View on Budget by M S Sreedhar - Managing Director and CEO, Royal Sundaram General Insurance

The Union Budget 2021 is all about setting a robust foundation towards India’s transformation into a $5 trillion economy in the coming years. Three key developments have kept us excited as a general insurance company. First, the hon’ble Finance Minister’s announcement to increase the foreign direct investment limit in insurance sector from 49% to 74%. This will be a huge boost to the sector towards improving its penetration and product suite to cater to the nation of 1.3 billion people. The second development is about huge outlay of Rs. 64,180 crore across the next 6 years into PM Atma Nirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana – towards developing capacities of primary, secondary, and tertiary care Health infrastructure in the country. And third, is the voluntary vehicle scrapping policy to phase out old and unfit vehicles. All these, coupled with diverse initiatives towards upskilling, employment creation, ease of doing business and improving investor confidence – will cumulatively augur well for the Indian economy and the general insurance sector in the country.”