C.S. Setty, Chairman, SBI The rationalization of personal tax reforms could unleash a potential consumption boom of at least Rs 3.3 trillion spend over baseline; Prashant Kumar, Managing Director & CEO, YES BANK: Amid all the positive reforms momentum, the FM has enabled an increase in the capital expenditures yet continuing with fiscal consolidation.
Prashant Kumar, Managing Director & CEO, YES BANK:
Debadatta Chand, Managing Director & CEO, Bank of Baroda:
Sagar Shah, Head - Domestic Markets, RBL Bank:
FinTech BizNews Service
Mumbai, February 1, 2025: The leading voices from the banking sector have praised the union budget for the FY2025-26 presented by Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, Smt Nirmala Sitharaman in the Parliament today.
C.S. Setty, Chairman, SBI:
“The Union Budget reaffirms India as an innovation and knowledge centric economy with a slew of reforms across agriculture, MSME, export centricity, education and healthcare and balancing skills and AI. The rationalization of personal tax reforms could unleash a potential consumption boom of at least Rs 3.3 trillion spend over baseline. The fiscal numbers are conservative. The budget has several bold initiatives for Agri sector aimed at boosting farmers income through crop diversification, participation in Agri value chains and focus on allied activities. The MSME sector will benefit from expanded credit availability through credit guarantees, empowering women entrepreneurs and credit cards for micro enterprises. The enhancement of TCS limit on remittances, the enhancement of TDS limits for senior citizens will significantly simplify ease of doing business. Overall, the Budget is a significant step towards making India a global hub for innovation and advanced manufacturing.”
Sudarshan Chari, Managing Director & Head - SME Banking, DBS Bank India:
“The Budget outlines a roadmap for India, placing a strong emphasis on MSMEs, start-ups, and innovation as key drivers of economic growth. The revision of the classification criteria for MSMEs is a significant step and is poised to drive a broader impact by extending benefits to a wider range of businesses, enhancing access to capital, and unlocking new opportunities for enterprises.
The Export Promotion Mission will strengthen India’s position in global trade by facilitating better access to export credit and addressing key barriers. Additionally, the doubling of the credit guarantee cover and the creation of a new fund of funds for start-ups will provide financial stability, fostering innovation and investment across critical sectors. Sector-specific schemes for labour-intensive industries such as footwear and leather will further boost exports and facilitate employment. Simplified tax compliance, extended timelines for updated returns, and a focus on ease of doing business will reduce operational friction. These initiatives, alongside the launch of BharatTradeNet, will streamline trade processes. The Central KYC Register will also benefit the overall financial sector and positively impact MSMEs by enhancing their ease of working with BFSI institutions.
Boosting financial inclusion, customised credit cards for micro-enterprises will improve access to working capital, helping small businesses sustain and scale. The launch of a dedicated scheme for first-time women and SC/ST entrepreneurs, offering loans and capacity-building programmes, will foster diversity and equal opportunities in entrepreneurship. The Budget reinforces India’s commitment to clean tech manufacturing and bolstering domestic capabilities, laying the groundwork for a more resilient and sustainable future. The creation of an MSME ecosystem for solar PV cells, electrolysers, and grid-scale batteries will help advance sustainable energy solutions.
As a trusted partner to MSMEs, DBS Bank India will empower entrepreneurs to leverage these measures meaningfully to innovate and scale their businesses.”
Prashant Kumar, Managing Director & CEO, YES BANK:
“The Union Budget remains growth oriented – not only attempting to correct for the cyclical growth concerns but also setting up the platform for a sustained long-term journey for the economy, keeping the focus strongly on the objectives of Viksit Bharat. Importantly, sectors that are relatively more labour intensive in nature have received a boost within the budget – namely agriculture, MSME, footwear and leather, toys, food processing. The focus of the budget has been on ways to improve productivity across various sectors and to provide adequate scope for the MSMEs to expand by enhancing the credit guarantee scheme for them. Importantly, the classification criteria for the MSMEs have also been significantly enhanced. The Budget can also be lauded for taking up the challenge of enhancing the ease of doing business along with establishing a more stable taxation regime, that is likely to enhance business decision making, boost private sector investment and hence foster long-term growth. On the other hand, reduction in the income taxes across the tax paying population should enhance consumption power of the middle class and boost deposit mobilization of the banking sector. Amid all these positive reforms momentum, the FM has enabled an increase in the capital expenditures yet continuing with fiscal consolidation.”
Debadatta Chand, Managing Director & CEO, Bank of Baroda:
“The Budget has reiterated its commitment to fiscal prudence by moving along the FRBM path. From the point of banks, the focus on growth is positive, as this would mean steady growth in credit as the budget has provided the necessary push to MSMEs and industry. There is boost to the corporate bond market including municipal bonds which will have a big role to play in financing investment required in the coming years. The concessions on the income tax front will put more money in the hands of taxpayers and would boost consumption in the economy. The capital expenditure of Rs 11.2 lakh crore announced will encourage investment and also help backward linkages to sectors like steel, cement, machinery etc. Working on the PPP mode across ministries to implement various projects is very progressive and will boost infrastructure capacity in the country.
The budget has also taken a medium term view for the next five years to move faster to the goal of Viksit Bharat and focussed on four major sectors – Agriculture, MSMEs, Investment and Exports thus covering both the objectives of inclusive and accelerating growth to higher levels.”
Sagar Shah, Head - Domestic Markets, RBL Bank:
“The budget continues on its roadmap of fiscal consolidation. The Government walked the path of fiscal prudence and lowered next year's fiscal deficit target to 4.4 % vs current year's 4.8% without loosing focus on growth.
Along with that focus on consumption to promote growth and tax simplifications are the biggest highlights of this budget. Much wanted consumption boost for the middle class has been provided to support growth.
Overall, a highly constructive budget with a new tax code will take care of the tax payer’s concerns.”
