Measures needed for more disposable income to consumers

By Mayank Shah, Senior Category Head at Parle Products

"Our expectation from the budget would be in two parts: Demand and purchasing power. Measures that are able to derive demand along with retaining purchasing power with consumers so that the economic cycle can be balanced is necessary. One of the ways to do it would be by looking at it in the current standard deduction limits from 50,000 to 75,000 or 80,000; such kinds of measures. That would be one key expectation from the budget. Either that or a reduction in income tax. Either of these will positively affect the disposable income and it will support the salaried class," he said.

"It will also strengthen the spending power of consumers by ensuring that they have more disposable income in their hands. This will provide much-needed relief to the middle class, amid the effect of the Covid-19. So, this is one thing that we would expect in terms of increased disposable income through taxation. The other expectation would be to increase the disposable income or if the government were to put money in the hands of consumers through employment. Job creation is another thing that can be done by increasing the spending on infrastructure. Especially across urban and the rural markets, infrastructure or higher education to infrastructure would result in higher job creation, which will be positive for different sectors."