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The Union Budget 2023 has unveiled on February 1, 2023. Finance Minister has confirmed announcements for the various sectors and departments, She also revealed new plans for the technology and electronics industry. The Budget is making headlines with the government’s objective of “Digital Development” for the country. This year budget has given more emphasis on technology and innovation. It also prioritised sustainability, with the step toward a green future that allows businesses and SMEs to enter the market with green products and services. Overall, the Union Budget 2023 is promising and represents a significant step toward digital transformation and sustainable growth.
A bunch of new initiatives were announced by the Finance Minister and Experts from different industries have reacted to the latest announcements to the Union Budget 2023, Here, we have compiled some of these below.
Anil Pinapala, CEO and Founder, Vivifi India Finance said that, “The Union Budget 2023 is a commendable approach towards India’s vision for inclusive growth. It has laid its due focus on building the blocks that will transform our nation into one of the strongest economies in the world. With financial inclusion at the core, the relief for taxpayers in terms of direct tax is an absolutely welcome move. The government is creating an incentive structure for people to move from the old tax regime to the new tax regime. This transformation will empower our citizens with a stronger economic stability and a higher standard of living.
The fact that the per capita income has doubled to Rs. 1.97 lakh since 2014, speaks highly of how we have significantly improved our position; as a well-governed and innovative country with a conducive environment for business as reflected in several global indices. Several accomplishments have had a major role to play in India’s rising global profile: unique world class digital public infrastructure, e.g., Aadhaar, Co-Win and UPI; Covid vaccination drive in unparalleled scale and speed; online KYC processes. Further, the budget expanding access to documents in digi-locker will help in fastening credit underwriting as well as overall KYC processes. Remote onboarding and underwriting will streamline and bring efficiency to the processes.
With the world moving towards a digital revolution, the Indian government has introduced reforms that will transform India into a digital super- power. As a nation, we are making progress in the right direction. Looking forward, initiatives for start-ups, technology, upskilling and financial literacy will undoubtedly act as a successful catalyst for India's growth.”
Pankaj Sharma, Co-Founder & Director, Log9 Materials, "The government’s decision to extend the concessional duty on lithium-ion cells for batteries for another year is definitely welcoming as it would sustain the ongoing momentum within the Indian EV sector. Considering EV batteries account for approx upto 60% of the EV cost, this relaxation will make electric vehicles more affordable and hence enhance the EV adoption rate."
Jyotirmoy Chakravorty, Founder and CEO of Ubona Technologies said, “As MSMEs are now coming through the pandemic’s big blow, the revamped collateral-free credit guarantee scheme will definitely prove to be a big boost for MSMEs. This would spur a great growth of MSME through the financial year 2023-24. In fact collateral free credit enables not only a guaranteed loan but also this removes a great deal of hassles in the process of availing the loan. This is a laudable move by the union government as it not only boosts the growth of MSMEs but also creates a huge number of jobs for youths across the country.
Also it is a great initiative for the government to establish centres of excellence for Artificial Intelligence. This would give a huge push for automation space as this initiative would create a huge skilled talent pool.
Nishant Behl, Founder, and CEO of Expand My Business said, "The union budget announced by the FM today strongly defines the direction in which the country’s entrepreneurial transformation is headed to. This year’s budget is positive, pragmatic, and entirely committed to support innovation in the country to accelerate the economy. For startups, the government has extended tax benefits on their incorporation by another year and the carry forward of losses to set off against future profits will now be allowed for 10 years instead of 7 years. Receiving the government’s support through such provisions is quite heartening for budding enterprises, especially since the entire world is experiencing an economic slowdown. Also, policies like increased industry-academia collaboration through National Data Governance Policy, simplified KYC process and access to anonymised data will also positive push for the startups in India to flourish and expand. Entrepreneurship is vital for a country’s economic development and India, and it is heartening to see the government take positive steps in this direction."
Atul Rai, Co-Founder & CEO, Staqu Technologies said, We solemnly support the Government of India’s aim to establish a strong AI ecosystem in India and utilize potential AI professionals. The government’s centers of excellence for Artificial Intelligence can brilliantly materialize their vision of 'make AI in India’ and 'make AI work for India'. The government’s support towards AI and tech advancement in the country can further facilitate the development of the industry by training and incentivizing adequate resources, both human and material. The upcoming opportunities in Industry 4.0 can increase the accessibility of 5G-enabled cutting-edge applications to consumers, subsequently facilitating industry growth. We look forward to a rewarding year ahead with more accessibility for widespread emerging technologies, R&D, and upskilling.
Ankit Alok Bagaria, Co-Founder, Loopworm termed the Union Budget 2023-24 “short and crisp” saying that the budget would help farmers, established businesses, and Startups in the Agri & Allied Agriculture space.
“The 6000 Cr infusion to promote fisheries would help Shrimp farming the most. Decreasing import duties on feed ingredients are going to help the feed manufacturers and help formalise animal agriculture but would lead to reduced margins for domestic feed ingredient manufacturers. For young startups, the agri accelerator fund is a good initiative but there was less focus to promote Agri-Startups at the growth stage. Funds to support Bio-based products to promote natural farming should boost the plant Bio-stimulant & Bio-fertiliser industry,” stated Bagaria, while welcoming the budget.
“Significant agricultural credit support and significant fund infusion in allied agri sectors should promote existing farmers and people looking for secondary income streams to set up livestock/ poultry/ fish/ insect farms which would lead to a growth in non-arable land agriculture,” Co-Founder of Loopworm added.
Tarun Sharma, Founder and CEO, Yodda Elder Care, “The budget is inspiring and encouraging for the start-up ecosystem. For the elders and seniors, setting up 157 new nursing colleges is a positive step in increasing the number of caregivers and is in line with the commitment to increasing public health expenditure to reach 2.5% of GDP by 2025. Also, the limit enhancement in the senior citizen savings scheme to Rs 30 lakhs is likely to encourage more savings from seniors.
Naveen Jangira, Chief Trust Officer of Erasmith Technologies Pvt. Ltd. Said that his is clearly a growth budget given. The govt has set the capex outlay growing at 33% YoY as the engine to making India a 5 trillion $ economy. Plus, with the government razor focused on digital and fintech, we are going to see huge expansions in cloud infrastructure, cyber security, document management, analytics and AI.