Comments on Interim Budget 2014 - 15
Dr. Chandan Chowdhury, Managing DIrector, India- Dassault SystemesManufacturing is now operating in an experience economy and the customer buying behavior is fundamentally changing. Beyond product attributes, aesthetic and economics, customers make their buying decisions in a social and emotional context beyond technology. Manufacturing sector would need special attention of the government to become globally competitive.”
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Samit Jain, Director, PLUSS Polymers
"This interim budget is important as India fights its way back to greater than 8% growth trajectory. A significant boost to the industry is needed and the government scored brownie points by reducing the excise duty on select capital goods. It will have a ripple effect on the ancillaries to the automotive industry as the demand for automobiles will increase.
This will provide a much needed boost to the manufacturing sector. However, it was again unfortunate that no specific timeline was given for introduction of GST.
A multitude of agencies and taxes continue to harass the SME’s. Taxes have to be streamlined for the industry to conduct business smoothly. The country needs to focus on innovation to solve its unique problems and this has to come from the SME’s. It is unfortunate that the focus on encouragement of innovation among the SME’s was missing. Besides, the Finance Minister as always made a general statement that we must focus on the manufacturing sector but there was no mention on what and how it intends to do it with respect to the SME sector. The SME sector is responsible for more than 50% of the jobs in India and the government needs to come up with innovative policies so that the SME’s can thrive in this globalized world. Hopefully, the new government would look at this when it presents the full budget later this year."
See also Interim budget speech 2014-15 by P Chidambaram, the Minister Of Finance