Budget 2020 will hopefully pave way for reviving the economy: CBRE

By Anshuman Magazine,

"The first ever budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in 2019 provided a strong ground for the country to move towards its ambitious goal of a USD 5 trillion economy by 2025. It also struck a fine balance between ‘Ease of Doing Business’ and ‘Ease of Living’ in the country. This was followed up by measures related to corporate tax, financing options for housing project and a massive allocation of Rs 102 lakh crore for infrastructure projects.

The policy level intentions of the government are positive and are aimed towards addressing the key issues faced by the Indian economy. This makes the implementation of all these projects even more important and we are hopeful that the Budget 2020 will pave the way for reviving the economy.

The massive allocation for infrastructure projects was a major boost for the economy and its timely implementation will go a long way in propelling GDP and result in an improvement in connectivity and logistics. While the government has taken measures during the year to address the liquidity challenge by NBFC’s and banks, it is imperative that more concrete steps are taken in the direction of a fiscal consolidation path.

There is a need to ensure better transmission of the repo rate cuts – as the same were undertaken to enhance credit growth in the market. While real estate has attracted investment over USD 6 billion in 2019, however the government should take more steps to ease and widen domestic/international fund flow, fasten approvals/ clearances, provide incentives to aid use of technology to allow faster construction and launch some skill development programmes specifically aimed towards RE- which is the second largest employer in the country. Measures to streamline operations, funding, skill and timelines will go a long way in the development of a stable and mature real estate and infrastructure sector in the country."

Anshuman Magazine is the Chairman & CEO - India, South East Asia, Middle East & Africa, CBRE.