Who says what? MSME sector reacts to union budget 2017

Suyash Rai, Senior Consultant, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, said, “This is a very good move as impact of demonetization would have been the highest for the small sector industries. It is an opportunity for the SMEs to retain their loss as these are the units which are responsible for the employment generation the most.”

Mustafa Nadeem, CEO, Epic Research: Budget has been given thumbs up by markets and corporate. It is budget for Gramin and lower middle class which forms majority of India. There is lot to cheer about this budget with some disappointments but overall direction is clear and if implemented will give major boost to spending and shaping up of rural economy.

All this has been done keeping fiscal responsibility intact is a big boost for the markets. Some of the notable highlights like lowering tax rate to 5% for income upto Rs. 5 lacs will increase the tax net, also the reduction of tax by 5% for corporate with annual turnover of less than 50 crores is again a positive.

Sagar Kurade, Past President, AIFPA: Theme of the budget primarily seems to integrate the farmers with the agri and food processing sector. It is the most suggested theme as far as food processing MSMEs are concern. In general micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) related to Food processing sector are definitely going to be encouraged as there has been reduction in the corporation Tax by the Finance Minister. There was something which we would have also liked to see in the budget and that was related a central subsidy allocation to food processing MSMEs.

The connectivity of farmers to industrial and agriculture sector will be encouraged and hence the closure interaction between farmers and food processing MSMEs. Farmers will definitely have choices both in terms of infrastructure and food processing sector. It also enables the farmers to get the better values what he produces.

Parth Nyati, COO, TradingBells: This is a very good growth oriented budget meant to benefit rural and urban population alike. IPO for public sector undertakings like IRCTC, IRFC and IRCON is a pleasant surprise and would ensure more retail participation. Reduction of corporate tax would benefit 96% of the Indian corporate having turnover less than 50 corers. We can see SMEs getting a positive boost from this move. Long term capital gain tax on equity markets remained unchanged which will further boost investor participation. Service Tax and STT also remained unchanged. Some reports suggested that both could go up. It gives a positive kick right after the budget. However lowering of STT would have benefited the financial markets. More Government spending on infrastructure like highways, railways, coastal roads, affordable housing will pump in liquidity in the market which was required post demonitisation. Focus on digitalization and incentives on online payments would increase digital payments and will benefit online trading. Abolishment of FIPB and automation would ease out the process for Foreign Portfolio Investments. We can expect more foreign investments. There are a lot of benefits for farmers aimed to double their income in 5 years. Irrigation based stock will get a boost out of this.

Abnish Kumar Sudhanshu, Director & Research Head, Amrapali Aadya Trading & Investments Pvt. Ltd: We rate the budget as ‘No Bad news is good news’. Focus remained more on the growth of rural India keeping the fiscal consolidation in place and much needed boost to the stalled economic activities post demonetization. Finance Minister’s budget was filled with rural sops to heal wound aroused amid demonetization. Moreover, cut in tax rate for SMEs will not only boost the sector but also it will reduce the ongoing stress on the banking system. Importantly, middle class population being the largest driver of consumption story, also got benefitted by the reduction in tax from earlier 10% to 5%. Demonetization pain for the housing sector can be relieved as several measure are proposed like reducing the holding tenure for long term capital gain making hosing sector as a infra sector and greater emphasis for affordable housing. Overall, it was much needed budget required for the market.

Manika Premsingh, Economist and Founder, Orbis Economics: Small and Medium enterprises (SMEs) have been benefitted in the first segment of the income tax slabs and that is exceptional as particularly since we are going to see a slower growth in the sector so there need to be more avenues for encouraging consumption as well as encouraging the growth and business.

Dr. Yerrum Raju, Economist, MSME Lead Consultant with Government of Telangana: The Union Budget brings opportunities for the small units to widen their growth. This is a growth oriented budget for the MSME sector. While small companies (up to Rs 50 cr turnover) will be happy, on the other hand Budget has no corporate tax reduction for large companies.

Giriraj Singh, MoS MSME:Tax rate for companies with an annual turnover up to 50 crores to be reduced to 25%, to strengthen MSME sector

Dr. Sangam Kurade, President, FISME: Less than 3% of MSMEs are body corporates under Companies Act because of higher taxation on companies than on individual and firms and that is why while making a presentation before the FM, I had highlighted the issue myself. In the Budget memorandum submitted to the Finance Minister FISME demanded that Income Tax on companies may be levied in slabs as available to individual tax payers.

Pankaj Patel, President, FICCI: MSMEs would be encouraged to come into the formal sector with Budget2017 announcement

CII: Tax for companies with less than ₹50cr turnover reduced by 5% to 25%. Big win for the MSME sector

MSME sector will reduce joblessness…