R. Dinesh
| Photo Credit: AFP

I would like to congratulate the Finance Minister for laying a well-defined road map for Viksit Bharat 2047 while continuing the focus on the immediate requirement.

While each of the nine tracks highlighted in the budget have many areas to appreciate, the focus on employment generation will be a big boost, and provide the thrust for the growth of the economy. The support for the manufacturing sector, a package for employment generation, and the skilling and upskilling for 4.1 crore youth across sectors, are some of the key highlights of this budget. This, coupled with the allocation of ₹1.48 lakh crore for education, employment, and skilling, underscores the government’s commitment to harnessing India’s demographic dividend.

Logistics as a sector is a significant employment generator and therefore, will be a beneficiary of the employment incentives. This, coupled with the budget’s emphasis on skilling, will further support the growth of this sector and help enhance employment.

The upgrade of 1,000 Industrial Training Institutes, with a focus on aligning course content to industry needs, is a welcome move. This initiative will bridge the skill gap in the manufacturing sector, while the introduction of new courses for emerging needs will prepare our workforce for the industries of tomorrow.

This budget has specifically addressed issues of the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector, not only for the short-term but also for the long-term. The continued support for a credit guarantee scheme for MSMEs in the manufacturing sector, providing substantial funding, without collateral, will help the sector. This will significantly ease access to term loans for machinery and equipment purchases, fostering modernisation and expansion. This, along with support to the MSMEs during their stress period, will help MSMEs in the immediate term.

However, the focus on developing a different methodology to assess the MSMEs for their credit requirements, including usage of private sector data, is an even more important step. The focus on leveraging data, not only from publicly available information but also from other private sources, will help in providing access to finance from formal finance channels, and also provide capital for growth.

The focus on the future of the energy transition of the MSME firms through energy audits and financial support to help MSME clusters shift to cleaner energy sources is a positive step. I believe that going forward, more clusters will be added besides glass and ceramic.

This budget continues its focus on providing the building blocks, and a comprehensive approach to enable India to become ‘Viksit’. The preparation for the next-gen reforms, productivity focus, coupled with the actions on employment generation and skill development, will help sustain India in its growth path. This will also address issues on the Cost of Doing Business. The growth of the MSMEs will provide a strong foundation to further enhance this. The energy transition requirements mapping and preparing the funding for that will help India in its sustainability journey.

Prudent fiscal deficit management not only provides headroom to face the challenges of the global economy, but also gives comfort to investors to plan for the future and invest with confidence. Budget 2024 sets the agenda for the next one year, while at the same time gives the vision for how India can continue to accelerate on its growth journey.

R. Dinesh is Chairman, TVS Supply Chain Solutions Limited.