Budget 2018: To have a deeper insight on the budget 2018 announcements, FICCI on Monday organised a post budget interactive session with Finance Ministry officials. Addressing the gathering, Finance Secretary Hasmukh Adhia highlighted the two key facets of the budget. Rural areas including agriculture and MSME sector are the two focus areas of budget 2018, Hasmukh Adhia said. Elaborating further he said that MSME is the biggest beneficiary of bank recapitalization, but it requires more hand holding indicating more reforms are in pipeline for the sector. “Besides rural economy we decided to help MSMEs in Budget 2018. We will target MSMEs for funding and need to ensure that they get credit on time,” he said. India’s disinvestment target is large but not viewed as ambitious, he added. On demonetisation, the Finance Secretary said that the note ban exercise substantially helped to reduce cash in economy.
“Bank recap came into existence due to bad health of banking sector. After asset quality review banks stressed assets rose, needing more provisioning. Insolvency & bankruptcy code has opened up an exit route, banking secretary Rajiv Kumar said on bank recapitalisation.
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“We Will look at increasing penetration in insurance companies and merge non-life general insurance companies,” he added further. This year’s Budget, presented by finance minister Arun Jaitley, laid a strong focus on driving inclusive development and boosting the economic growth. The measures introduced to bolster fields such as agriculture, infrastructure, SMEs, youth skilling and rural economy are commendable.
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The growth focus around ease of living is laudable, and we are hopeful that this will anchor the future growth of the Indian economy and its citizens. The measures announced for MSMEs will certainly drive the indigenous growth for this sector while offering a more conducive environment for their operations. In particular, the focus on addressing the loan processing time and adequate access to capital through Mudra loan will help with their growth and profitability.The measures announced for MSMEs will certainly drive the indigenous growth for this sector while offering a more conducive environment for their operations. In particular, the focus on addressing the loan processing time and adequate access to capital through Mudra loan will help with their growth and profitability.