Technology-led initiatives were central in this year’s Budget wherein the government announced launch of digital rupee, setting up of 75 Digital Banking Units in 75 districts and rollout of 5G spectrum.
Kotak Mahindra Bank MD and CEO Uday Kotak said the Union Budget 2022 offers borrowers, investors and issuers the opportunity to create real, digital assets. Technology-led initiatives were central in this year’s Budget wherein the government announced launch of digital rupee, setting up of 75 Digital Banking Units in 75 districts and rollout of 5G spectrum.
Uday Kotak, who leads one of the largest banks of the country, mentioned the government’s onus on capital expenditure and said he expects “Capex to grow”, a day after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget for upcoming fiscal year 2022-23. “Post budget day view. Capex to grow. Conservative revenue estimates. Factoring uncertain world. Higher borrowing strain. Eyes on monetary policy from here. Interest rates go up. Good for savers. Borrowers, investors, issuers, to bet on opportunity to create real, digital assets,” he tweeted on Wednesday.
Going forward, all eyes will be on the Reserve Bank of India’s monetary policy decision, Kotak said. RBI is expected to take a decision on hiking interest rates at its Monetary Policy Meeting (MPC) next week, following the footsteps of other major central banks. The MPC meeting will be held between February 7 and February 9.
Earlier on Tuesday, Kotak also praised the Budget saying it will build ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat’ (self-reliant India). Kotak said in a tweet that Budget “reposes faith in taxpayers, entrepreneurs, investors.” The Budget also builds on an open, digital and inclusive India with a 25 year vision, he added.
Finance Minister Sitharaman announced a sharp jump of 35.4% in capital expenditure to fund various infrastructure projects in 2022-23. Sitharaman said that effective capital expenditure of the central government is estimated at Rs 10.68 lakh crore in 2022-23, which is about 4.1 % of the GDP. The government plans to build highways which will be expanded by 25,000 km in the next fiscal, run four hundred new-generation Vande Bharat Trains, under its plan to push infrastructure led spending.
Sitharaman’s push for capital expenditure received support from industry leaders including ace investor Rakesh Jhunjunwala, who said reforms, especially the PLI, the ease of doing business will bring benefits. “I can bet that net tax revenue of the government in the current fiscal will be 3 to 4 lakh crore higher than budget estimates and this increase in tax to GDP will help us in years to come,” Rakesh Jhunjunwala said in an interview to CNBC TV-18. “We have a credit cycle which is behind us and a capex cycle which is ahead of us,” he added.
HDFC Chairman Deepak Parekh also commented on FM’s infrastructure push. What we need is increased capex, and everyone was asking for that and were looking forward to it, he said in an interview to CNBC TV18. The Finance Minister has put a lot of emphasis on infrastructure and allocated large resources through the Gatishakti scheme, which has all the modes of infrastructure and logistics, he added.
https://www.financialexpress.com/budget/uday-kotak-says-budget-2022-an-opportunity-to-create-digital-assets/2424021/
