Budget expectations 2022

Current enviornment

India is a consumer-driven economy. The retail sector is expected to touch US$1.3 trillion by 2024 compared with the current size of US$883 billion in 2020. The pandemic was extremely disruptive, and each wave brought its own set of challenges. The frequent lockdowns, global and local travel restrictions, and other disruptions have fundamentally changed consumer behaviour across categories, with far reaching impact on manufacturing, retail (both offline and online), distribution, payments, and supply chains. It has defined a “new normal” for businesses and may have altered business dynamics forever.

The government can support the growth of consumer industry by improving ease of doing business to accelerate multi-channel or hybrid capabilities, creating policies to support technology development, and building infrastructure to optimise retail supply chain. This will enable the players in the industry to operate efficiently and thrive in a new business landscape.

The pandemic also drastically affected the automotive sector, but it is also bouncing back over the last two quarters, and India is expected to be the third largest automotive market by 2026.2 The government is expected to take initiatives to boost the sector, including product linked incentives, etc., (starting from FY2023 for five years). The sector will be integrating technologies in the future, with electrified, autonomous, shared, and connected cars growing significantly.