
2019: What the new year holds for your business
The new year is just around thecorner.While a lot of significant developments have taken place in the current year, with India’s ease of doing business rank improving from 100 in 2017 to 77 this year, 2019 will throw up a set of fresh challenges for businesses. A year when the country votes to elect a new government at the Centre, markets are a littledicey.
Election years are generally volatile for markets and this article aims to put forward a few things that you as a business owner may witness in the coming year.
1. Interim budget may announce policies to cheer entrepreneurs
The current government will present the interim budget on 1st February 2019, before the country goes to poll. Though the content of the budget is yet to be finalised, it’s believed that the government may announce policies related to taxation and other to cheer entrepreneurs and the business community.
For instance, during the Union Budget 2018, the government had announced a reduction in corporate tax from the earlier 30% to 25% for entities with a turnover up to Rs. 250 crore. The move was a massive boost for small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) reeling under the double whammy of demonetisation and GST, back then.
2. Domestic demand may pick up due to stabilisation of internal and external factors
Domestic demand of goods and services has taken a hit due to several internal and external factors such as rising prices of crude oil, depreciating value of rupee, tightening of repo rate by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the trade war between the US and China.
All these above factors have had a negative impact on the market sentiments, thereby slowing demand.However, with these things slowly stabilising, you can expect demand to pick up pace in the coming year.
3. Slow economic growth mayresult in prolonged liquidity squeeze
Global credit rating agency Moody’s has predicted the economic growth of India to slow to 7.3% in 2019. While the country’s economy grew by 8.2% in the first quarter of 2018-19, it grew at 7.1% for the September quarter. With Moody’s prediction of the economy to grow at 7.3% in 2019, it could result in a prolonged liquidity squeeze, particularly for non-banking financial entities.
With these entities playing a crucial role in the lending landscape for small and mid-sized businesses, acquiring funds may be a little difficult. However, due to a slew of non-banking financial companies (NBFCs)in the system, you, as a business owner, will have a host of options at your disposal. With a range of offerings to meet your liquidity needs, NBFCs have made it relatively easy to avail finances.
You can avail finance easily with business expansion loans from Reliance Money. With fresh infusion of funds, you will be able to tide over the volatility of the year ahead.
2019 – An interesting year
2019 promises to be an interesting year for businesses, primarily because of general elections. An election year is usually volatile, but at the same time the elected government ensures that the needs and aspirations of the business community are taken care of.