Union Budget: Arets, Insight, Ricoh and Sona voice their expecatations

Prashant Atre of Arets Graphics

Our industry is a support industry to the main industries of all kind, especially the FMCG sector. The growth and positive sentiment will make spendings possible. But at this moment, according to me, government should focus on the manufacturing sector. The manufacturers are fast converting themselves as traders by purchasing material from China and other countries. This is not a healthy sign. Currently the environment is not pro-manufacturers. The government is in a position to take some tough steps to help the Indian economy grow in the near future.


Avijit Mukherjee Of Ricoh
 

First the government of India should take a serious view of the gray-market, which is a killer segment for the print equipment manufacturers. Though we term it as a print industry, it is not really a part of Indian industry. Print needs to be recognized as an industry. There is a need for a print industry forum on the lines of NASSCOM. Government’s MSME schemes should be made easy and accessible. And finally, training is a vital cog in growth of any segment. All government training colleges should have printing as a subject.
 

Sangam Khanna of Insight

The government needs to take harsh, tough steps. With the current account deficit,  we must be prepared for harsh steps plus taxes. It is the only solution for the government to work on as the previous UPA government has left the National Democratic Alliance with very little choice. NDA will have to push for more taxes as the last alternative. Also with FDI likely to grow in infrastructure and other priority areas like defence, we may get to see better forex reserves. Also stable exchange rates before the rupee starts to appreciate against most of the foreign currencies, as the Modi government needs to buy a lot of defence. And the purchase of such heavy capital cost is unviable at a high cost of dollars.

The agriculture sector, unfortunately is directly dependent on the rain gods. If we get reasonable rainfalls in 2014, the situation could be better than yesteryears. Hope all is well. But there is a lot of scope of FDI in the automation, quality production and process improvement in agriculture.

Manufacturing holds the key. And the Modi government will lay a special stress on larger and affordable technologies for export in industrial corridors. I feel this will be the key to compete with China and other developing countries. Modernisation of the industry which suffers from lack of power and quality skilled manpower is likely to be the focus of the government and needs urgent attention.

With the proposed FDI in the railways, we must see overall growth is transport sector. And the proposed Ganga action plan to use ships for heavy container movement is a good boost.

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) and simplification of taxes is something which will be something to watch for as far. As the Modi government will unfold the action plan for the GST on budget day.

Sanjay Suneja of Sona Commercial

"The printing and paper business both go hand-in-hand. Hence the support provided to the printing industry will bring a positive effect to the paper business as well. However, as Sona is in the 100% environment friendly paper business, the driver of growth in this segment could be regulation or directive to increase the usage of environment-friendly papers by Indian firms. I think, India has the potential to be the world's leading player in the area of printing and paper. Any support in this business, will be a boon for further growth. Support could be through the creation of an exclusive zone for the printing industry, providing benefits to expand into the print export business, pollution measures, financial support etc. I am very hopeful with the upcoming budget. I am expecting favourable provisions for the paper merchants and printing industry."