Yesterday, Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman has presented the Union Budget 2022-23 and said, India is celebrating Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav and it has entered into Amrit Kaal, the 25-year-long leadup to India@100, the government aims to attain the vision of Prime Minister outlined in his Independence Day address and they are:
- Complementing the macro-economic level growth focus with a micro-economic level all-inclusive welfare focus,
- Promoting digital economy & fintech, technology enabled development, energy transition, and climate action, and
- Relying on virtuous cycle starting from private investment with public capital investment helping to crowd-in private investment.
The Finance Minister informed that the Productivity Linked Incentive in 14 sectors for achieving the vision of AtmaNirbhar Bharat has received excellent response, with potential to create 60 lakh new jobs, and an additional production of Rs 30 lakh crore during next 5 years.
Dwelling on the issue of implementation of the new Public Sector Enterprise policy, She said, the strategic transfer of ownership of Air India has been completed, the strategic partner for NINL (Neelanchal Ispat Nigam Limited) has been selected, the public issue of the LIC is expected shortly and others too are in the process for 2022-23.
Let’s look at the reactions from the industry leaders on Union Budget 2022-23
Dr. Raj Singh, Vice-Chancellor- JAIN (Deemed-to-be University) said, “Education and skill development sectors will be among the largest beneficiaries of these rails to tap the aspirations and ambitions of millions of career-focused citizens. The Government’s intention to set up a resilient education delivery mechanism for facilitating the delivery of quality education using digital platforms will unleash a host of opportunities for public-private collaboration.”
“Add to that, the focus on democratising education and skill development with proactive investments into digital university, teacher training, digital inclusion, regional content, and DESH-stack will result in unveiling a new opportunity landscape comprising of a new generation of digitally savvy quality education seekers. This will not only enable the edtechs and blended educators to collaborate; but most importantly, collectively expand the pool of new-age education seekers while narrowing down the learning curve.” he said.
Naresh Gupta, VP, Finance, Zimyo said, “Union Budget 2022 is a growth-oriented one, mainly focused on infrastructural development. This time capital expenditure budget has increased by 35%. Further to motivate manufacturing in India, additional allocations are announced for PLI schemes. Production-linked initiative schemes in 14 sectors and extension of the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme would be helpful in mitigating supply-side constraints.”
“In its first Digital Budget, the Indian government has introduced a number of initiatives for digital India. Some unique initiatives such as the introduction of 5G and Digital Rupee powered by blockchain and other technologies by the RBI are catching the world’s eyes. Apart from that, the government has also made it clear that all virtual or digital assets will be taxed.” Naresh added.
Naresh further added, “The budget also focuses on rolling out of National Digital Health Ecosystem and setting up of National Tele Mental Health Programme. It will consist of digital registries of health providers and health facilities, unique health identity, consent framework, and universal access to health facilities. This all shows how our country is moving towards digital innovation. Also, equal attention will be given to women’s empowerment through schemes such as Mission Shakti, Mission Vatsalya, Saksham Anganwadi, and Poshan 2.0.”
Monica Malhotra Kandhari, MD, MBD group. said, “The Union Budget 2022-2023 presented by the Finance Minister is a welcome budget that has taken care of the much-needed initiatives for the education sector which has been reeling through a rough phase due to the pandemic-led disruption. The announcement of one TV channel‘ program of PM eVIDYA which will be expanded from 12 to 200 TV channels will enable all states to provide supplementary education in regional languages for classes 1 to 12. Also, the proposed launch of the Digital DESH e-portal will immensely help in the skilling, upskilling & reskilling of our youth which is indispensable at this hour.”
“The Finance minister also announced 5 existing academic institutions for urban planning to be designated as center for excellence with an endowment fund of 250 cr, availability of high-quality E-content through various means, and revised syllabus for Agriculture University to accommodate the need for natural, zero-budget, and organic farming and modern day agriculture. Overall, the budget has focused on the promotion and implementation of digital education, skilling and reskilling, training of teachers which will, in turn, helps in providing quality and world-class education to the students and will provide impetus to the education sector”. Monica added.
Tom Joseph, Executive Director for Strategy & Development, ISDC (International Skill Development Corporation) said, “Skill development in the country has been the need of hour and the Union Budget 2022 has rightly addressed it. The government’s interest to explore skilling programmes and industry partnerships to establish new skilling avenues, sustainability, and employability is a good step.”
“The proposed alignment of National Skill Qualification Framework with industry needs and launch of DESH-Stack eportal will encourage the government to offer skill development to every citizen remotely. It will perhaps benefit a large group of youths, self-owned businesses and women entrepreneurs, thereby addressing the core issue of unemployment and help tap into future-ready jobs. The proposal to launch “Digital University” will certainly bring a positive change in the overall learning system, focused on supporting digital, easy and quality education.” Tom added.
Amit Saluja, Senior Director and Centre Head of NASSCOM CoE, Gandhinagar said, “The digitisation of manufacturing is a key enabler for Make in India and AtmaNirbhar Bharat, and the thrust on digitization is evident in the budget. The budget focuses on efficiency improvement and growth of MSMEs, which will give a boost to MSMEs and startups working for digital technology adoption in industries. This has also emphasised on building digital skills and accelerating the deployment of solutions that can help industries become more efficient and competitive by reducing costs and improving capacity utilization through the adoption of digital tools.”
Rajiv Bhatia, President & Country Head, Analytix Business Solutions said, “As the Indian economy recovers from the impact of the pandemic, the budget continues to provide the impetus for growth. The budget focuses on high economic activity and covers critical segments of the economy. It emphasises building modern infrastructure that can help in economic growth through faster movement of goods and persons. The budget also focuses on enhancing efficiency of citizen-centric services by digitising manual processes and interventions and integrating central and state level systems.”
Rajiv further said, “The FM has made adequate provisions for affordable broadband and mobile services availability in rural and remote areas. The budget also lays the roadmap for ensuring access to e-services, communication facilities, and digital resources in rural areas. The announcement to include data centres in the harmonised list of infrastructure will facilitate credit availability for digital infrastructure. The launch of virtual labs and skilling e-labs will help in promoting critical thinking skills and stimulated learning environment.”
Arjun Gupta, Founder, Courseplay said, “The 2022 Budget saw many missed expectations for SMEs and Start-ups. As one of the fastest-growing contributors to GDP, the SaaS sector should be promoted more by the central government. Share allocation process for start-ups to be simplified. Low-cost tech education in Tier 3 and smaller towns is a huge must, as supply of skilled tech workers is at an all-time low compared to demand. Getting government contracts for tech start-ups is still very complicated and should be made easier. Labour Law reforms for tech companies would be appreciated too. The govt needs to stand behind Indian SaaS companies to make India the no. 1 SaaS exporter in the world. Hopefully we will see some of this in next year’s budget”.
