As a governing body, usually from time to time , government of a state uses various instruments to regulate the flow of trade . One such instrument employed by Indian government is "Union Budget". Usually , budget in general means allocation of funds based on pre-decided plan. This plan is usually one which has been charted by the government to bring welfare, prosperity among all segments of society. Union Budget 2015 for financial year 2015 to 2016 has its own set of surprises and like all other years Budgets all business houses were eagerly waiting for the same as any extra subsidy or waiving of tax . Now lets look at the implications for Human Resource Professionals from the various budget proposals and what best to re assign resources to maximize utilization of man power :
Proposal 1: EPF and ESI made optional
The direct implication for this particular proposal will mean that now in hand component of salary can be made more for employees specially in low income segment of workforce.
The indirect implication for Human Resource professionals can be to optimize the recruitment policy and maybe redefine salary structure for the lower earning unskilled/ low skilled population and do recruitment branding accordingly. Also with extra in hand cash now made available by encashment of EPF , it can be a good idea to provide options for extra services over and above the ones underlined under Factory Act ,1948 for an internal consumption of extra cash apart from higher value addition from same cash through internal cash transactions. For example, Say starting a subsidised optional transport services within the factory at a rate of Rs 20 per worker which a worker can avail. Including more options of food items on payment of cash can also be an option.

Proposal 2:Service Tax increased to 14%
The direct implication for Service tax increment means use of consultants will be costlier.
The indirect implication for the same means change in manpower strategy for some organisations which had so far focussed only on transactional activities and not so much on training internal workforce. In these organisations who used to priorly use the funda of comparing cost of training employees and hiring high potential members with getting the job done via consultants and based on cost benefit used to hire consultants more , would now require to rethink the strategy. So after this , training and development becomes a key ingredient of human resource . Organisational development activities to enhance organisations potential becomes important.
Proposal 3: Corporate tax down by 5%
The direct implication for this is increment in Revenue earned by Businesses which means greater percentage of allocation for Personnel Cost which means more scope of new initiatives.
The indirect Implication for the above proposal will have to be read along with proposals 1 and 2 which means most optimised spending would have to be on the field of training and through in house HR initiatives. Which also means recruitment of more qualified HR personnel .
Proposal 4 : Basic Custom Rates on 22 items reduced
The direct implication is lower manufacturing cost in india .
The indirect implication is that HR should look to drive towards in house production through vertical and horizontal acquisitions to gain a competitive edge. So M and A department of HR( present in large organisations) will likely become more active. This would also mean more challenges in handling diverse businesses , more hiring . Hence recruitment team would have its hands full. Man machine mapping for machines can also be an interesting idea which recruitment teams should keep looking into which means deciding which level of individuals who will be working on these new machines and how to train machine workers for new machines etc.
Proposals 5: Custom Duty increased .
Direct implication is that Import of items will now be more costly.
Indirectly for Human resources it will lead to more hiring of innovative individuals who can evolve ways to cut down on imports. THere has to be more hiring of experienced finance professionals who can evolve different ways of tackling finances to minimize impact caused by this change.
Proposal 6: Increasing number of Institutes of Higher education and skill development.
Direct implication is that it would lead to more skilled workforce and bigger pool of employable workforce.
Indirectly for Human Resources the best part is having more options to choose from. The more the number of talent pool the lesser the need for higher packages and higher the possibility of getting to a correct selection. Hence, for example in place of 10 IIM A B C, XL,FMS graduates ready to apply for my job at a package of 17 lakhs per annum , then now i have 800 IIM,graduates applying for that very job at 9-11 lakhs per annum. So i save around 6-8 lakhs per job. Plus i get to choose from a higher pool so probability of getting a decent (if not excellent) candidate will be more even though maybe density of top notch candidates may be less. Besides companies having high attritions usually retaining talent is an issue anyways so this provides a very easy viable option.The other point will also bring down wage rates now because since the ivy league colleges now will know that there are other options available for us so they will also have to reduce their package expectation.