KE Ranganathan, Managing Director, Roca Bathrooms Pvt Ltd.

Overall a good budget which is well thought out to take India on a sustained growth path. Focus on demand drivers like Housing for all by year 2022, over 2 Cr toilets in 2 years to be built for making India ODF (Open Defecation Free), Education sector spending, Medical facilities (Modicare) for poor families, Investments in Railways, Airports, Smart cities etc. are bound to generate sufficient demand to drive GDP at 7-7.5% levels in the year ahead.

Perhaps the Government could have looked at more concessions for Corporates to spend more on Capex, which is a key measure of growth. Also with Rupee stabilising and Oil prices under control – both of which have led to lower forex outgo for the Government – it would have been prudent to drive down inflation thru bringing down prices of essential items. Lower inflation will always lead to higher surplus funds, which will be channelled to higher consumer spending.

Water for all households in 500 cities is a big dream. This calls for linking of rivers which should be the top agenda. Also thrust on exploiting natural resources like Solar & Wind power is missing in this budget.