Venu Srinivasan CMD, TVS Motors: Budget Reaction

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee announced the Union Budget 2011-12 in Parliament on February 28. The budget saw the excise duty remaining unchanged at 10-22%, contrary to a widely expected 2% hike. Special incentives have been announced for companies manufacturing hybrid vehicles in India.

In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Venu Srinivasan, the chairman and managing director of TVS Motors says he did not view any negativity in the budget, in fact, he saw it bordering on the positive. “The most important direction is that fiscal deficit will come down to 4.6%,” he adds.

Here is a verbatim transcript of the exclusive interview with Venu Srinivasan on CNBC-TV18.

Q: We weren’t expecting much. From an industry’s point of view, there is nothing negative. He (FM) has let excise stay where it is, he has widened the service tax net, which was expected, the service tax rate remains the same, he has given you a date on DTC, he has given you some sort of a map as far as GST is concerned. So, there is no real negative in that sense for corporate India, right?

A: There is no negativity in this budget. In fact some surprises that were expected in increasing the excise duty has not materialised. So, to that extent, it is even positive. The most important direction is that fiscal deficit will come down to 4.6%.

Q: Are you skeptical about how we are going to be able to achieve this 4.6% figure?

A: Knowing him, no. He has always delivered on what he says. If you ask him about the big ideas, which people constantly criticise him for not making, he says that depends on different arms of the government. He is not a person who pushes the big ideas of the government as a whole, but only sticks to his role as FM.