Budget Expectations 2014: Industry Speaks

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SMEStreet Desk
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Demonetization, Economy, IMF

While Union Budget is all set to hit the market, Industry experts are sharing their expectations with SMEStreet.in; Here are few recommendations which are here for our readers.

On Education Sector

Dr Harivansh Chaturvedi, Director, BIMTECH and Alternate President, Education Promotion Society for India says, “The government’s immediate concern and focus, as it should be, will be to address urgent issues at hand – reviving the sluggish economy, fixing law and order, securing India’s borders, strengthening relations with its neighbours as well as the economic super powers. However, the huge mandate also puts the onus of ensuring long-term growth momentum, on them. This can be only achieved only through a dramatic shift in approach, transforming its youth into a talent pool comparable with best, coming out of haloed portals of learning, in Europe and the Americas. People are India’s meta resource, one which can drive the growth of every other sector. And clearly education has a huge role in shaping the future of India by firing a new quest for knowledge on all fronts – liberal arts, science, technology, engineering and management.

For SME sector

R. Narayan, Founder & CEO, Power2SME stated, “The SMEs are the backbone of the Indian economy and there is a need to address their concerns on an urgent basis to ensure a conducive business environment. To enable them to continue scaling up, timely and adequate access to funds is critical, which has traditionally been one of the biggest hurdles. The Government should strive to create a favourable environment for SMEs that curbs the need for debt and capital. Also, there is a need for reduction in the interest rates. SMEs continue to pay interest rates of 19-20% for bank loans. Delayed payments have also been an area of concern for SMEs that contribute to reduced working capital for SMEs. To address payment issues, the Government could establish an automated portal wherein SMEs provide details of customers they supply. In case of payment defaults, the Government can send automated reminders to defaulting establishments.”

On Job Creation

Kamal Karanth, MD, Kelly Services India & Malaysia mentioned,“The overall hiring sentiment looks positive; we can expect 5-8 million jobs to be created in the short run. From a sectorial perspective, we anticipate that there will be large investments in the infrastructure space which will result in the creation of additional jobs, including the Fixed term contract hiring jobs. We see immense potential for job creation in the power sector. With the plans of FDI in e-commerce, a lot of sectors including FMCG and BPO are expected to witness a huge traction in hiring at entry level. With the IT staffing spend slated to increase, we will see that there will be a rise in contractual hiring taking place among technology firms.

“FDI in defence would mean lot of the global players outsourcing jobs to India. Increasing foreign equity up to 49% in Insurance will increase expansion in the sector. From a skills perspective, we can say that the demand for skilled workers continues to be on the rise in the pharma, manufacturing and healthcare sectors. Further opening up of the economy might also bring some respite towards the automobile sector that had been witnessing a slump. Also, incremental movements in labour reforms can send the right signals for more FDI.”

 

SMEs Education Industry Expectations Union Budget 2014