How retail industry is reacting on Union Budget 2017

Reforms in Labor regulations in leather & textile sector to enhance the ease of manufacture are a welcome step as the consolidation of labor laws and minimization into 4 Codes will only facilitate compliance hassles. Currently we have around 20-labor legislation to be complied with by businesses in India.

Overall the Union Budget 2017 is reformist and growth oriented. The measures outlined in the budget to give boost to the infrastructure will indeed benefit the economy and the retail sector in the long run. The announcement to restrict cash transactions above 3 lakh will further move India towards a ‘cashless society’, which will help facilitate retail trade as well."

 Harkirat Singh, MD, Woodland Worldwide

“It is an excellent, growth oriented budget which will give a great fillip and impetus to all companies working in the online space. Ahilya Jewels is particularly excited to be a part of this great leap forward, in a sense! With Mr. Jaitley stating very correctly that India is at the cusp of a massive digital transformation and listing ‘digital’ as one of the 10 key themes in the Union Budget 2017, we believe that all these measures will help us only see more growth in the years to come. Accessibility to broadband and digital devices will give a further fillip to the online retail space which we look forward to.” 

 Kajal Jain, Founder, Ahilya

“The govt has proposed to abolish FIPB. This is a significant move for startups eco-system. The govt has proposed automatic FDI approval route. This is also a move towards ease of business - as obtaining FIPB approvals involved time and effort. This is an excellent move for removal of lengthy and time consuming approval processes. We are awaiting further details on this.”

Sujayath Ali, CEO and Co-founder, Voonik

“As the government increases focus on labour-intensive sectors, the textile ministry sees a 35-40% jump in fund allocation in the Budget from the cost level of 2016-17, kicking the trend of modest hikes in recent years. The budget for 2017-18 provide over Rs 1,500 crore for it. 25% corporate tax for companies under 50cr turnover is a great move & a motivation for SME sector."

Shiv Ratan Goyal, Managing Director, Richlook

"Great move by government to boost digital infrastructure, by way of allocations announced for high speed broadband or promoting/incentivising digital payments post demonetisation, will surely boost the ecommerce sectors reach and revenues."

Himanshu Malik,Founder and CEO,Glitzzerr.com

“The budget is a boon for startups and small scale industries as there are tax benefits for startups for the next 7 years. For jewellery sector, being a cash component segment we can witness a slight shift in the demand as the cash transaction is limited upto 3 Lakhs, this can further hit the jewellery segment for a short span of time. Online jewellery sees a larger number of smaller ticket size transactions upto 1 lakh - and that will only grow post this budget.

SME tax rate reduction to 25% is a great step for companies with turnover of 50 crores and less. Also we were expecting the reduction in the import duty but it remained constant. However, on the whole I find this budget positive, as the new budget emphasizes on the growth of startups and will further widen up the opportunities for young entrepreneur. The growth of startups will motivate the younger generation by rendering massive employment and would also help in bringing out the hidden talents and approach of the youth towards their contribution in growth of the economy.”

Kapil Hetamsaria, CEO & Co-Founder, Velvetcase.com