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lakh WiFi spots to benefit 5 crore rural escalators and WiFi for hundreds of high-
citizens are moves that may open up new traffic railway stations across the
digital avenues for millions of Indians. country. Bengaluru and Mumbai cities got
special mention with about Rs30,000
Industrial India will benefit from this
Budget thanks to the government’s crore funds allocated to improve the
strong stance on developing core metro and rail infrastructure.
infrastructure such as roads, rails and Overall, the government signaled its
airports. More roads will be built, the strong intention to boost infrastructure
railways will shift entirely to broad gauge by allotting a budget of about 50 lakh
and electrification, and air infrastructure crore. This move will have a positive
capacities will be enhanced 5-fold to ripple effect for both industry and the
enable 1 billion trips annually. employment market.
This will have a direct impact on sectors India today is a $2.5 trillion economy,
th
such as transportation, construction, standing as the 7 largest economy in the
heavy engineering and logistics. It will world, and according to the Finance
th
also enable greater efficiencies by Minister, poised to rise to the 5 position.
reducing time-to-market for goods and GDP growth has been forecast at the 7.2 –
services. The MSME sector came in for 7.5% levels for the second half of 2018.
strong support, the highlight of which The government is also standing fast by
was cutting corporate tax to 25% from its intent to practice fiscal discipline – the
30%. This will be welcomed by 3.5% fiscal deficit target for FY18 was
thousands of organisations, whose met and the target for FY19 has been
individual turnover is less than Rs100 capped at 3.3%.
crore, but collectively they form the The 2018 Budget holds out no big
bedrock of India’s vibrant economy. promises for industry or the service
The Budget also holds out positives for sector. However, I believe that rather
Urban India, which will benefit from than having socialist overtones, this was
Smart Cities initiatives, and the promise a social budget, with a more sustainable
of new railway facilities such as outlook for long term positive growth.
