As the initial reactions to Budget 2024 start to take shape, we turn to industry experts to gauge the potential impacts of this year’s fiscal policies. The latest budget proposal has elicited a range of responses from business leaders, economists, and sector specialists, each offering unique perspectives on what lies ahead. In this collection of quotes, we present expert opinions on the budget’s implications, exploring both the opportunities and challenges it presents for various industries. Join us as we delve into these insights to uncover what Budget 2024 means for the future of our economy.
Anirudh A Damani -Managing Partner – Artha Venture Fund
“The government’s announcement of a ₹1,000 crore VC fund to boost the space economy and a ₹1 lakh crore R&D fund is a strong testament to the recognition that the space economy will be at the forefront of India’s ascent in the deep tech economy. This initiative underscores the success of ventures like Agnikul and provides significant momentum to their ambitious plans to launch a rocket a week and dominate the global nanosatellite delivery market. We are supremely excited to learn more about the finer details of this massive boost to the sector”.
Ratna Mehta – Managing Partner, Fundalogical Ventures
“The logistics and supply chain is the lifeline of India’s growth story. The budget’s identification of infrastructure, manufacturing, and skilling as key areas for long-term development and subsequent allocation is a step in making India the logistics and manufacturing powerhouse of the world. As a fund focused on investing in supply chain and logistics, we are bullish on backing innovative entrepreneurs building the support ecosystem of India’s supply chain. The government’s move to set up E-commerce export hubs to be set up for enabling MSMEs to export their local products is a huge step in the direction of driving growth through innovation and building on new-age trends to drive MSME growth. Interesting move from the Government to create industrial centres in historic hubs like Gaya of India as a part of ‘Vikas bhi, Virasat bhi.’ This will boost widespread infra development and logistics in these regions and create employment opportunities, reducing the urban-rural divide as well as encourage distribution of income”.
Bhaskar Majumdar, Managing Partner, Unicorn India Ventures
This is recognition of the growing need for a deeptech economy. However, alongside the R&D Fund, the government should look at the Intellectual Property regime. The much overdue Patent Policy needs to come out soonest to enable maximisation of R&D Fund.
Anil Joshi, Managing Partner, Unicorn India Ventures
The 1000 Cr fund of funds for space tech is testimonial to India’s capability in coming up with breakthrough solutions at low cost. This will certainly help space tech companies to look for much needed early stage capital to get started. This will certainly help mobilise over 4000 Cr, great move.
Ankit Aggarwal, Founder & CEO, Unstop
“I am glad to see Budget 2024’s focus on youth employment and skilling. The Rs 2 lakh crore allocation for employment schemes is the beginning to a brighter future.
The incentives for job creation and the plan to skill 20 lakh youth over five years is what we needed.The support for higher education loans and the push for women in the workforce is also a big plus. It feels good to see the government recognising the need to focus on key areas that can make our journey towards a skill based economy smoother.
It’s a great time to be young and skilled in India!”
Adv. Mamta Binani, President of MSME Development
Forum WB said, “The recently announced Union Budget for 2024-25 by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman highlights a strong commitment to inclusive growth and economic resilience. We areoptimistic about the government’s initiatives aimed at empowering youth, boosting agriculturalproductivity, and enhancing women’s participation in the workforce. These measures are crucial for promoting inclusive growth and fostering a conducive environment for business growth.
The emphasis on increasing Minimum Support Prices for farmers, extending welfare schemes like PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, and launching significant youth employment schemes with a ₹2 lakh crore allocation over five years demonstrates proactive steps to stimulate economic activity. The focus on agricultural productivity, skill development linked to employment, and promoting women’s workforce participation through targeted initiatives is expected to create favorable conditions for sustained business innovation and growth. Overall, the budget provides a solid foundation for economic stability and progress, aligning well with corporate goals for a dynamic and inclusive economy.
Vaibhav Shah, Fund Manager,Torus Oro PMS
“Overall budget touched upon various important aspects like rural development, employment, women empowerment, fiscal consolidation, capex continuity etc. Fiscal consolidation path is a welcome move which was revised lower than interim budget. Initiatives in rationalization of tax structure is a step in the right direction. In Spite of coalition overhang, capital expenditure was maintained at the same level. So overall the narrative was clear on the growth aspect and the efforts will be made towards transforming the economy. Hike in capital gain tax took markets by surprise adding nervousness around the rate regime”
Mr. Dhriti Prasanna Mahanta, Vice President & Business Head, TeamLease Degree Apprenticeship
The recent budget is a game-changer for India’s industrial sector, delivering a powerful focus on skill development and job creation. With an allocation of Rs 1.48 lakh crore aimed at skilling 20 lakh youth over five years and upgrading 1,000 industrial training institutes, the initiative is poised to address the sector’s pressing need for a highly skilled workforce.
The introduction of a one-time wage incentive for first-time employees, delivered through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), is set to boost formal employment by making it more attractive for industries to hire and train new talent. Additionally, the launch of internship programs in 500 companies, providing real-life exposure and a monthly allowance of Rs 5000, will create direct pathways to employment for young professionals. Companies will benefit from these programs through reduced recruitment and training costs, with 10 percent of the training expenses covered by CSR funds. This comprehensive approach ensures that industries gain access to a pipeline of skilled, industry-ready workers, which enhances productivity, drives innovation, and strengthens competitiveness.
By fostering a better-trained workforce, the budget will enable industries to meet evolving market demands more effectively, contributing to sustained economic growth and industry advancement.
Dr Srinivasan.K, Director -MBA ESG India
” Management colleges across the country exude confidence in the Union Education Budget 2024, presented by the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, emphasizing the need for innovative and access-based education. This commitment gets cemented for the future business leaders of our country due to the fact that an absolute allocation of ₹1.48 lakh crores has been made for education, employment, and skill development. The government has come forward with a scheme of providing loan assistance of up to ₹10 lakh for higher education in a domestic institution, therefore making the access to an MBA program easier and more accessible to a larger range of talent who dream of pursuing it. The most promising thing for MBA colleges is the introduction of a centrally funded scheme to train 20 lakh youth in five years in association with state governments and companies. This shall ensure that our students acquire industry-relevant skills to fill the gap between academia and professional practice. Apart from this, updating the 1,000 ITIs as per the need of the industry would further enhance the quality of management education.
The stipend amounting to ₹5,000 and a one-time allowance of ₹6,000 that the students would get under the internship scheme will provide immense hands-on experience to them. This will come along especially with encouraging companies to use their CSR funds for this initiative that would fan the creation of collaboration between MBA colleges and the corporate sector.
Overall, it makes India a global business and innovation hub by placing its students at the forefront in various industries.”
Bhaskar Majumdar, Managing Partner, Unicorn India Ventures
This is recognition of the growing need for a deeptech economy. However, alongside the R&D Fund, the government should look at the Intellectual Property regime. The much overdue Patent Policy needs to come out soonest to enable maximisation of R&D Fund.
Anil Joshi, Managing Partner, Unicorn India Ventures
The 1000 Cr fund of funds for space tech is testimonial to India’s capability in coming up with breakthrough solutions at low cost. This will certainly help space tech companies to look for much needed early stage capital to get started. This will certainly help mobilise over Rs 4000 Cr, great move. Angel Tax abolishment was long pending, glad that Hon. FM has heard industry voices and has finally abolished it. This will certainly help in expansion of angel investment in India and will take away a lot of burden from the minds of everyone on tax notice for tax paid investment. This will also free up a lot of domestic capital and improve the funding sentiment in a strong way.
Mayuresh Raut, Managing Partner, Seafund
This was an albatross that hindered much needed capital to be deployed to deserving founders. Removal of this dreaded tax will give a huge fillip to startups in the country and free up investors to focus on the investments without having anxiety on how to deal with their implications. A few other things that work well for deep tech focused funds like us. The rooftop solar policy, the pumped storage policy and research and development for small & modular nuclear reactors, Bharat small reactors, R&D for small modular reactors, R&D for new technology in nuclear form a neat troika to alter the energy map of India. Especially on the nuclear side, it positions India to replicate the renaissance that nuclear is experiencing in the US.
Manoj Agarwal, Managing Partner, Seafund
As a deep tech focused VC fund, FM announcing Rs 1000 crore space economy VC fund and R&D fund of Rs 1 lakh crore will work as a strong catalyst for startups in deeptech and space tech. This Budget has given attention to several demands of the industry which have been long standing. Rationalising of LTCG to 12.5% for all financial and non financial assets is also a step to bring parity between listed and unlisted companies. However, the biggest take away from the Budget is removal of angel tax. This will lead to ease in raising funding for early stage founders and will encourage more early stage investors and angels to look at startup investing as a fruitful asset class. In our view, this single announcement is a small step in the direction of making angel investment accessible for people with investment corpus which currently goes to markets and Mutual funds.
Mayuresh Raut, Managing Partner, Seafund
This was an albatross that hindered much needed capital to be deployed to deserving founders. Removal of this dreaded tax will give a huge fillip to startups in the country and free up investors to focus on the investments without having anxiety on how to deal with their implications. A few other things that work well for deep tech focused funds like us. The rooftop solar policy, the pumped storage policy and research and development for small & modular nuclear reactors, Bharat small reactors, R&D for small modular reactors, R&D for new technology in nuclear form a neat troika to alter the energy map of India. Specially on the nuclear side, it positions India to replicate the renaissance that nuclear is experiencing in the US.
Manoj Agarwal, Managing Partner, Seafund
As a deep tech focused VC fund, FM announcing Rs 1000 crore space economy VC fund and R&D fund of Rs 1 lakh crore will work as a strong catalyst for startups in deeptech and space tech. This Budget has given attention to several demands of the industry which have been long standing. Rationalising of LTCG to 12.5% for all financial and non financial assets is also a step to bring parity between listed and unlisted companies. However, the biggest take away from the Budget is removal of angel tax. This will lead to ease in raising funding for early stage founders and will encourage more early stage investors and angels to look at startup investing as a fruitful asset class. In our view, this single announcement is a small step in the direction of making angel investment accessible for people with investment corpus which currently goes to markets and Mutual funds
Alakshendra Singh, head of corporate communications, Eros Group
The Union Budget 2024 presented today is a missed opportunity for India’s real estate sector. While the allocation of ₹10 lakh crore for urban housing under PMAY-Urban 2.0 is commendable, the central assistance of ₹2.2 lakh crore over five years falls short of what is required to truly address the housing crisis. The promise of three crore additional houses sounds grand, but the practicalities and previous execution rates raise serious doubts. Urban development is touted as a key pillar, yet the support for rental housing and regulatory frameworks remains weak. The initiative for working women hostels is positive but insufficient without a robust rental regulatory framework. The focus on industrial parks and infrastructure investments is promising, but the glaring omission of substantial incentives for private players in the rental housing market is disappointing. Fiscal deficit control is important, but not at the cost of bold and necessary reforms in the real estate sector.