Corporate Grapevine     

Published: February 15, 2025
Updated: February 15, 2025

India Inc wants govt to monetise assets

Apart from tax sops for the middle class – given with one eye on the Delhi assembly elections — India Inc leaders think the Union budget of 2025 doesn’t offer anything ex traordinary and won’t increase their investments.

For example, government debt has a very high interest outflow at Rs 12.76 lakh crore, accounting for 81 per cent of the fiscal deficit. To accelerate GDP growth, the government needs to increase spending.

The government holds physical assets worth Rs 8.78 lakh crore and financial assets worth Rs 21.67 lakh crore. However, the disinvestment target is only Rs 47,000 crore. Monetising these assets could help reduce government debt and free up resources for infrastructure investments, say India Inc leaders.

There’s a significant amount of unrealized tax revenue totalling Rs 31.10 lakh crore, including Rs 15.71 lakh crore that’s not disputed. Forming a task force and setting up special courts could help recover these arrears, they say.

Finally, the government’s reliance on domestic savings to finance the fiscal deficit is crowding out resources for the private sector and hence won’t encourage private companies to invest.