Budget 20-21: L&T has a problem of plenty; consumer confidence key, says Raamdeo Agrawal

On the implications of the Budget 2021’s proposed infrastructure spending on listed companies, Raamdeo Agrawal, Chairman of Motilal Oswal Financial Services said that execution and consumer confidence will be key things to watch for.

“Larsen & Toubro (L&T) orderbook will be full, they are in any case booked for 2.5-3 years so they will have problem of plenty. All the cities going for the metros, airports, roads - I think road execution will be pretty big. It is going to be growth all over. Now what we have to see is how the consumer confidence is built,” Agrawal said in an interview to CNBCTV18.

“When there is job, when there is growth it translates into consumption and all the consumption baskets like autos, houses and the mortgage companies that is where finally action will happen. My sense is that demand build-up will be pretty strong,” he said.

“Biggest is the relief rally in a sense that there is no hidden stuff and they have not tried to mobilise resources from the direct taxes as well as indirect taxes, so that is one big relief,” he said.

On GDP growth Agrawal said, “Growth has taken precedence over everything, I think they have estimated about 13.50 percent type of nominal GDP growth rate which in my sense it will be much higher maybe 14-15 percent, but more than that the tax buoyancy will be there which they have not taken into account. So even if there is a shortfall in the divestment receipts, I think broad numbers will be met without much problems. Now the whole thing is on execution and opening up of the economy in a right direction.”