Pre-budget expectations from Union Budget 2018

Budget 2018 will be India's first post-GST and is being keenly watched to see what Jaitley does to boost growth in Asia's third-largest economy.

NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will on February 1 present the current NDA government's fifth and arguably his toughest Budget yet as he seeks to address agriculture distress, create jobs and boost growth while at the same time stick to fiscal prudence. This will be India's first post-GST and is being keenly watched to see what Jaitley does to boost growth in Asia's third-largest economy. Here's what experts from automotive, retail, real estate and education sectors expect from the Budget 2018 Retail sector Abhishek Bansal, Executive Director of Pacific Mall, Tagore Garden “In the run up to the budget, our expectation from the government is to simplify GST system and grant industry status to the sector for easier access to finance and attract more investments. The industry status will help us in borrowing, which in turn supports us in raising money, which helps us even portraying ourselves to the world in what expertise we use to be in real estate or more than any other things else. That is a big change that we expect that will help us. For Retail development, people like us who are doing shopping centres for whom the real estate plays really for 3-4 years not extend to that while planning building it so it’s more like Hotel operators who are not into real estate. And we are not in real estate; we are mall operator owners so that is the difference we want to bring into the industry. Besides, the Retail industry is also seeking relaxed FDI regime for multi-brand retail trade (MBRT) as also incentives to be provided for setting up warehousing and cold-chain storage facilities”. Real Estate Sarjan P Shah, Managing Director, Group Satellite "If the government is serious about their target of 'Housing for All by 2022' we should expect to see significant action on reviving and incentivising the housing sector - specific, targeted tax breaks and steps to make the purchasing and ownership of private homes more efficient, transparent and cost-effective would be welcome." Auto Sector Dharmesh Arora - CEO, Schaeffler India India holds huge potential for growth. Increased allocation towards key infrastructure sectors like road construction, railways expansion and up-gradation, raw material sectors like steel and cement etc. will bode well for spurring economic activity. These sectors also hold promise for large scale job creation. Government should come out with a clear long term policy on supporting mobility needs of future. We believe the transition to e-mobility is a good step but it must include hybrid vehicles as a necessary and viable intermediate step. Appropriate support to the industry in creating the pull from end consumers and tax breaks to component industry by means of zero duty imports of components going into e-mobility, tax breaks for investments in local research and development will encourage quicker adaption of new technology. On taxation front, continuing the announced roadmap for reduction of corporate taxes will support industrial growth and investments. We expect a balanced budget supported by right monetary policy that creates a positive investment climate and promotes consumption led growth. Education Sector Dr Sanjay Gupta, Director General, World University of Design (WUD) “We expect the upcoming budget will introduce measures to encourage more Indian Universities to make it to the global ranking list. In order to make our universities world class and emerge as centers of excellence, Indian institutions need to focus on ‘Educating the Educator’. Faculty members in existing HEIs need to upgrade their qualifications. If they can be encouraged to take up enrolment in Master/ Doctoral programmes, while on the job, many purposes will be served – more qualified faculty, improved quality, more research output and more publications. For encouragement, multiple benefits in terms of tax-relief, student loan eligibility, and longer duration pay-back would provide the right impetus. To improve ranking in the near future, Indian institutions need to focus on 'Internationalisation' with utmost priority." "Quality education is a must for a complete and successful life. For many, it is equivalent to graduating from a top institution. The cost of education is, however, increasing rapidly. In fact, the cost of studying at reputed institutions is already quite high. An education loan, therefore, plays a vital role in such a scenario by helping to bridge the gap between the shortfall and the required amount. Therefore, we need to increase the duration of education loan deduction from 8 to 15 years”.