Industry reactions on Union Budget (Part-18)

Gusti Noria, President, The Hyderabad Public School Society
“This is overall a good consolidation budget. It is a good step by the FM to increase allocation for school education by 8% i.e. from Rs 63,449 crore (Budget Estimate) in 2022-23 to Rs 68,804 crore in 2023-24.  The emphasis on establishing CoEs for artificial intelligence and also teachers’ training being revisited for better pedagogy and raising quality education, is a welcome step. The establishment of District Training Centres for educators along with the National Digital Library is yet another initiative that will be a boost for both public and private school education. The Skill India International Centres that are going to be set up across states will provide the right digital ecosystem for skilling and help foster national apprenticeship.
Applaud the initiative of the centre to recruit 38,800 teachers and support staff for the 740 Eklavya Model Residential Schools that will end up serving 3.5 lakh tribal students. Together these steps would surely pave an effective path to implement the National Education Policy for the “Amrit Peedhi”
 

Karun Tadepalli, Founder and CEO, byteXL
“The education sector has witnessed some of the announcements from a longer-term perspective. The increase of 8% allocation to higher education to INR 44,094 crores is a welcome move from the point of raising the employability quotient of students. This will be a key component in transforming the institutes to provide better education compatible with industry needs. New age courses for Industry 4.0 like coding, AI, robotics, mechatronics, IOT, 3D printing, drones, and soft skills under Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana 4.0 will help in skilling the students for global job opportunities making them career ready. Establishing a National Digital Library will enhance the culture of eLearning across the country, which will be a positive step towards a futuristic approach.”

Dr. Samantak Das, Chief Economist, and Head of Research and REIS, India, JLL 
“The 2023 Budget, in a pre-election year, sought to build on the roadmap laid down by previous budgets, focusing on inclusive development, fostering growth and job creation while keeping the macro-economy in a stable yet growth-oriented mode. It has given more money into the hands of individuals and households which would, to a large extent, ease out the increasing pressure on account of home loan EMIs and rising home prices. The increase in allocation for PMAY by a significant 66% would help continue capital flow under CLSS and other related schemes. Addressing the need for creating sustainable cities of tomorrow through urban planning, ease of land availability and promoting TOD schemes will be key towards sustainable development moving forward. Focus on overall infrastructure development and on Tier 2 and 3 cities will be key to overall economic development. The Budget is a balanced one for the economy while missing out on key real estate sector demands.”
 

Rajat Deshpande, CEO and Co-Founder of FinBox -A B2B digital lending infrastructure provider 
"It’s been heartening to see that financial inclusion has been clearly laid out as a priority in the 2023 budget, and been backed up by solid policy recommendations. For starters, the government has revamped the  CGTMSE Scheme, infusing INR 9000 cr into the corpus and reducing the cost of credit by 1%.  The formation of the National Financial Information registry and Digilocker for MSMEs too is a huge step for the credit underserved and is set to improve credit flow and promote financial inclusion.
Agriculture wasn’t left behind either - the FM proposed three centres of excellence for AI where leading AI players will collaborate in areas of health and agriculture. We’ve been talking about tech and agri for a while now, and it’s thrilling to see it come to fruition." 

Ketan Gaikwad, MD and CEO of RXIL(Receivables Exchange of India Ltd), a joint venture promoted by the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI)
"India has made remarkable advancements in the MSME sector, and the revamped credit guarantee scheme will take effect from April 1, 2023, through the infusion of Rs 9,000 crore in the corpus. This will enable additional collateral-free credit of Rs 2 lakh crore to MSMEs – FY 22 had a credit guarantee approved of 56,172, and an additional 9000 would improve their business and overall contribution to the GDP. PM Vishwakarma Kaushal Samman is aimed at providing assistance to traditional artisans and craftspeople to improve the quality, scale, and reach of their products. The scope of documents available in Digi locker will be expanded to enable more fintech innovative services and to ease up the process for MSME registrations in these services."

V. Srinivasan, Chairman, eMudhra
“The emphasis on digitizing India in the Union Budget is commendable. The vision for Amrit Kaal includes a technology-driven and knowledge-based India. The proposed National Data Governance Policy will help in boosting data led development and encourage technological growth. The push to create Centers of Excellence for AI will help create a digital ‘Aatmanirbhar’ India and promote AI based solutions across sectors. The introduction of Entity Digi Locker for business enterprises will facilitate online storing of documents which will accelerate the digital transformation of the country.”

Sohinder Gill, Director General, Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles
"After passing through a difficult period of lack of good quality” Made in India” EV components for the last 2 years, the local supply chains are beginning to take shape and the increase in customs duty on SKD/CBU is therefore timely as it will further incentivise the local suppliers because of the relative price advantage. There are still many a parts of EV componentry such as lithium cells, permanent magnets for electric motors, semiconductors etc that will need to be imported and we expected rationalisation of customs duty on such essential imports help keep the EV prices in check. The continuation of the customs duty-free status for machinery used to produce lithium-ion batteries could result in some stabilisation in battery pricing.
 
A "Green Credit Programme" to promote behaviour change has been announced as another intriguing proposal. We are awaiting the fine print and anticipate that it will support the creation and uptake of EVs.
 
Promoting Hydrogen as a fuel for future is another great idea specially as India is having abundance of sunshine most part of the year and majority of our goods are transported in heavy duty trucks that cannot run on lithium batteries efficiently and in a cost effective manner. We believe both Hydrogen and Lithium batteries can co-exist as great clean fuels for the energy and transportation needs of the next few decades."

Anurag Sinha, Co-founder & CEO, OneScore & OneCard
“As we enter the Amrit Kaal, the 2023 Union Budget is a step in the right direction towards achieving economic growth in India and making India a 5 Trillion USD economy in the coming years. It is a testament to the government's commitment to the growth of the Indian economy through the promotion of entrepreneurship and moving the country towards a digital economy. Initiatives like UPI have revolutionized digital payments in a way that has not been seen even in developed countries with a staggering 126 lac crore rupees worth of digital payments through UPI. The announcement made last year by RBI to link credit cards with UPI was a step in the right direction and has broadened the horizon of digital payments in India helping in inclusive financial development.
 
The Budget has further highlighted the importance of entrepreneurship and creating employment in the country with a special focus on skilling the youth. We welcome the government’s decision to extend the date of incorporation for income tax benefits for startups from 31/ 3/2023 to 31/3/2024 and reducing many non-essential compliances for enhancing the ease of doing business. The government has been actively involved in providing incentives and resources for entrepreneurs, startups, and fintechs to enable them to grow and prosper in the Indian economy. With the right policy framework and incentives, India can continue to be a leader in the digital economy space and become one of the most innovative countries in the world with technology and knowledge at its core.”

Dr. Arun Singh, Global Chief Economist, Dun and Bradstreet
 
Green push-
"As expected, there is major push towards Green Growth. The budget focuses on four transformations via seven priorities to achieve inclusive green growth. Green finance is a priority for public policy. The green finance initiative will accelerate the pace of credit disbursement to green initiatives.”
 
“The central government's old vehicle scrappage is positive for automobile industry and helps in lowering green gas emissions and improving energy efficiency. The green finance initiative will accelerate the pace of credit disbursement to green initiatives."
 
“Notification of Green Finance, under Environment Protection Act, would free up additional resources for entities to raise funds at lower cost towards sustainable/green investments.”
 
Infrastructure-
“Huge surge in capital outlay by 33% will be a great push to infrastructure and job creation. Continuation of 50 year interest free loan scheme for capital expenditure would enhance infrastructure development towards last mile connectivity. The government had announced Rs 1 trillion, 50-year, interest-free capex loans to states in the last Union Budget, the extension for another year was much needed to boost infrastructure spending. However, it is important to nudge states to increase their capital spending.”
 
MSME-
“Use of PAN as a common business identifier would help improve ease of doing business .Digi locker for entities to securely share documents would provide digital infrastructure which will be helpful in digital lending framework for MSMEs. Cost of Credit to be reduced by 1% under the revamped credit guarantee for MSME. It is a big positive for the MSMEs, given the rise in lending rates. Revamped Credit guarantee scheme for MSMEs with additional corpus will be a much needed support for troubled MSME in India.”
 
Agriculture-
“Data infrastructure is the core of digital transformation of agriculture. The digital public infrastructure for agriculture is a novel initiative which will encourage digitization of the primary sector.”
 
Capex-
“Capital expenditure at 3.3% of GDP, which is the highest in almost two decades, will benefit the economy from the time-tested Keynesian principle of spurring infrastructure to create jobs and channelize multiplier cycles."
“2022-23 fiscal deficit of 6.4%, and 5.9% for 2023-24 would allow for private capital expenditure to grow, without crowding out private investment”
 
Tourism-
“Several enhancements announced towards ease of tourism would provide growth opportunities and employment for the vast working age population.”
 
Exporters benefit-
"Announcement of EXIM bank subsidiary for trade refinancing under IFSC Authority (Gift City) would enhance credit availability for exporters."

Srinivasan Viswanathan, Chief Executive Officer of Vibrant Energy
“The budget was progressive and beneficial to the energy sector. The statement on Green Growth is highly comprehensive, with a vision for the green hydrogen mission costing Rs 19,700 crores, which would undoubtedly accelerate the energy transformation. The promotion of Ladakh green energy corridor is a welcome step. We appreciate the Rs. 35,000 crore capital investment for reaching the net zero goal, however, we look forward to receiving the policy structured in a detailed manner. With this budget announcement, we are encouraged to keep up the rapid expansion in energy production, manufacturing required equipment, and construction of energy storage capacity. We will need to continue having a closer industry-government collaboration to reach the net-zero aim by 2070.”