By Ravi Rao
Every Budget creates huge expectations and one reads and discusses all rosy dreams with great expectations. Here is my list of 10 dreams:
1. Streamline Income Tax, reduce it to 10% flat so no more tax consultants, archaic tax laws or tax refunds – ensure no one is exempt
2. Simplify central and state laws by removing federal taxation policy so one can pay once and not worry about concurrent or multiple taxations for business sectors. Ensure it is tracked and collected fully at one point
3. Why is it that most builders get away with their mistakes or even conscious violation of rules and in the end the buyer stands to strip naked – don’t expect us to know all rules
4. Everyone talks of the black money and I am yet to see one – abolish all CASH transactions over Rs 10,000 if you are really serious about helping the economy and the common man
5. Give us good roads to drive on or simply permit only 4WD. Mumbai is disgusting! Can we get a list of all contractors across India who have worked on at least one road so we can create a new website and put their colour pics out there with the money they supposedly spent on building roads!
6. With almost 70% + reservations for everything, why can’t reservation for women be done across all companies at 50%? Begin with the service industry at least
7. Create the third sex and be done with it – let all the silly moral policing politicos worry about the economy rather than tell people how to walk and dress.
8. Penalise all those who pollute…Â please see the Mithi river or even the nullahs of Mumbai – we have chemical rivers and rivers of plastic. When can you boldly set foot into the Juhu beach and not feel like getting into a watery ditch?
9. I have turned 50 hoping every year these dreams come true – somehow I keep dreaming.
10. We will be No 1, when 1 USD = I INR
Dream on!
Ravi Rao is Leader, South Asia, Mindshare
If Information Technology was the hero of the 1990s and early 2000s, the Media and Entertainment (M&E) Industry has the potential of emerging as the next big growth driver of the Indian economy. 
In the absence of a formal social security framework there is a need to provide tax incentives for growth of disciplined savings behaviour. I believe Life Insurance plays a critical role in using small savings for capital formation. 
Rationalization
With strong fundamentals, the Indian economy has tremendous growth potential. The new government has shown intent in the right direction and the Union Budget must turn them into actions to make a difference. Read more…
After the new government has taken charge there is a huge expectation on the economic development of the country. The government has also made the right noises on various subjects signalling an intent to progress and accelerate the economy. Read more…
I expect the first Budget from the new government to have significant policy changes for both the short- and long-term. While the list of expectations is large I expect improvements in five areas from this Budget in the short-term. Read more…
A] Income Tax:
My expectations from the new Budget:
This Budget marks the first litmus test propelling the development agenda; the past years have witnessed an economic downturn and a downturn of domestic growth. The Budget should address the issues curtailing investment sentiment and bring renewed optimism for sustained economic growth. Read more…
To me, it will be a development-focused Budget which means it will be a mixed bag Budget. The government will have to take tough measures. Read more…
By Amar Babu
By Roopam Asthana
I do not think that the service tax implication will have an adverse impact on digital advertising budgets. Investments in digital advertising were not spurred by the lack of service tax, but rather by brand marketers recognizing the reach and impact online and digital media can potentially deliver. We expect that today’s digital savvy marketers will continue investing in the medium.
With not much for the media and entertainment industry in the budget, there would be anticipation of a further announcement in line with the policy initiatives, especially for the radio sector. On the television front, the ruling on custom duties for LCD and LED televisions being completely scraped to nil, as compared to the earlier 10% will result in a significant boost in the consumption of the television sets. The decision would have an impact on converting single TV households to double TV households, resulting in an increase in the number of TV viewers, which is good for the industry.”
We welcome the decision of Uniform GST and tax measures that will play a crucial role to make e-commerce a success story in India. The move will certainly simplify the tax structure and make India one single common market by rationalizing the supply chain and thereby, offering better value. Also, the importance given to rural infrastructure will ease pressure and allow faster movement of goods. We hope to see a continued growth in both e-commerce and m-commerce with the government looking at launching broadband connectivity across the country.
With India poised to become the second largest broadband market by 2016, the investment of Rs 100 crores on virtual classrooms and budget allocation to increase the internet connectivity across villages will surely open up more avenues for different age groups to use the internet. In addition, the drop in prices of personal computers will increase access and exposure at the grassroot level. This would also increase opportunities for start-up companies like worldoo.com to build upon creating better infrastructure necessary to provide top quality experiences for children on the internet. Parents and educators will therefore be encouraged to take more initiative in communicating with children about responsible internet usage.
Whilst it is very encouraging to see the government giving more attention to the internet and support of animation and gaming, I view the initial allocations as a small step in the right direction. China has a near $ 1 trillion internet economy, India will transition from 2G to 4G and add another 400 million mobile internet users over the next three years, we need an unprecedented push toward digital for a significantly higher consumer adoption as it will spark productivity across sectors. The aspect of bringing back online advertising into the service tax ambit, whilst it is still a fledgling segment, is therefore almost a conflicting action and not a welcome move.
The increase in investment limits in FDI ( foreign direct investment ) announced in the 2014 budget will favourably impact the economy. Significant encouragement has been provided to domestic manufacturing that will likely enhance both local production and employment, especially in the sectors of retail and e-commerce. Measures on tax reforms like advance rulings, tax settlement mechanisms and APA (advance pricing agreements ) etc. will contribute to improving investors’ confidence and removing uncertainty regarding taxation. The introduction of inter-quartile range in transfer pricing as well as the set up of a committee to evaluate retrospective taxation are positive steps. Outlays for improving infrastructure in ports, roads, airports, Smart Cities as well as education related initiatives and the funding model resonate well with the country’s growth plans.
The Budget is prudent and cautious even while it aims to address key sectoral concerns and brings in vital initiatives to spur growth especially in critical sectors like manufacturing, healthcare, education, skill development and infrastructure as well as assuring a stable tax and regulatory regime that is expected to incentivize investments. The budget also has significant focus in rolling out measures for rural development. From a consumer sentiment standpoint, the Budget brings some relief around IT exemptions and is expected to accelerate savings that may fuel economic growth and consumer spending. Further impetus to innovation, entrepreneurship and focused development of industrial corridors will drive domestic employment generation and economic upliftment. Fostering growth and reducing fiscal deficit have been the cornerstone for this year’s Budget.
We believe that the Union Budget for 2014-15 is a step in the right direction for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) across the country. From the Rs. 200cr provision to set up a Technology Centre Network for MSMEs to the impetus for budding entrepreneurs and widening broadband penetration, these moves are set to give the MSME sector more government support than they have ever had before. These developments will benefit web services companies like BigRock as more and more entrepreneurs harness the power of the internet to expand their business.
I am pleased to see the government’s focus on employability and skills development. Educating and vocational training for the youth to help their employability is crucial to harness the resource pool and will encourage their participation in the country’s growth. The introduction of the Young Leaders Programme and the proposed national skill programme – ‘Skill India’, are important steps to empower today’s youth with skills, improve employability and create jobs. This will indeed provide a boost to the retail and service sector which is so heavily dependent on people.  The hike in exemption limits will provide respite to consumers and in turn, boost their spending power. This is encouraging for the sector as it will help increase consumption and demand. I also welcome the government’s move to introduce Goods and Services Tax (GST) later this year.â€
The proposal to grow community radio is an excellent initiative to enable social good, particularly for niche and specific sections of society. Â The amount can be used for set-up of the stations and their on-going operations, and this will help bridge the gap between the number of licenses issued and the far fewer number of community radio stations that have become operational. Â Since community radio will be airing news in some form or the other, monitoring the content of these stations will be important.”
The Budget looks hopeful but also taxing, with the government investing in start-up funds (with Rs.10,000 crore set aside for VC funding), and investing in a centralized payment model for ease of use and elimination of third parties. With mobile phones becoming cheaper, the smartphone usage shall witness an increase as well. Though, with service tax being added to the Online & Mobile Ads, Digital/ Web/ Social Media Agencies will surely face a negative impact.â€
The new government’s maiden Budget proposes to levy service tax for online and mobile advertising which we believe will adversely affect the industry’s growth. It reflects differentiated treatment as traditional print media remains unaffected with respect to the tax purview but new digital media that is actually driving innovation will have to unfortunately bear the brunt. Currently, India’s exponential mobile penetration and app consumption patterns are driving the growth of the mobile advertising industry and this development could hamper innovation efforts of the entire ecosystem comprising of mobile development start-ups, advertisers and publishers. While the Budget is in favour of small scale set-ups and entrepreneurs, the provision for taxation is contrary in nature for budding developers and publishers.
“It’s a growth-oriented and sensitive budget. It is a statement of intent that has realistically touched upon many important sectors and segments.The thrust on infrastructure and agriculture and manufacturing and rationalization of duties on input costs is welcome. From focus on rural electrification , Defence   or aspects like Swachh Bharat ,protection of women, Beti bacaho Beti Padaho or allocations for the sports university and the artisans and the simple measures like Braille on the notes for the visually impaired reflect that the Govt has economic and social vision and credible intention even at a micro level. Of course there will always be more to ask for in terms of corporate or personal income tax and requirements for our specific industries but we need to see whether holistically the economy is being put on track and we moving responsibly and progressively in the direction of economic revival”
It’s a positive budget which will stimulate investment and growth. The government has done a good balancing job. It’s a great start.
Overall, the budget seems to be good but there are a couple of areas of concern as well. The positive side is that there’s emphasis on digital connectivity going much deeper down in the village. This is good for the industry. There’s emphasis on TV channels for rural areas like the North East. Also, the sector of community radio has been developed.
The budget is looking to infuse new blood into the economy and create new demands. This is a good thing for the media & advertising sector as we are a demand generating sector. Specific initiatives are made for infrastructure, inflation is being tried to control so on and so forth to create demand. But for me there are two specific things which I would have expected from the budget:
