What was in it for the corporate sector?

A country is not just its soil, a country is its people’ With the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman quoting great Telugu poet and playwright Gurajada Appa Rao, the flavour of this year’s budget with focus on Viksit Bharat had a slew of measures aimed at fostering economic growth, enhancing global competitiveness, and promoting inclusive development in India.

- ARUPA DEY BANIK

With the major share of the pie being reserved for agriculture and the common mass, the corporate sector felt a slight pang of being slighted. This was perhaps resonated through the stock market being overall indifferent to the consumption boost that the Budget tried to inject.

Having said so, what cannot be ignored is the emphasis on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) for Viksit Bharat. The budget definitely had a subtle focus on transforming the corporate sector, with significant enhancements in credit availability, tax reforms, and initiatives to promote innovation and entrepreneurship.

One of the key highlights of the budget is the doubling of the credit guarantee cover for MSMEs, which is expected to facilitate an additional credit of Rs 1.5 lakh crore over the next five years.