Budget 2013 Live: Introducing Direct Tax Code Bill is good, says JSW Steel

Seshagiri Rao,Jt Managing Director, JSW Steel on Union Budget 2013-14

The budget, with the limited availability of fiscal space, attempted to bring fiscal consolidation with lower fiscal deficit of 4.8% and simultaneously made higher allocations to various schemes to spur investments.
 
Announcing 15 percent incentive for acquisition and installation of new plant and machinery by manufacturing companies during the period beginning from 1st April 2013 and ending 31st March 2015 is a welcome step to boost the investment.  

Higher allocation of 29.4 percent towards plan expenditure and increased outlays for social infrastructure, education, rural development, health and urban development are also expected to stimulate economic activity.

As most of the projects are stalled due to regulatory and bureaucratic delays, the  expectations from the budget to ease the  process of clearances is not met since the effectiveness of  Cabinet Committee  on Investment is yet to be  established. 

It is a matter of concern that the total   non-plan revenue expenditure particularly interest payment and subsidy remain at elevated levels.  It is also challenging to achieve an increase of 19 percent in tax revenues when the economy is slowing down and there are no immediate signs of recovery.

However, lower fiscal deficit, announcement of introduction of DTC bill in this  Steelbudget session and possible GST rollout are encouraging take outs from this budget.