Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday proposed several initiatives, with technology as the pivot, to boost a wide swathe of sectors such as skilling, agriculture, education, mental health, logistics or bolstering small and medium enterprises.
IT industry body Nasscom said the Budget is betting big on technology and it will help in shaping this decade as the decade of technology in India – or “Techade”.
“Digital and IT have been given a central place in the Budget. It is one of the four pillars of governance. Be it logistics, health, education, language translation, IT has been given an important place,” Ashwini Vaishnaw, minister for electronics and IT, said at a briefing.
Rajesh Gopinathan, managing director at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), said the Budget provides many growth opportunities for the technology industry across sectors such as railways, healthcare, education, financial services, and regulatory bodies, which will accelerate India’s growth.
“The decision to introduce E-Passport will further streamline the overall citizen experience, enhance security, and facilitate smoother international travel,” said Gopinathan.
Discover the stories of your interest
The country’s largest software services firm TCS last month won the second phase of the ministry of external affairs’ Passport Seva Programme worth Rs 8,000 crore.
Experts pointed out that the government’s digital push would in turn lead to more IT and technology projects being awarded, benefiting Indian and global technology companies.
“If you start reading the indicators – be they investments in STEM, R&D, innovation, digital currency and blockchain – they underscore that India’s position as a powerhouse will depend upon its dominance on technology,” CP Gurnani, managing director of Tech Mahindra told ET. “We will be a powerful nation because we are not only 5G enabled, but the broad spectrum of the country is technology enabled”.
The government also announced a big thrust toward using drones and start-ups will be encouraged to launch a ‘Drone Shakti’ project to facilitate drone usage through varied applications and also allow for usage of drones “as a service”. Sitharaman also announced use of drones by farmers for land surveying, spraying of insecticides and digitisation of land records.
“It (the Budget) is focused on providing India with a strong foundation for the Techade and establishing it as a global hub in terms of technology innovation,” Nasscom said in a statement.
It, however, pointed out that certain aspects were left unaddressed such as additional focus on industry-led R&D in emerging technologies, enabling clarifications to allow units in special economic zones (SEZs) flexibility to adopt the hybrid work model, easing the taxation of ESOP by making the taxation regime available to all DPIIT recognized start-ups and taxing employees only when they sell the shares.
