Budget 2019: 'Economic slowdown a major challenge'

Gaurav Dabas, Director, WK Life

We are hopeful, as a technology and retail brand, from the upcoming Union Budget next month. The economic slowdown is a major challenge for the NDA 2 government and we are expecting a lot of focus in our niche as this government works towards giving technology a boost. The Interim Budget hardly did anything for this sector, but that was a different time. Having won with a clear majority again, we can expect the government to shift its focus again towards the economy.

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Bringing down the electronic products from the higher GST slabs will help increase sales. That will naturally aid the country’s GDP. These dots are easy to connect and we hope that the Finance Ministry will pay some heed to it this time around. Also, if the income tax levels of the middle-class population are kept unchanged, that will also see a huge flow of business to our technology niche. We also commend the government’s efforts to digitize the whole country and expect the penetration to further in this second round.

Infrastructure hasn’t been one of the strong points of the NDA 1 government. If the FM picks up on this, it will be a silver lining for us retail owners in the coming years. To reiterate, as economic growth is predicted to be the focus of July’s Budget, we are keeping our fingers crossed for some relief as business owners.

The author is the Director of WK Life.