Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the first-ever paperless budget with focus on six pillars to strengthen the economy affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. The budget focused on nation building, job and demand creation and as promised Sitharaman delivered a budget “like never before”.

The finance minister neither raised the tax rates for individuals nor introduced any Covid related cess which was widely expected. But she chose the route of asset monetisation and reinvesting the proceeds in infrastructure and growth.

As the Prime Minister rightly said it is a budget of Vikas Ka Vishwas. The budget provides the confidence to all of us to work towards a better India.

Housing push

Continuing the focus on the government’s vision of “Housing For All”, Sitharaman announced tax exemption, that is additional deduction of interest amounting to Rs 1.5 lakh on loans taken to purchase an affordable house for one additional year, that is till March 2022.

Also, developers building affordable houses were provided with a tax holiday till March 2022.

With an aim to address the need of affordable housing for migrant workers, the finance minister announced tax exemption for notified affordable rental housing projects.

This push for the real estate sector, especially affordable housing, will boost the recent momentum in housing demand and help to create jobs.

Housing is one of the largest employment generators in the economy with linkages to nearly 300 industries —both in terms of direct jobs and the jobs it creates in ancillary industries such as cement, steel and power.

The finance minister announced a bold and new age budget. A number of new ideas have been suggested and the execution of these ideas is key.

With the real GDP growth pegged at 11 per cent in 2021-22, GST collection touching a record high of Rs 1.19 trillion in January 2021 and the distribution of the vaccines happening at a decent pace, I expect the Indian economy to be back on track sooner than later.The proposal to divest two PSU banks and the recapitalisation scheme of Rs 20,000 crore will give a strong boost to PSU banks to improve credit growth. Also, the proposed privatisation of two PSBs and one general insurance company shows the government’s commitment towards continual reforms and will help in improving the performance of some of the struggling PSUs.

Renu Sud Karnad is managing director, HDFC Ltd