Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is all set to present Union Budget 2019 on July 5 amid high expectations from various quarters. S. Yesudas, Y&A Transformation Pvt Ltd, in an open letter to the FM, lists down some pertinent suggestions.
Read the full letter below
Letter to:
The Honorable Finance Minister of India
Govt of India
New Delhi
Respected Madam,
First of all, wishing you the very best as you prepare yourself to present your first budget.
I was at a budget related TV program the other day and went on to confidently proclaim, against the views of every other panel member, that there’s absolutely no slowdown in India. The global consumption landscape is getting altered because of the demographic shifts and the changing values. There are 6 different generations of consumers in the market place; the silent generation to the alpha; baby boomers, Gen X, millennials and Gen Z in between and their needs differing between possession and experience.
I’m a proud citizen who believes adding trillion dollars to the economy in a matter of 5 years in not kid’s play. With a consistent 7% growth prediction even by IMF, till 2023 and the intent of Modi Sarkar, I personally believe our economy is in safe hands. While there’s popular demand for a relook at the tax structure; both corporate as well as individual and there’s a definite merit on both, particularly when the corporate tax adds up to over 48% with headline tax, surcharge, cess and DDT, I also recon that the financial health of a country will be largely measured against the fiscal deficit. A 3% ambition (primary deficit to be zero) is a great one. Although Petrol and petroleum products brought under GST will have a significant impact (if there’s such a plan) the center may need to cover the states for their loss of income. In such a scenario, I understand that any further cuts in taxes will add to the deficit burden. These are commonsensical. I’m not an economist. Hence, without getting into any further numbers, may I take this opportunity to suggest 4 reforms that will make a deep difference to your Government’s inclusive governance agenda. Items 2 to 4 can even be initiated through the Atal Incubation Centers.
Employability vs Employment: As a purpose driven start-up entrepreneur focused on the area of transformation, I’m always in the look out of potential candidates to join our workforce. I have been thoroughly disappointed with the quality of students coming out of many colleges, including engineering based on our system of education which is devoid of the current realities. Can you incorporate a reform in the budget to reward corporates (based on quantifiable evidence) which are willing to hire more people than they need with the view to put the additional talent through hands on training for a certain period to make them more employable?
Creating awareness of the great Govt schemes: While there are some fantastic schemes by the Govt, the awareness has not spread in a desirable manner. In a casual conversation with house helps in the city of Mumbai, let alone the small towns, I realized none of them even knew about the many schemes of the Govt, although some of them, like the scholarship, really suited all of them. Can content creators who are willing to take up the responsibility of ensuring that the awareness of these schemes reach the most deserving people, in a language and manner they will receive it, be rewarded suitably? Again, basis quantifiable evidence of the impact?
CSR: Based on the data, more than 7k companies have failed to fulfil their CSR responsibilities last year. This is collectively a huge chunk of money and even for those companies which are fulfilling their responsibly, it is done to create that tick in the box with most part of the same not even reaching anywhere closer to the deserving people. Solution 1. Simplify the norms and perhaps even the employability training, I spoke of earlier, can be included in the same. Solution 2. Offer a Govt bid for start-up tech companies who can create a blockchain based solution to track the money trail and the actual impact. Award the project to one of them and make it a mandatory requirement for corporates and NGOs to use this Govt certified tool for every CSR investment.
Agriculture/Farmer support: With 18% support to our GDP and almost 50% workforce, any impact on the Agriculture economy will have a cascading effect on everything else. In addition to all the current Govt support, create a private partnership with start-ups for modern farming techniques, farmer education, storage and proper marketing channels. Just with the right content in the right language can help farmers improve their yield. There are proven cases here for closed group of dairy farmers. This needs to be brought in the mainstream.
Sincerely yours,
S. Yesudas
MD & Co-founder
Y&A Transformation Pvt Ltd
Mumbai
