Budget 2023: ‘Street expects FM to bat like Yadav, field like Jadeja’

Nilesh Shah, Managing Director, of Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Company said, “The street is expecting Finance Minister to bat like Suryakumar Yadav, bowl like Umran Malik, and field like Ravindra Jadeja.”

These cricket players have excelled in their respective categories in cricket.

Shah added, “Market expects budget to be growth-oriented by increasing spend in infrastructure, healthcare, and education. The budget should take steps to tackle these challenges facing Indian economy viz. subdued consumption at the bottom of the pyramid, control widening trade deficit and boost private sector investment.”

He also said, “The budget has to assure the investor that it is on the path to fiscal prudence while keeping tax rates stable. This is possible if budget 2023 raises non-tax resources by asset monetisation and plug tax loopholes.”

Some of the other expectations are:

Ankur Maheshwari, Chief Financial Officer, Freo:

The upcoming budget for the 2023 fiscal year is projected to remain consistent with the policies of the 2022 budget. India has grown from strength to strength, especially in the middle of the global economic downturn. We are hopeful that this budget will help the country move the needle and pave the way for India to become a global example, especially for the fintech and startup industries.

We hope the budget will focus on the startup community, which has proven itself to be a major growth driver for the country in recent years. Additionally, when formulating the budget, consideration should be given to promoting initiatives such as co-lending to expand financial inclusion and extend reach to underserved customer segments.

We expect the budget to continue providing economic stability and a growth environment for core sectors. In this Digital era, where India holds the presidency of G20 in 2023, more focus and support is expected on digital-led innovation. Despite contradictory predictions from strategists, we are hopeful that India will grow stronger in 2023.

Lord Meghnad Desai, Chairman, MDAE, and professor emeritus, London School of Economics:

he general background to any 2023 Budget has to be the difficult global situation which portends Stagflation. Energy prices are high (though India has avoided the worst by unit bilateral deal with Russia). There has been inflation through much of 2022 coming after years of the Pandemic. Even assuming no recurrence of the infection, the economic situation will remain difficult. Europe and USA are already facing the Stagflation and China is slowing down.India has done well recently as a successful digitisation and e- Commerce have attracted foreign capital in large quantities. This reinforces the need to be in control of the Budget deficit . Of course, the Centre has only lose control over deficits of States but the Central deficit is a signal. The Finance Minister is well aware of this.

My only suggestion for the Budget ( May be the next one) is that India should create an independent body such as the Office of Budget Responsibility in the UK. The Finance Commission could be made a standing Commission in this regard as it has independent Constitutional status. Such a Commission can scrutinise the Budget independently. The problem of unfunded pensions which had been discussed for a while now can only be clarified by such a body.

Sonam Srivastava, Founder at Wright Research:

Budget 2023 is likely to continue to focus on capital expenditure as a growth driver and give an impetus to manufacturing while continuing with the post-pandemic fiscal consolidation. The financial minister will try to boost capital expenditure further from current 2.9% of GDP to near 3.5%. She might also rationalise personal income-tax rates to lift demand. The focus will also be to improve ease of doing business. The Budget is expected to continue the focus on domestic manufacturing revival and PLI schemes for labour-intensive sectors are likely. Most importantly instead of going populist the Budget expected to continue to focus on post-Covid fiscal consolidation and focus on divestment and reduction of subsidies.

Ashwin Patil, Senior Research Analyst at LKP Securities

Defence sector, as every year before the budget has a wishlist out of which the important one is outlay for emphasis on indigenisation, which means emphasis on local production. The GOI definitely does a lot for the sector every year, also on the R&D side where they plan to spend a substantial amount. Therefore even this year we expect them to announce a significant budget for the space and research, electronic equipments and advancement on further localization.

On PLI schemes we would say that the GOI is fostering healthy competition in the defence space through launching various PLI schemes. This would surely improve the quality of defence products and services and further enhance the defence sector. Also the country needs to improve on their space research, due to which we believe that further PLI schemes will be more focused on Space research.

Disclaimer: The views and recommendations made above are those of individual analysts or broking companies, and not of Mint.