Budget expectations 2021: ASSOCHAM

In our CW Budget 2021 series, we cover expectations from associations that represent our industries. Here is a list of expectations from Budget 2021 from ASSOCHAM, which was established in 1920 as an association of more than 250 business chambers and trade associations. ASSOCHAM has especially focused in recent decades on technology and the knowledge industries.

ASSOCHAM states that the government's mission of a $5 trillion economy with Atmanirbhar Bharat objective continues to attract global investment in backdrop of measures taken to improve ease of doing business and innovative policy reforms. The important points in ASSOCHAM’s recommendations are as follows:

• Assuring ''vibrancy" in the forthcoming Budget
• Ensuring that public spending on infrastructure development would be sustained even as the prospects of vaccines against Covid-19 have brought in additional confidence for revival of the economy.
• To further rationalize individual taxation.
• Strengthening the manufacturing sector along with supporting the micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
• Measures to strengthen the non-banking finance (NBFC) sector as millions of entrepreneurs and MSMEs involved in infra activities depend on the infrastructure / asset financing NBFCs for their credit needs.
• Single-minded focus on increasing domestic production.
• Speeding up the process of disinvestment.