REACTION TO UNION BUDGET 2019 – 2020
Dr Azad Moopen , Founder Chairman and Managing Director , Aster DM Healthcare It is very good to hear that we are striving to become a $ 5 Trillion economy soon. This will place India
It is very good to hear that we are striving to become a $ 5 Trillion economy soon. This will place India on the world center stage. However regarding NRIs and Healthcare sector , there isnot much to sing about. It is good to know that NRIs shall be allowed to take Aadhar Card. This will help them to sort out many issues that they face now for identity and transacting business while in India.
There has been no significant announcements pertaining to healthcare in union budget. While there was hope that the allocation for health sector in view of the requirement for funding the Ayushman Bharath , this has not been allocated. It is good that the focus is in education and I hope that there will be more funding for starting and upgrading medical colleges. There is also proposal for “Study in India “ program which will help in setting up autonomous institutions” – Dr Azad Moopen , Founder Chairman and Managing Director , Aster DM Healthcare
“My compliments to the Finance Minister for outlining Modi 2.0’s vision to take the nation to new heights over the next five years. Reminding citizens of their duty to India, the budget presented a long term vision to achieve a $5 trillion economy by 2024. The Apollo Hospitals group resolves to do its duty and join the nation in waging a war against the tsunami of non-communicable diseases that threatens the health of society, leading the country into a global initiative to stop the growth of NCDs in its tracks.”
I have mixed reaction for this budget because budget is good still not that good.
Chairman – Voice of Healthcare
Co-Founder – Meddo, Co-Founder – Cygnus Hospitals
Good because Budget 2019-20 has made the startup ecosystem more transparent and easier than before . Be it the Capital gains exemptions from sale of residential house for investment in start-ups, resolution of Angel Tax issue, waiver of scrutiny from Income Tax department for the funds raised, e-verification mechanism for establishing identity of the investor and source of funds-all these steps improves the ease of doing business.
The Budget’s focus on Bharat Net providing internet to every Gram Panchayat in the country will help the sectors like telemedicine and e-pharma and thus bring the services more closure to remote area. An exclusive TV channel for start is bound to expose new arenas for startups and investor alike.
Not that good as I don’t see much for healthcare in this budget except the increased Budget allocation for Ayushman Bharat and National Health mission. Healthcare system is fragmented and broken and going to be the same until we take some drastic steps. India needs more in terms of Healthcare budget. I urge Ayushmann Bharat to cover OPD visit and empanel outdoor Clinics of Practitioners.
Chairman, Medica Group of Hospitals
The Government has rightfully focused on bringing in several key structural reforms for the nation moving towards the goal. We would like to congratulate the Government for displaying commitment and concern towards improvement in Public Healthcare aiming to create a healthy India, with comprehensive wellness derived environment for all.
We are happy to see that the government has proposed to expand Swachh Bharat Mission to undertake sustainable solid waste management in every village of the country. Rural health hygiene has definitely improved. Citizens are expected to be less vulnerable to communicable diseases in open defecation free villages. I believe the Swacch Bharat Mission is an ideal holistic mass initiative and has been effective and successful in changing the mind-set of people in the country.
100% FDI in insurance intermediaries is a push for the insurance sector. Going forward we expect more people will be under the insurance coverage net and the transactions in hospitals will be faster. This will increase health security at the same time and create more opportunities in the sector. Additionally, the deduction limit for medical insurance that has been increased from Rs. 15,000 to Rs. 25,000 and for senior citizens, till Rs. 50,000, will augur well for individuals.
The industry was intently looking forward for further announcements regarding Ayushman Bharat taking the right partnership approach to a more inclusive participation. Some relief on imported medical equipment could have been provided which would have benefitted the sector.”
The budget announcements today shows the government’s commitment of making India a USD 5 trillion economy in the next five years.
Approx. 15% increase in allocation to health sector and specifically earmarking 6400 crores to Ayushman Bharat- PMJAY reinforces the government’s intent and determination towards achieving UHC.
Chairman, FICCI Health Services Committee & Chairman & MD, Dr Lal PathLabs
The government has proposed reforms for long-term financing, which has been a long-standing demand for healthcare sector.
Also, a strong focus on supporting start-ups will provide a further boost to entrepreneurship in the country and help promote low-cost, indigenous, innovative models for healthcare delivery, med tech and Healthcare IT. Allocation of INR 100 crores to infrastructure development across the country can catalyse the development of much needed additional healthcare infrastructure, if channelised appropriately.
Rainbow hospital
Healthcare industry welcomes Government’s move to include ‘Healthy India’ as one of its 10 key priorities under the vision for the next decade as highlighted by Finance Minister in her Budget speech for 2019-20. The budget has focus on the health insurance by expanding the cover under Ayushman Bharat. The budget include the approval of E – pharmacy rules so that the medicines will be available countrywide. Last but not least, there should be some focus on the increasing violence against the medical professionals.
Chairman, and MD,
Trivitron Healthcare
While the budget is forward looking on many issues, overall healthcare industry expected more from the new government. Except one specific announcement on Dialysers raw material and component imports to eliminate anomalies with finished goods imports, there is no specific announcements to reduce over 80% import dependency on Medical Devices. We request the government to form “Department of Medical Devices” like Department of Pharmaceuticals to look into the demands of domestic medical devices innovators & manufacturers.
The 2019-20 is a very pro-development budget intends to push the infrastructure, banking, startups, and small and medium enterprises sector. Though there were no new schemes announced for the healthcare , the budget outlay for the sector has been increase by 19% to Rs. 62,398 crore. This is a significant increase and a welcome step.
COO, Hinduja Hospital
Indirectly, the healthcare sector also is hoping to get a boost from the 100lakh crore investment in infrastructure and the allowance of FDI for insurance intermediaries. As part of promoting and encouraging the startup ecosystem in India, the government has introduced a slew of ease of doing business initiatives. This measure is intended to boost entrepreneurship that will promote low-cost, indigenous, innovative models for healthcare delivery and help in the growth of the med tech industry.
The government is already committed towards its Ayushman Bharat scheme earmarking Rs. 6400 crore for it, and now with the proposal to expand the Swachh Bharat mission by means of sustainable waste management and building of more toilets (9.4 crore toilets already built since 2014), the government aims to build a healthy India.
“It is encouraging to see the government’s support for the start-up sector in this Budget. By launching a new channel to give the start-ups a voice and a platform to raise their concerns, connect with investors directly and raise funds is a legacy move that the government has taken. The continued extension of the Stand-Up India and Start-up India programs by the government until 2025 will ensure that start-ups all across the country will receive funds to accomplish their goals and dreams. The government’s Angel Tax reforms like e-verification and scrapping scrutiny with respect to the valuation of share premium of startups who file the requisite declarations will help in increasing healthy funding towards startups.
CEO Medikabazaar
With the Modi 2.0 government planning to set up more than 1.50 lakh Health and Wellness Centres (HWC) by 2022 under the Ayushman Bharat Yojana and plans to provide healthcare cover of Rs 5 lakh to around 10.74 crore families across the country, this year promises to be a healthy growth for the sector.”
In line with the Ayushman Bharat program, India has taken a number of initiatives towards equitable and affordable access of quality healthcare for 1.3 bn Indians. But it cannot be made affordable if India continues to import 70-80% of its total requirement of medical devices.
Chairman & Managing Director
Transasia-Erba Group
While the overall approach and budget allocation to address healthcare by the current government has been positive, unfortunately there is nothing much to boost Make in India.
It’s a nice budget for startups but it’s mostly incremental and not revolutionary. Government is further its resolve to save startups from the draconian angel tax and IT scrutiny but has still stopped short of scrapping the Angel Tax altogether. Extending the period of exemption of Capital Gains from Real Estate for startup investment is a big positive that should boost slugging angel investment. Apart from that, the government’s resolve to simplify the labour laws is a positive but it still remains to be seen how much it is simplified. For healthcare, Ayushman Bharat still continues to be the biggest opportunity. Its reach and scope are expanding and that will drive the healthcare industry for a long time to come.”
Mr. Pawan Gupta, Co-Founder, Curofy.
The Union Budget 2019 presented by Union Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman has concentrated more on the vision for the growth and welfare of the country. Although the healthcare sector has not been discussed much during the Budget, sanitation, hygiene, potable water have been given importance in order to create a cleaner and healthier society. The Government, through Ayushman Bharath Yojana, aims to concentrate more on the all-round nourishment of women and children and wants our citizens to consider taking care of their health in a more serious way. Preventive healthcare is a major issue that is mostly ignored by people, who end up visiting clinicians only when diagnosed with a medical disorder. Therefore, in order to make people consider investing on their health and personal welfare, the Government has increased the tax deduction of medical insurance from Rs 15,000 to Rs 25,000.
“We congratulate the government on presenting a holistic budget for the common man and it’s encouraging to see that the government has taken initiatives to deliver on its promise of excellence in healthcare.
The government has identified ‘healthcare’ as one of the key delivery outcome priorities for a healthy society. SRL Diagnostics has always encouraged the adoption of a preventive, rather than curative, attitude towards health. The government’s vision aligns with our mission of bringing good-quality, accessible primary healthcare services to the masses.
Once again, the government has shown its commitment to the healthy well-being of more than 130 crore citizens of the nations. The impetus on increasing foreign direct investments (FDIs) offers hope for renewed interests by investors which will help to drive growth for both the public and private healthcare institutions.
The government has put forward a progressive budget with a strong vision to take India’s social, economic and overall well being to greater heights.”
The budget this time focuses primarily on sustainable growth and infrastructure. The decision to invest Rs 80,250 cr for the development of 1,25,000 km of roads under PM Gram Sadak Yojana Phase III is a great initiative, which will improve rural connectivity tremendously and enable emergency medical service providers like ourselves to reach the remote corners of the country. While the government laid a lot of emphasis on cleanliness and sanitation, we were hoping to see reforms in the healthcare sector. One of the points overlooked in the Union Budget 2019 is the lack of impetus for the emergency medical services sector. Our foremost request to the government has been to accord due recognition to the emergency medical services (EMS) industry and recognise it as an independent sector within the healthcare industry. We are hopeful that the next meeting of the GST council may bring some tax relief to the industry”
“The expectations from the Union Budget 2019 were that of a bold reformist budget, however, it turned out to be an incremental budget at best. The emphasis on start-ups and on the education sector is a good move. However, there was nothing to fuel growth in the healthcare and pharma sectors, which is disappointing. I was particularly keen on seeing a change in the weighted deduction for R&D which did not happen. A positive policy move of this kind would have spurred R&D and innovation in pharma and other sectors.”
Surprisingly in the budget there was no mention of any benefits and plans for healthcare! However certain positives are the proposals to set up the National Research Centre and Annual Global Investors Meet, both the initiatives that will help give an impetus and attract research proposals and funding to India’s potential. Easing of Angel tax and relief from IT scrutiny for start-ups are great encouragement for the sector.
While announcing large scale projects for electric cars, the government has completely ignored the bio-medical sector which has the potential to be a global research hub for fields like genetic research, bio-informatics and AI in healthcare.
SWATI DESHPANDE, Director (Operations), Datar Cancer Genetics Limited
