According to a pre-Budget 2022 survey by consulting major Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India LLP DTTILLP, around 75 per cent of industry leaders are confident in the economy's recovery and expansion despite the surge seen in the third wave of COVID-19.
As per the survey results, about 91 per cent of respondents believe that the government's 'Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative, along with monetary policy actions by RBI, including extending EMI reliefs and reducing repo and reverse repo rates, has helped bring the economy back on track. Industry leaders expressed their expectations through the Deloitte survey, which included improving export competitiveness, putting in place competitive import tariffs, and reducing administrative inefficiencies.
Industry leaders want to invest in infrastructure in Budget 2022, which is a big challenge. According to 55 per cent of respondents, tax incentives to long-term investors for infrastructure investment can promote growth in the country. 45 per cent of respondents believe that the Budget should focus on incentives for increased R&D spending.
The survey shows that industry perception towards group taxation has changed. 70 per cent of respondents think that this idea should be implemented within the next year. The respondents thought that Budget 2022 should focus on a simpler tax regime and regulations to improve compliance. In addition to the implementation of an online single-window system, about 59 per cent of respondents highlighted the role of technology and digitisation in this aspect.
Nearly 35 per cent of respondents want Budget 2022 to address the issue of extending higher credit support to MSMEs, and an accelerated divestment and asset monetisation programme.
According to 56 per cent of respondents, the PLI scheme was a game-changer for the telecommunications and technology industry, followed by the electronics and life sciences and healthcare industries.
More than 60 per cent of business leaders think that the PLI scheme will increase manufacturing and exports and will boost the growth of different sectors and the economy.
Around 59 per cent of respondents believe that India is a good place to run a business. They added that digitizing, simplifying tax regimes and improving land and labour laws would help in improving the ease of doing business in India.
Sanjay Kumar, partner, Deloitte India, said the economy has seen a steady recovery during FY 22. The Indian economy will grow if the government is able to sustain the efforts on reforms such as asset monetisation for infrastructure growth and PLI schemes.