What the Budget holds for us: A webinar
Real
estate, cement, steel, and construction equipment industries have been in the
news lately—mostly because their movements have indicated to us how the
post-pandemic recovery is likely to be. In a webinar hosted by Construction World and FIRST Construction Council yesterday,
experts churned the Union Budget 2021-22 to decipher what it means for those
industries. They also decoded what it means in funding and implementation of
projects.
_________
Construction World and FIRST Construction Council organised a webinar with prominent analysts and industry captains on February 2, the day after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s Union Budget 2021-22 speech.
The speakers were:
·
Deepto
Roy, Partner, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co
·
Dip
Kishore Sen, Director, L&T
·
Hemal
Mehta, Partner, Deloitte India
·
Pradeep
Singh, former Vice Chairman & MD, IDFC Projects
·
Sandeep
Singh, MD, Tata Hitachi
·
Sumit
Banerjee, former MD & CEO, ACC Ltd
The 90-minute session was moderated
by Construction World’s
Editor-in-Chief Pratap Padode.
The pandemic wreaked havoc on every
sector of the economy, leading to two consecutive quarters of contraction in
GDP by -23.9% and -7.5%. The industry was looking for path-breaking
announcements from the Union Budget 2021-22. For a while now, the industry has
aspired for the government’s nurturing hand on both industry and consumer, by
both spending and enabling.
Were these aspirations fulfilled?
What were some of the hits and more importantly, some misses? What are some
loopholes and potential pitfalls? The webinar touched upon some of the sectors
and industries that are especially focus, either as bellwethers of the economy
or as projectors of what impacts the Budget will have on them.
Did real estate miss out?
Is steel made of steely grit and are new
gains cemented?
Will construction equipment move towards
better efficiency?
To view the webinar and read more, click here.
Budgets over the years have
emphasised on infrastructure, but this budget hit the bull’s eye by
specifically allocating funds for infrastructure. Governments have dabbled in
public-private partnerships (PPP) in infrastructure projects, and experimented
with different methods of the workings of PPP. Arbitration mechanisms take
forever, and often, government-related issues such as land acquisition are
tricky for the private contractors and partners.
What about accelerating project execution?
Will the new revenue mobilisation strategy
work?
Has arbitration worked well or should we move
to mediation?
