Budget 2019: Seek policies to address rural income

By Piyush Patnaik

There is perceptible consumption growth slowdown in recent quarters, amplified by liquidity crunch in trade and low rural income. We hope that the budget will bring forth policies which will address rural income, help create surplus disposable income, which will help in consumption growth. Boost in rural income has to be a long term approach and should not be only a quick fix solution.

There is a common acknowledgment that health issues create a big drag on the economy in many ways. So there must be an incentivisation of all companies to bring forward healthier food products and an all-round policy approach to encourage and enforce higher health standards for food.

It will be important that we create frameworks for linking it to the farm economy. Our young population has emerging aspirations on better consumption, better employment and easier facilitation for self-employment opportunities. The budget and policies must be focused on this for sustainable growth.

Piyush Patnaik is the Managing Director in Cargill’s oils business in India.