"Increased Income Taxes Spooked Markets": Anand Mahindra On Union Budget

Union Budget 2019: Anand Mahindra is chairman of the Mahindra Group. (File)

Noted industrialist Anand Mahindra gave a guarded review of the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's first union budget on Friday, balancing rare criticism for the lack of splashy announcements with generous praise for its long term plans. He also shared his take on the stock market's glum reaction to the budget, saying that the increased income tax rates likely to hit the wealthy had "spooked" them.

In a series of tweets, the 64-year-old chairman of the Mahindra Group said while he had hoped Ms Sitharaman, the country's first full-time woman finance minister would "hit some boundaries... she chose instead to take steady singles & keep the run-rate moving."

"Despite expectations of big moves to instantly crank-up the economy she decided to keep her eye firmly on the long term," said Mr Mahindra, one of the most respected business titans in the country, hours after Ms Sitharaman presented the budget, the first for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's second term.

Instead of lowering GST on all cars,she aligned with the vision for mobility&incentivised only https://t.co/Ca5IhmdsSR fact, the budget is an accumulation of seemingly unspectacular moves that'll NUDGE the economy onto a trajectory toward $5T & an improved 'ease of living.'(2/6)

— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) July 5, 2019

But the measures for the financial sector are indeed big moves & could lubricate the engines of the economy. The one-time cover for pooled assets is an efficient solution for NBFC liquidity. The target for disinvestment is welcome. Now we need swift implementation...(3/6)

— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) July 5, 2019

And there is a 'bi-focal' bias towards incentives for large-scale, new-age, FDI-funded manufacturing projects on the one hand & start-up entrepreneurs on the other. It's true that these two sectors have high employment generation potential (4/6)

— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) July 5, 2019

What will revive 'animal spirits?' If the strong messages about respect for wealth-creators is echoed by all branches of Govt. & the 'Faceless' e-assessment is implemented both in letter & spirit it'll go a long way in building a true partnership with Pvt enterprise.(5/6)

— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) July 5, 2019

Increased income taxes spooked the markets.But I think the introduction of estate duty would've been more unnerving. Finally, the elephant analogy was most apt. If it no longer tramples on our mounds of rice, private confidence,investment AND the markets will all rebound (6/6)

— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) July 5, 2019

The share market spiralled downwards after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the budget, proposing to increase the minimum public shareholding in listed companies to 35 per cent from 25 per cent, threatening a wave of new issuance.

Corporate taxes were cut to 25 per cent for a wider section of firms, but the government also raised import tariffs on items such as gold and imposed an additional duty on petrol and diesel, stoking fears of inflation.