The Finance department of SCMS-NOIDA organised a Panel Discussion on Union Budget 2021 on February 5,2021 to enlighten the students about the union budget, various economic reforms discussed in it and the role of budget in economic and industry growth. The event was attended by the students of all the batches of SCMS-NOIDA.
The Panel of Experts included:
1) CA Neelesh Vithlani, Partner, VV Neelesh Associates
2) CA Abhishek Gupta, Leader – Assurance, Ernst & Young
3) Mr. Srinivas Korlepara, Vice President, RBL Bank
4) Dr K.P.Venugopala Rao, Director SCMS NOIDA
The event started with Dr. Chandan Tiwari welcoming the guests and setting the stage for the discussion to begin, followed by Navya Arora of Batch 2019-22 introducing the experts to the students.
She then invited Dr. K.P.Venugopala Rao, to give his initial remarks and his views on how this budget aided the economic development of the country. The six pillars have been highlighted which includes health & well-being, physical and financial capital and infrastructure, inclusive development for aspiration India, reinvigorating human capital, innovation & research & development, minimum government and maximum governance. He emphasized on the Resource allocation among different strata of the society. According to him, the focus of the government has been on key aspects like self- reliance, Make in India, empowering youth and healthy India. The key economic agenda included investment in health and infrastructure with inclusive development, channelization of human capital, research and development, Athma Nirbharatha, transparency and trust. Allocation of funds for Rural India, sectors like energy, health, education and other social security reforms have been addressed to strengthen the bottom of the pyramid and meet the aspirations of the young.
The panel speaker CA Neelesh Vithlani rated the budget as 9 out of 10 and even higher to the union budget 2021. According to him, this budget has been as impactful as the budget of 1991. The pandemic COVID 19 has pushed certain major reforms. According to him, we have been making a great attempt to enhance the health care system in the country and it needs further support. For bringing liquidity into the system, infrastructure and health sector have been used for creating assets. The healthy India will boost the economy. The overall growth of 8 -10 % would lead us closer to a 5 trillion-dollar economy. He opined that the budget has scope for creation of employment opportunities.
Another panel speaker CA Abhishek Gupta, in his opening remark outlined the focus of the budget on the allocation of funds for the 3 major sectors including infrastructure, health care and agriculture. Maximum employment opportunities exist in these sectors. The government focus is on growth and development.
Mr. Srinivas Korlepara opined from the union budget that the intent of the government is very clear that there is long –term focus on the creation of physical and social infrastructure. Population is India’s strength where billion hands working for the economy will lead to growth and development. Last year, the stand of the government to go for an early lockdown clearly underlined the values of our country, where the well-being of the citizens is the priority and the results are here to see.
To succeed with the 5 trillion-dollar economy vision, Mr. Korlepara mentioned that, implementation and delivery is the key to success, and this has been emphasised in the budget. The corporates should join hands with the government to deliver results.
On the banking front, recapitalization of PSU banks will help in increasing the net worth and capital requirement of banks. Introduction of bad banks to manage the recovery of bad loans will relieve the bankers of the worry of the recovery of bad loans, as these specialized institutions will manage the recovery. He also mentioned that incentivising the borrowers with a good repayment schedule will help in improving recovery.
According to CA Vithlani, on the taxation perspective, the expectation of Cess has been avoided. The panellist was of the opinion that too frequent tinkering of taxation is to be avoided. Managing compliance and penalising non-compliance is the priority of the government for which the government is spending on research and development in machine learning and artificial intelligence making the governance hassle free. Technology which has become an integral part of education, agriculture banking and financial services, will boost the overall economy and take India closer to a 5 trillion-dollar economy.
On the agricultural front, the sector has positively contributed to GDP during the pandemic and to strengthen it further, the steps taken and funds allocated to this sector in this budget is worth mentioning. Allocation of agriculture credit has increased and encouragement of start-ups in this sector by offering incentives. 1000 mandis have been added to the e national agricultural market portal. Rural Infra fund had an allocation of Rs 40000 crore.
According to CA Gupta, in respect of real estate, public infrastructure and low housing infrastructure has been given more focus as a part of real estate. More optimism and transparency in the union budgets seems to benefit society at large.
The panel of experts also had key message to the aspiring management graduates on career prospects. One can look out for career and growth opportunities in the automobile industry, cement and steel, oil and gas industry. Along with healthcare, the agriculture sector, banking and NBFCs will benefit from the budget. Technology sector exports statistics have been encouraging as the country is one of the second largest start up technology hubs in the world. Moreover, the insurance sector would also be the sector to look out along with infrastructure, logistics and supply chain.
This discussion was followed by questions from the students. Students asked questions about the Privatisation policy of the government, Cess imposed on Petrol and Diesel-its impact on the end consumer, and the FDI policies of the government.
The event ended with a Vote of Thanks by Dr. Chandan Tiwari for all the Panel of Experts and the organising committee. This event proved to be really informative and helpful for all the participants.
