Budget 2016: Jobs on govt's mind? Reforms push aimed at creation of employment, say experts

New Delhi: Government has incentivised the creation of new jobs in the formal sector, moreover, its focus on infrastructure development, skill development, rural economy will have a direct impact on job creation. Experts say the Budget focuses on various reforms in order to lift growth and this in turn would help in creating more jobs, especially in sectors like pharma, healthcare, IT, education, FMCG and most certainly internet focused sector. [caption id=“attachment_2594964” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Finance Minister Arun Jaitley (left) with PM Narendra Modi. PTI[/caption] “With the Budget focusing on infrastructure development, healthcare provision, skill development, rural economy, and pushing for growth in domestic consumption this would have a direct impact on new job creation across several sectors,” global executive recruitment firm Antal International India Managing Director Joseph Devasia said. Devasia, however, noted that “it remains to be seen when the impact of these Budget changes would trickle down to the common man and businesses, especially considering external factors probably have a bear’s grip on the global economy. Overall it is a positive budget for jobs creation”. “The skill-development for rural youth will not only reap benefits of demographic dividend but also boost inclusive growth thus highlighting the significance of affordable access to quality education to all,” ManpowerGroup India Group Managing Director A G Rao said. Rao further said the budget addressed various measures like, focus on agriculture, financial sector reforms, emphasis on the importance of foreign direct investments which in turn would help in promoting domestic manufacturing sector, while simplification in tax rules for start-ups and small businesses would encourage entrepreneurship in the country and boost job creation. “These measures will have the potential to create gainful employment, build domestic demand and thereby revitalise the economy amidst the current global economic turmoil,” Rao said. Meanwhile, Suvro Banerjee, Managing Director (Asia Pacific) of professional services company Fuzzy Logix believes within the broad policy framework for skill enhancement defined at apex level, the implementation will need customised initiatives at taluka level or even below that. “This customisation will take into account factors like the diversity of the region, inherent skill, demand from the local industry, availability of knowledge resources, etc. We believe that here a data-driven approach, based on the power of Big Data analytics and the data collected from NSSO and triangulated with other data sources is likely to have a much better impact,” Banerjee said. “While the decision to have 1,500 multi-skilling training institutes sounds good, the allocation of Rs 1,700 crore looks abysmally low. Also, there is no job employment guarantee. The existing employment exchanges continue to languish and needed greater focus and upgradation,” said Pallavi Jha, Chairperson and MD of Dale Carnegie Training India. PTI