Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday unveiled the Union Budget for fiscal 2023-24 which aims to boost growth amid concerns about the impact of the global slowdown on the Indian economy.

The FM said the economy is growing the fastest among major economies and it has become the fifth-largest economy in the world in the last nine years. The economy has become a lot more formalised, she said.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Vinay Dube, founder and CEO of Akasa Air, spoke about the impact of Budget 2023 on the aviation sector. He expressed his excitement about the opening of 50 more airports, as far as infrastructure and capital expenditure is concerned. He stated that this was fantastic news for the industry and would provide more opportunities for growth.

He said opening of 50 more airports is going to help travel and tourism in general. In fact, there was a particular call out for both domestic and foreign tourism which will work wonders for aviation. As far as infrastructure and capital spend, 50 more airports which is fantastic.

Dube also praised the Union Budget's call-out for inclusive development and women empowerment. He said this was a matter of pride and demonstrated the government's commitment to these important issues. He added that the budget's emphasis on these areas would have a positive impact on the aviation sector and help it grow.

He said, "India takes great pride and is leading the world as far as women pilots are concerned. So I think this is going to continue to help boost aviation travel demand, which is great for airlines, and that in turn, will help hope hopefully underpin our economic growth engine."

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The finance minister has made it clear that the government intends to stick to the path of fiscal consolidation, there is no deviation sub 6 percent for FY24, and committed to 4.5 percent by FY26.

Christian de Guzman, senior vice president at Moody’s Investors Service sees that has a positive that there has been no deviation from that medium-term commitment to that fiscal deficit target. However, he added that it doesn't necessarily mean that the pathway to get to that target is any clearer.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Guzman said, "We have seen some gains with regard to revenue administration and the overall budgetary envelope has pulled back a little.

So we have a combination of buoyant revenue and lower spending and the quality of that spending has increased because of the capital expenditure outlays. But what about how will the next two years, how are you going to get from 5.9 percent to 4.5 percent that remains a bit unclear to us."

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Sanjeev Krishan, chairperson at PwC India stated that the standout feature of this year's Union Budget is the continued focus on capital expenditure. This is in contrast to last year's Union Budget, which had buffers, and can be considered a more reasonable one.

Krishan pointed out the significant enhancements made in the transport and railway segments, which will have a positive impact on the economy. He also highlighted the issue of high logistics costs in India, which prevent it from becoming a major producer for the world. Krishan believes that if these costs can be controlled, it will greatly benefit the country.

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First Published:Feb 1, 2023 7:07 PM IST