Union Budget 2021 has proposed siginficant investment sin the rural infrastructure sector

The Union Budget 2021-2022 has focused on a slew of tangible reforms to get the economy back to the pre-Covid growth levels, said Partner and Head, Consumer Markets and Internet Business, KPMG in India Harsha Razdan.

“With the objective of reviving consumption for the economy and support the industry to get back to Pre-Covid growth levels, the budget this year has largely focused on a slew of tangible reforms,” Razdan said In a statement sent to India News Network via email.

In Budget 2021, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced significant investments in building rural infrastructure– roads, public transport, ports, and railways. The allocation to the rural infrastructure development fund has been increased from Rs30,000 crores to Rs 40,000 crores.

Further, several measures have been rolled out in agriculture that will drive rural consumption.

In a bid to support Micro, Small, and Medium-scale Enterprises, Razdan noted INR 15,700 crores have been allocated to the MSME sector. Further, rationalizing duties on raw material inputs and several other items will help encourage domestic processing, he said.

Keeping the recently launched PLI schemes at the center, the government has also launched the Mega Investment Textiles Parks (MITRA) scheme to enable the textile industry to become globally competitive and boost employment generation.

According to Razdan, extending the eligibility for claiming tax holiday for start-ups and capital gains exemption for investments in start-ups by one more year - till 31st March 2022 will help enable entrepreneurship and help create jobs. Further, INR1,500 crores provided for digital transactions will help reinvigorate growth for a Digital India, Razdan said.

All in all, Razdan said, “increasing investments in rural infrastructure, MSME development, job creation, and MSME Support, farmer productivity are the big themes from this budget aimed at driving growth in the coming year.”