Ad film director Prahlad Kakkar's take on best, worst things in Budget

Does the Budget address the distress caused by the pandemic?

Not as much as it should have. In spite of the stimulus provided, it is too little too late.

Will this Budget help the economy and create jobs?

No! The area that I am concerned about is that the MSMEs have been more or less left out, and that is disappointing as they really needed support. They are vital to the economy and employ more than 50 million people. If the sector goes sick due to lack of support, it will affect everyone as they provide material to almost all other sectors.

What is the best thing about the Budget? And the worst?

Best: the interest and focus on infrastructure. For far too long we have been city-centric, which made it impossible for people to not migrate to bigger cities. But with this infra push, they will not be forced to migrate.

The worst thing has to be the 30 per cent tax on digital assets. Indians are leading in the IT sector; we are the world leaders in this industry. We have some of the best young brains writing software. Taxing cryptocurrency is a huge setback and will cause more brain drain as it is only the tip of the iceberg — blockchain technology is revolutionary in so many ways. The high tax on it will kill the industry surely. Another problem is the lack of taxation on Big Pharma – the only ones to profit during the pandemic.

Does the Budget make India a better investment destination?

Not necessarily. They should allow for an economy parallel to the brick-and-mortar economy that already functions. The economy is already in a bad shape and they have decided to put rupee on the blockchain; it will go into free fall.