Ashish P. Dhakan
MD & CEO, Prama Hikvision India Pvt. Ltd.
A pro-growth budget with a vision for the new emerging India
India’s progressive Union Budget seeks to complement macro-economic level growth with a focus on micro-economic level all inclusive welfare. It has a pro-technology focus with futuristic vision. A special thrust on promotion of Digital India and adoption of emerging technologies, including 5G, AI, ML and drones. The key highlights of union budget underlines the economic growth estimated at 9.2% to be the highest among all large economies. It promises 60 lakh new jobs to be created under the productivity linked incentive scheme in 14 sectors. It also highlights the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Schemes, which has the potential to create an additional production of Rs 30 lakh crore. This budget has a roadmap for achieving the objective of ‘Make-inIndia’ and ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat.’ The customs duty rationalisation to incentivise domestic manufacturing is a welcome step.
The budget has the PM GatiShakti Scheme with ambitious plans to transform the transportation sector. The seven engines that are going to drive PM GatiShakti are Roads, Railways, Airports, Ports, Mass Transport, Waterways and Logistics Infrastructure. The big boost to infrastructure will help the security industry growth in the long term.
There is a greater focus on MSME sector in the budget and as a key stakeholder of the MSME Ecosystem, we feel this a very positive step for the security industry. The government has announced that Udyam, e-shram, NCS and ASEEM portals will be interlinked. The help is provided to 130 lakh MSMEs as additional credit under Emergency Credit Linked Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS). The extension of this scheme till March 2023 is a thoughtful decision. The firm focus on skill development is another positive aspect of the union budget. Digital Ecosystem for Skilling and Livelihood (DESH-Stack e-portal) will be launched to empower citizens to skill, reskill or upskill through on-line training. Overall a pro-growth budget with a vision for the new emerging India on global front.
Dr. Niranjan Hiranandani
National Vice Chairman, NAREDCO & MD, Hiranandani Group
As budget decodes Kaam, Kisan and Kamai as the focus, the outlays have comes out with a ‘budget for the economy,’ with sustainability & infrastructure investment as its underlying theme. Rating it at 7/10, the Budget is clearly about complementing macro-growth with micro-all-inclusive welfare, digital economy and fintech, tech-enabled development, energy transition, bolstering investment and climate action – which augurs well for the nation.
Industry welcomes much awaited focus to resolve long standing issues of reduction in approval timelines for land & construction. Emphasis laid towards modernisation and reforms in building byelaws, TDR reforms, urban town planning schemes, transit oriented multi modal corridors and transferable development rights. Impetus to urban development policy with enhanced capacity building will lead holistic development of urban cities. With rise in population & career mobility, focus on nurturing new smart tier 2-3 cities will result in a big boost for Real Estate infrastructure with cascading impact on additional job creation. Extension of PMAY scheme till March 2023 along with an allocation of Rs 48,000 crores outlay will further enhance affordable housing benefits to 80 lacs new beneficiaries under middle class and economic weaker sections in urban areas.
Single window portal for green clearances is a step to promote ease of doing business in augmenting sustainable development along with special mobility zones for electric vehicles. Granting of infrastructure status to data centres in lieu of impetus to data localization and protect data sovereignty is shot in the arm. This will enable the data centres industry to avail long & cheap credit financing in order to foster competitiveness to become a global data centre hub. Additional impetus on Gati Shakti, inclusive development for last mile connectivity, public investment, capital spending and financing of investments will augment steady economic growth.
Rajesh Maurya
Regional Vice President, India and SAARC, Fortinet
In this budget the Government has made a strong economic statement with its focus on public investments to spur growth. Forward looking and catering to an aspirational Digital India the budget once again lays its emphasis on technology with the launch of digital currency using blockchain, digital university for education in different Indian languages, roll out of 5G and boost to Start-ups.
Climate action is among the top 4 priorities for the Government. Climate change continues to pose a significant threat, and all business and public organizations across the country must do their part to address it.
Skilling programs and partnerships with industry will be re-oriented to promote continuous skilling avenues, sustainability, and employability. The launch of Desh-Stack e-portal will provide the ecosystem for skilling and livelihood. Fortinet has been dedicated to closing the cybersecurity skills gap by making all its NSE self-paced training courses free for everyone. We will further build on this commitment with a pledge to train 1 million people across the globe in the next 5 years.
Essential services, Digital currency and the sensitivity of the information the government holds all calls for a shared responsibility in protecting valuable data and digital assets. Smart planning, doing the cybersecurity basics and leveraging the increasing convergence of networking and security are keys to ensuring that all services can operate efficiently and securely.
S Sriram
Chief Strategy Officer, iValue InfoSolutions
It was a consistent and pragmatic budget with a lot of thrust around infrastructure spending to enhance growth. Despite multiple elections around the corner, great to see no populist announcement with focus on reducing fiscal deficit starting next fiscal. 5G rollout and extension of sops around ‘make-in-India’ for new start-ups should augur well for the tech enabled industry. Central Government focus around digitization will offer business opportunities for domestic focused ITeS players with the Government taking the lead role on capex investment recovery post pandemic. Overall exciting times ahead as India is poised to be the fastest growing economy for the next few years.
R Arun Prasath
Chief Information Offier, EverestIMS Technologies
A number of measures have been introduced in the country’s General Budget 2022-23 to boost economic activities, create jobs, and help India transition to a digital economy. Through the use of emerging technologies, the budget focuses on promoting technology-enhanced development, energy and climate action, trust-based governance, upskilling and digital education. Through online training, industry collaborations, and the establishment of a simulated learning environment using e-labs, the government is focusing on developing avenues for digital skills, sustainability, and employability.
The importance of 5G technology for growth and development in the country was also emphasized. The provision of broadband and mobile services in rural and remote areas of the country by allocating 5 percent of the annual collections under the universal service obligations fund is highly commendable.
Rajendra Chitale
Chief Financial Officer, Crayon
India’s General Budget 2022-23 introduced several measures ranging from taxation to investment to help boost the country’s economic activities, digital governance, ease of doing business, creating jobs, and ensuring the country’s transition to a digital economy. The budget promotes technology-enabled development, energy transition, public-private partnerships, skilling, and climate action, along with the use of emerging technologies.
The news on the 5G roll-out is commendable as it will be a key enabler for digital growth and development in the country. Also, glad to see that the government is focusing on expanding the digital horizon in the country. This shall encourage continuous skilling avenues, sustainability, and employability through online training programs, and simulated learning environments using e-labs. The budget also focuses on emerging technologies, such as drones, deep tech, fintech, health tech, and Ed-tech, highlighting India’s commitment to exploring change and innovation.
Prashanth G J
Chief Executive Officer, TechnoBind
It is commendable that the government in the new budget is coming up with modern and progressive concepts like trust-based governance. This is in the best interests of both the society and enterprises. It will also help in building more coordination between the government and enterprises, and provide more empowerment to enterprises, and certainly help with the ease of doing business.
Also, the 5G roll out will open the gates for aggressive digitisation in the country which will help the Indian IT landscape to expand further in all tier markets. Better internet connectivity will ramp up digitisation making inroads for datafication and AI-based technologies. We can expect the IT expansion to go pan-India and new avenues of digitisation will see light in the coming year.
