Construction Mirror Article detail

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed a 35.4 per cent hike in capital expenditure outlay to Rs 7.5 lakh crore, betting on public capital expenditure with an intent to pump the investment cycle and boost India's Inc's economic recovery. At the Business Today's Budget Roundtable 2022, the industry leaders got together to talk about the post-COVID industrial order and almost unanimously applauded the government's budgetary allocation towards infrastructure.

"If I look at the collective wisdom of the crowds, everybody's applauding the Budget. I also believe that looking at the helicopter view, tourism and hospitality sector is an indirect beneficiary due to several steps that are being taken in the Budget. If there are more train stations, airports, highways, then we tend to be a beneficiary. If there's ease of doing business, more disposable income, more dining out, then we're also beneficiary," Indian Hotels Company Ltd (IHCL) MD and CEO Puneet Chhatwal said.

"Where I think we missed out…giving this industry infrastructure status doesn't cost anything," he added.

Chatwal said that it could have encouraged more capital inflow coming into the sector. After 75 years of independence it can be included in the concurrent list of the constitution. "This sector has shown a lot of character, has paid all its taxes, rents, statutory obligations although they were put in a lockdown. So, little bit more empathy would have been good," he said.

Agreeing with this view, Vinayak Chatterjee, managing trustee at The Infravision Foundation, said, "There's one school of economists which say you can put money directly into the hands of the people. The other extreme of the spectrum is in terms of creating lasting capital assets for the nation. You achieve the same thing by spending this kind of outlay in infrastructure. At one stroke, it creates demand for intermediates, employs an army of workers across India. In the past, we've done a little of this and a little of that."