This year’s Union Budget was closely looked at as a blueprint for India to get back on track as the world’s fastest-growing major economy. One industry which has been waiting to hear some major announcements have been the OOH Industry.
Before the budget was presented by the Finance Minister of India, Mr. Aman Nanda, Chief Strategy Officer – Times OOH said, “The entire advertising industry is eagerly waiting for marketing spends to bounce back to pre-COVID levels, aided by fiscal stimulus from the Union Budget 2021. With positive developments on the vaccine front, Indian consumers are already beginning to resume their usual activities, with traffic on the road at 75% of pre-COVID levels and domestic air passenger traffic set to touch 80% of pre-COVID levels in the coming months. A growth-oriented budget with significant tax-breaks can further catalyse demand, and boost the out-of-home (OOH) industry.”
The first paperless budget was announced yesterday by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in New Delhi and some announcements have drawn sharp reactions from the industry leaders.
M V Shreyams Kumar, Managing Director for Mathrubhumi Group was quoted as saying, “It was a well-thought-out budget based on the 6 pillars and huge support for digital payments by proposing a 1500 crore scheme is a positive step. However, the government failed to address sustainable reforms like exemption of newsprint imports duty or providing stimulus packages for the revival of the media and entertainment industry. The budget focuses on a long term growth but falls a bit short on market expectations for more corrective measures.”
Jayesh Yagnik, CEO, MOMS Outdoor Media Solutions was quoted as saying, “This is a very good budget overall. All the industries have benefited and overall sentiments have gone up. We all have seen how the stock market has reacted with the positive jump. This is a good sign for the advertising industry as a whole. The advertisers should be able to unleash some of the benefits and that should help the industry. The need of the hour was to put the money in the hands of the people with sustainable growth and I think FM has done a very nice balancing job on this. Bringing investment back in almost all the core sectors be it service or manufacturing. There has not been an increase in the tax burden for people hence one can look into the consumption cycle getting further energized.”
He added that just like the Sensex, the OOH market is also driven by sentiments and after a very bad 2020, this budget will put things in overdrive.
