We witnessed an excellent Budget: Adi Godrej

Adi Godrej ternmed the Budget as 'excellent' and said that the proposals were an exercise in a balanced approach towards major macroeconomic issues, especially growth.  "I would say that the budget proposals will lead to containment in inflation, an acceptable level of fiscal deficit and a 9% rate of GDP growth," he said.
 
"There was a strong indication from the Finance Minister that we should expect the introduction of GST during the next financial year. The decision to introduce the constitutional amendment for GST was backed up by the important decision not to raise excise duty which is at 10%, the likely rate of central GST. Once GST is introduced it will lead to much lower rates of inflation as the indirect taxation on consumer products will come down by about 5 percentage points. The fiscal deficit would also come down as excise duty evasion would come down by upward of 90%. Further GDP growth rate would go up by 1 ½ to 2 percentage points other things being equal. So all in all, GST would be the single most important reform post-1991 reforms," Godrej observed.
 
Godrej said that the increase in exemption limits for income tax is an important step in increasing consumption by the middle class and will give a boost to FMCG sector. "A similar positive effect will be seen from the reduction in surcharges from 7.5% to 5%. The reduction in surcharge should also be positive for the corporate sector," he said.
 
He welcomed the disinvestment target of Rs 40,000 crore as it will help contain the fiscal deficit to a reasonable level.