Prashant Gaurav Gupta, VP & head, DLF Luxury Malls, feels that the Union Budget is likely to be hugely significant this year, and consumers will be looking closely to the

Gupta, who was appointed business head for Luxury Malls of DLF in June 2020, said that COVID-19 and the lockdown made people introspect their spending choices. So, purchases that gave pleasure, have been relegated to the backseat. Therefore, growth and recovery could be the theme of this year’s Budget.

The Union Budget for the next fiscal is most likely to be presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1, 2021.

Expressing his opinion in a column published in The Times of India, Gupta said that as economy has been in recession due to the pandemic, the fiscal deficit has risen to Rs 10.76 lakh crore. So, he feels, the government needs to develop a sound plan to revive the economy.

Gupta joined DLF in 2018 and, till June 2020, was with Luxury Malls of DLF as the centre head. He has been associated with the hospitality and luxury industry for almost two decades.

He said the surcharge on luxury goods — between 12 percent and 200 percent — makes luxury buying a challenge, more so for first-time consumers. So, he’s looking forward to the “pricing perspective” when it comes to the luxury industry, including automobiles and jewellery,

Before COVID-19, he said, many people shopped, Dubai, London and the US because those places always offered great deals. Now, with travel restrictions in place, people wouldn’t be able to shop in those destinations abroad. He felt, if all this shopping happened in India, the markets here could double or treble their earnings.