditure, infrastructure development and public sector bank privatisation, while no major income tax relief has been provided to the common man. Markets have surged nearly 4 per cent particularly led by the private sector banks.

Here are a few post budget reactions from India Inc. :

CH S S Mallikarjuna Rao, MD & CEO, Punjab National Bank for Union Budget 2021-22:

We welcome the measures announced by the Finance Minister in the Union Budget 2021-22. The budget rightly strikes a reasonable balance between addressing the key pillars of Health & Well-being, Inclusive Development, Human Capital, Innovation and R&D, apart from laying the path for a robust economy by providing a major infrastructure boost. The array of measures announced are in line with people as well as market expectations and will go a long way to bring the nation back on track by boosting spending on infrastructure and rural development while fighting the pandemic through health focused measures.

As far as the financial sector is concerned, further recapitalization of Rs 20,000 crore for PSBs in the FY 2021-22 is a welcome step. The other measures which are expected to strengthen the sector are as under:

   -- Various measures have been announced on the infrastructure front, which are expected to take the economy into a new trajectory of growth. In addition to over a 34% increase in capital expenditure, new highway projects have also been announced.

   -- Setting up of a professionally managed Development Financial Institution will catalyze infrastructure funding.

   -- Creation of an ARC and Asset Management Company that will take over the stressed assets and sell to Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs), is also welcome as it will help improve the health of the banking sector through impact on price discovery and improving competition in the market.