‘Maharashtra is the second biggest gainer from Union budget after Uttar Pradesh’
Viidyes K Totare, MD & CEO of Archers Wealth Management Pvt Ltd, while speaking to The Indian Express said the state is the second biggest gainer after UP, as it has got over Rs 51,000 crore for implementing various central schemes.
Viidyes K Totare, MD & CEO at Archers Wealth Management Pvt Ltd.
While the Maha Vikas Aghadi government has alleged that Union budget 2022 hardly has anything for Maharashtra, Viidyes K Totare, MD & CEO of Archers Wealth Management Pvt Ltd, an equity advisory firm based out of Pune, says the state is the second biggest gainer after Uttar Pradesh, as it has got over Rs 51,000 crore for implementing various central schemes.
Excerpts from an interview to Manoj More:
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The MVA government is alleging the finance minister has done injustice to Maharashtra. Do you agree?
No, I don’t think it is right to say that the budget has given Maharashtra a raw deal. In fact, Maharashtra is the second biggest gainer in terms of funds. Overall, states will get Rs 8.16 lakh crore in the new financial year from the budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. This amount will be around Rs 72,000 crore more than the last financial year. Maharashtra will get Rs 51,587.75 crore for implementing various central schemes. In the last budget, Maharashtra received Rs 45,000 crore, which means the state’s quota has gone up. As per the Finance Commission’s recommendations, states get their share from central taxes in proportion to their population. These taxes include corporation tax, income tax, wealth tax, central GST, excise duty, excise duty, and service tax.
In budget 2022, there is a Rs 6,000 crore programme over five years for micro, small, and medium enterprises and startups, which will also be a gain for Maharashtra, where startups are shining. There is also an increase in tax incentives from three to four years of inception, a 25 per cent defence research and development budget designated for startups and academia, which is being lauded and praised by Pune startups.
What else has the budget given Maharashtra?
The announcement of a digital university is a significant milestone, which would allow world-class foreign universities to assist India with the much-needed internationalisation of Indian higher education. Pune is an education hub. If the situation favours, the first digital university might be set up in Pune, as the city is also the information technology hub of India and also because of the technological advancement in the city.
Besides, the finance minister’s announcement about promotion of “kisan drones” for crop assessment, spraying of insecticides and digitisation of land records will help the farming community a great deal.
The finance minister also announced that the draft detailed project report about linking five rivers had been finalised. It will help Maharashtra as two of the projects are in the state. They are between Maharashtra and the neighbouring Gujarat. Of the two projects, the Damanganga project is expected to take care of the drinking water needs of the state.
Has the budget met your expectations?
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This budget is forward-looking and sets the tone for the next two to three years. Although the government had already hit all the sixes in the last budget with the right reforms, this time “digital budget 2022”, as we call it, is focused on creating a digital economy as well as capital growth in the economy. It reflects the prime minister’s intentions to spend government funds to create a stronger economy, with the highest capital expenditure budget of 7.5 lakh crore.
Which are the sectors that could do well this year?
Overall, if the economy does well every sector does well. Some of the sectors that could do well are electric vehicles, defence, quick service restaurants, information technology, capital goods, consumer goods.
What are the announcements in the budget that surprised as well as hurt you?
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The government’s move to acknowledge and regulate cryptocurrency was quite alarming for us. Gains on virtual digital assets would be taxed at 30 per cent. Meanwhile, no deductions and set-offs would be allowed. The crypto tax is 30 per cent, which means the government is regulating cryptocurrencies from now on.
What are the key sectors that you think would benefit most from this budget?
Some of the sectors that stand to benefit are fintech, electric vehicles, agritech alongside the defence sector, due to increased expenditure.
How would be your investment strategy post-budget?
As I mentioned earlier, we are more focused on the growing sectors like banking, pharma, electric vehicles, capital goods and defence. Personally, I would be inclined to invest only in India because it is the fastest growing economy in the world, with the highest GDP growth rate of 9.2 per cent despite the pandemic.
What is your advice to retail investors?
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They should invest through portfolio management services, alternative investment funds, systematic investment plans and mutual funds to benefit from the changing economic landscape of the country. I would highly recommend that investors stay invested in the market for a long term to reap the maximum benefit.
What is your view on India’s goods exports?
For India, the pandemic is a blessing in disguise. We are going to be the largest exporter of automobiles, pharmaceuticals, and information technology services in the world.
Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.
Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives.
Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees.
During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa.
Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died.
Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More
