FM presents Union Budget 2023-24

Lt. Gen. Dr. S.P. Kochhar, Director General, COAI
“The Union Budget 2023-24 has introduced some provisions which are expected to indirectly have a positive impact on the telecom sector. The budget lays emphasis on innovation, job creation and skilling, with continued push towards Digital India. The capital investment outlay has been increased by 33% to INR 10 lakh crore and we hope the same would include development of infrastructure for proliferation of telecom and digital services. We welcome the announcement on setting up of 3 centres of excellence for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and 100 labs in engineering colleges for development of 5G applications, which are progressive steps and would help fuel the proliferation of 5G and its ecosystem in the country. The revision of Income Tax slabs could also help increase disposable income for the people, leading to greater adoption and use of data connectivity services.

The industry had requested for some measures to be introduced in the Union Budget 2023-24, to ease the regulatory and financial burden on the sector. We are hopeful that the industry’s suggestions to reduce regulatory levies like License Fee, deferring USOF contribution till the existing funds are exhausted, exemption of Basic Customs Duty (BCD) on Telecom equipment, waiving of GST on regulatory payments, refund of ITC, among others, will be considered and addressed by the Government during the course of the year.

We feel that the Government’s support for this industry is crucial, especially when 5G is slated to be an enabler for several other verticals – for increasing efficiencies and output across various applications and use cases – whether for governance, businesses and public utilities, as well as in our pursuit of achieving Industry 4.0. Telecommunications is the backbone of India’s digital economy, as established by the success of the JAM trinity – Aadhar, Jan-Dhan Yojana and penetration of mobile telephony, which has propelled financial inclusion in recent years. The 200% increase in rural internet subscriptions between 2015 and 2021 in comparison to 158% in urban areas bears testimony to the efforts being made jointly by the Government and the industry for enhancing pan-India digital connectivity. We will continue to collaborate and actively contribute to catalyzing the government’s dedicated digitization efforts to enhance digital penetration and bridge the digital divide to help India achieve its vision of becoming a $5 trillion economy by 2024-25.”

T.R Dua, DG, Digital Infrastructure Providers Association
“We commends the government’s initiative announced under Union Budget 2023. Mr. Dua praised the government’s plan to establish 100 labs for 5G application development in engineering institutions with a focus on business models and job opportunities. Mr. Dua said that “These labs will support the growth of 5G enterprise use cases, including smart classrooms, precision farming, intelligent transport systems, and healthcare.

The budget for 2023 aims to promote job creation through initiatives like Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana 4.0 and the establishment of 30 Skill India international centers. These centers will help expand businesses and industries, leading to more job opportunities. The Skill Certification Scheme aims to provide industry-relevant skill training to a large number of Indian youth and to assess and certify individuals with a prior learning experience.

DIPA supports the government’s efforts toward green energy and the allocation of funds for the National Green Hydrogen Mission. A huge number of telecom sites have already adopted energy-efficient solutions and is a significant contributor to the growth of Li-ion energy-storage solutions. However, DIPA expressed disappointment that the demand for an Rs 18,000-crore input tax credit refund by telecom infrastructure firms was not addressed in the Budget 2023. This denial is causing a significant financial burden on the infrastructure industry. Additionally, the 20% basic customs duty on imports of telecom equipment is affecting the cost-effectiveness for telecom companies and DIPA suggests granting exemption from this duty to support investment in the industry.”

Union Budget 2023 is a bold vision for empowering the digitally marginalised, IAMAI
“The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) congratulates honourable Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman for identifying in the Union Budget 2023, the correct digital initiatives in order to meet the stated objective of “a prosperous and inclusive India, in which the fruits of development reach all regions and citizens.”

For the past few years, the Union Government has meticulously built up the Indian digital ecosystem, with a great investment of effort and resources to develop some unique digital assets such as Aadhar, UPI and Digi Locker. The good work continues in form of simplification of the KYC and unified filing process by strengthening facilities under Digi Locker and the announcement for the entity Digi Locker, which takes public digital goods to the next level.

As a result, India has emerged as a major digital centre and a global example. This has also been driven by the fast-rising internet user base and the emergence of a vibrant digital service market. However, in recent times there have been two critical concerns for the digital industry: first, the growth rate of digital penetration has slowed down; and secondly, there is a clearly identifiable digital divide in India with some sections getting marginalised as they are not onboarded digitally.

Some of the announcements such as Digital Public Infrastructure for Agriculture, National Digital Library for Children and Adolescents, Bharat Shared Repository of Inscriptions (Bharat SHRI), online training platform iGOT Karmayogi to provide continuous learning opportunities for lakhs of government employees to upgrade their skills and facilitate people-centric approach, the establishment of e-Courts, are programmes that will take the digital to the marginalised. Similarly, creating one hundred labs for developing applications using 5G services is another visionary initiative that will help build the use cases for the future upon which digital service businesses can be built.

IAMAI concurs with the Government’s vision of equipping India’s new generation with digital skills so they can utilise new technologies such as AI, IoT, VR and robotics to compete in global markets, thus enhancing India’s economy. IAMAI also welcomes the Government’s decision to set up three centres of excellence for Artificial Intelligence (AI) that will facilitate inter-disciplinary research and develop cutting-edge applications.

The Association appreciates the various futuristic initiatives such as promotion of EVs and Agritech, that not only promise a digital transformation of two of the largest sectors in India, but also help future-proof these sectors by building the launchpad for future entrepreneurial initiatives in these sectors.

While the budget seeks to build and leverage digital platforms, it is also cognizant of the needs of the indigenous digital industry. The association would like to congratulate the Finance Minister for allowing start-ups to extend the date of incorporation for income tax benefits from March 2023 to March 2024 and provide the benefit of carrying forward losses on change of shareholding of start-ups from seven years of incorporation to ten years.

Mobile Handset manufacturing has been in public discourse in recent times, and the budgetary relief in customs duty on the import of certain parts and inputs such as camera lenses and continuation of the concessional duty on lithium-ion cells for batteries for another year is welcome developments in that regard.

However, IAMAI believes that there are certain persisting systemic challenges which impede the growth potentials of start-ups or even the ESDM sector in India. While the budget announcement marks the correct intention and fiscal incentives, other ministries need to complement the Finance Minister’s grand vision to help realize the vision shared by her.”

Peeyush Vaish, Partner and Telecom sector leader, Deloitte India
“The proposed outlay for 5G labs will further push the development of use cases and the setup of private networks in India. Healthcare, education are amongst the most important sectors in India and the research across Universities will push innovations and job opportunities.”

Arvind Bali, CEO, Telecom Sector Skill Council
“The government’s focus on the skill development of India’s potential youth talent through initiatives like NEP, PMKVY 4.0 for skilling in niche new-age technologies like 5G, AI, 3D printing, drones, coding, mechatronics, robotics, and IoT draws further impetus to the ongoing efforts. Blue and grey-collar job demand in India grew by up to four-fold in 2022. Annual demand in telecommunications and 5G have increased by 33.7 per cent in September 2022. There was a demand for 1.3 million workers in FY22-23 which is growing each year and. New use-cases including cloud computing, robots, and the Internet of Things (IoT) are also seeing a sharp rise in hiring. We believe the initiatives will be beneficial to close country’s growing demand supply gap of technical talent workforce. With the government’s push to establish 30 Skill India international centres, 100 premier labs for developing applications to use 5G services, and centres of excellence for AI, India has the potential to deliver talent not only across domestic markets but also to the international market. The initiative like the Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS) is also a progressive move by the government to uplift the tribal population and empower the students to take up new job opportunities.”

A. Gururaj, MD, Optiemus Electronics Ltd.
“This year’s budget is a strong effort to consolidate the Indian economy in post-pandemic dynamics, raising the personal tax exemption limit will certainly boost consumption and the electronics industry will surely benefit from it. Continuing the import duty cuts on Camera Lens and batteries for mobile manufacturing is a welcome step and this will continue to fuel the remarkable growth India has witnessed in domestic manufacturing.”

Manoranjan Mohapatra, CEO, Comviva
“With the ongoing 5G rollouts in India, the government’s decision to establish 100 5G application Labs is a timely move to spur innovation in developing the 5G ecosystem and India relevant use cases. There is a great opportunity to combine 5G and AI to improve network speed, responsiveness, and efficiencies. The special emphasis on establishing AI centres of excellence shall help produce specialized talent to enable India preserve its global advantage and leadership. These are extremely positive initiatives and shall bring technological advancements to the country as AI and 5G are the two most critical elements to enable futuristic innovations and developed related 5G ecosystem.”

Sachin Alug, CEO, NLB Services
“India’s Union Budget 2023 is growth-oriented with a key focus on areas like infrastructure, skill development, employment generation, manufacturing, and relief to taxpayers. The new policies reflect an upbeat attitude towards ease of doing business and scrapping of 39,000 compliances will help ensure enhanced international interest and investment.

The mission of Amrit kaal of developing a technology-driven and knowledge based economy will further strengthen India’s position globally. It is heartening to see the focus on 5G and Industry 4.0. It is indeed India’s budget for the dream of Digital India.

The focus on capital expenditure and ease in personal income tax makes it a budget for Indians and India Inc.

Skill development has turned out to be a key facet of this budget as it promises training and upskilling initiatives in the areas of coding, AI, robotics, mechatronics IoT, 3D printing drones and other soft skills. These steps will be an impetus to push the country’s youth toward emerging opportunities in 5G and Industry 4.0. 5G services will also be leveraged to develop applications across a hundred labs to explore new business and employment avenues.”

Tarun Pathak, Research Director, Counterpoint Research
“Camera lenses for the front and rear camera modules contribute around 1% of the total bill of materials for smartphones. By reducing basic customs duties for import of camera lenses and parts for manufacturing camera lenses, handset prices can come down by 1%.”

Hitesh Garg, India Country Manager, NXP Semiconductors
“The government has brought a progressive budget that will support green mobility and innovation in the automobile sector. Major steps like National Green Hydrogen Mission and extending the subsidy on EV batteries will help the country to have a seamless transition towards a low carbon intensive and fossil fuel dependent economy, empowering the country to achieve its net zero goals.

The three centers of excellence for artificial intelligence to enable ‘Make AI for India’ and ‘Make AI work for India’ will stimulate an effective AI ecosystem and nurture quality human resources in the field of technology. It will also boost the Public-private partnership in conducting research and developing cutting-edge applications and scalable solutions across industries.

In line with the government’s vision of digital India, all these initiatives will help us transform into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy.”

Dr Yajulu Medury, Vice Chancellor, Mahindra University
“The budget provides a much-needed impetus towards empowering the education sector and youth towards helping them realize their true potential. The setting up of 100 5G enabled labs to develop apps in engineering institutions and 3 centers of excellence in Artificial Intelligence is a major step towards ‘Make AI in India and Make AI Work for India’ and helps in shaping the new engineer of today. The 30-skill India international centres across states will further promote interdisciplinary research for developing cutting-edge applications to transform critical sectors and provide solutions for sustainable cities. In order to bridge the skill gap in India, the budget is in line with Mahindra University’s focus on integrating critical thinking and problem-solving through a dynamic and diverse curriculum.”

Anand Shukla, MD, Ocean Infraheights (Golden I)
“The announcement for INR 10,000 crore per year for urban infra development fund will provide a major boost to the real estate sector. This will be beneficial for the use of priority sector lending shortfall and will provide robust momentum to the real estate sector. With the enhancement of 66% in the outlay for PM Awaas Yojana, will ensure the protection of housing rights to the grassroot level. Our initiatives in the areas of retail, IT/ITES offices, and residential construction are in line with the goal of promoting sustainable economic development while preserving the environment.”

Farhan Pettiwala, Head of Corporate Affairs, Hikal Limited
“Under the provisions of the Union Budget, new programme for research in pharmaceuticals will be formulated that will not only promote R&D investments but also encourage to invest in research would boost pharma sector. The reduction of basic custom duty on acid grade fluorescence from 5% to 2.5% is a big relief for the pharma industry as it will make the domestic fluorochemicals industry Atma-Nirbhar. Similarly, the exemption of denatured alcohol, is used in chemical industry, will support ethanol blending program and facilitate energy transition. Meanwhile, 10000 Bio resource input centres will truly help India create a national-level Bio resource micro fertilizer and pesticide manufacturing network.”

Matthew Foxton, India Regional President & Executive Vice-President, Branding & Communications · IDEMIA
“I am pleased to see the focus in Union Budget to strengthen the Digital ecosystem, India’s digital advancements in this decade have been remarkable, especially the integration of digital infrastructure and identity framework. Establishing a strong national identity system is crucial as it boosts security, drives economic growth, and strengthens social unity. The adoption of a unified KYC process, utilizing Digilocker and Aadhaar as the primary means of identity verification, is a positive step forward and will increase financial accessibility for marginalized communities.”

Rajiv Bhalla, Managing Director, India & Vice President APAC, at Barco
“Indian economy is heading towards a bright future, the ‘Saptrishi’ of the Budget 2023 prioritizes on inclusive development, reaching last mile, unleashing potential, green growth, youth power. Announcement around adding 50 tourist destinations as a whole package and focusing holistically on physical as well as virtual connectivity, tourist guides, high standards for food streets and tourists’ security through an app to enhance tourist experience, is a significant step that will unlock growth and job opportunities in the sector. The Budget is perfectly aligned with Barco’s aim to make India a popular tourist destination with visible impact, allowing people to enjoy compelling entertainment experiences. Further, Budget has focused on overall growth & sustainability as India has the potential to be a world-class infrastructure centre, moving toward net zero carbon emissions by 2070 & setting up the AI based solutions in health, education, and sustainable cities will give additional push towards the extensive use of technology.”

Jagdish Mitra, Chief Strategy Officer & Head of Growth, Tech Mahindra
“It is a very positive budget from a technology sector perspective, as it sets the right message about 5G labs, setting up AI centre of excellence and the focus around skilling, which is absolutely the key need for the country as we live through the Prime Minister’s vision on TechAde and technology being the core enabler. From a business perspective, steps around ease of doing business have been taken and I think that’s commendable. I would like to congratulate the Finance Minister and the government for taking these steps.”

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.

While this budget is very positive for the masses, it misses the intent and lacks inclusiveness for the senior citizens. With the rise of the ageing population, there is an urgent need for professional at-home care services for elders. While businesses like caregiving or home visits from nurses have been freed of tax burdens, at-home elder care continues to be taxed at a rate of 18% GST – a factor limiting the affordability and reach of such services. We urgently need these services to be tax-exempt or taxed at a lower rate to ease the burden on the senior citizens.”

Dr. Prateek Kanakia, Chairman and Founder, TheGreenBillions
“This budget should be labelled as the first Green Budget as the businesses can now adopt a greener approach and cultivate sustainable solutions practices with the allocation of ₹35,000 for priority capital investment towards energy transition. Launching the national green hydrogen mission is a significant step in moving towards clean & green energy. Further, municipal solid waste can play an important role in achieving a hydrogen production capacity of 5 metric million tonnes by 2030. Given India’s G20 presidency, this budget is a watershed moment in India’s fight towards climate change.”

Ms PREETI MALHOTRA, Chairman, India – Foreign Investors India Forum
“Extremely happy to note that the vision of ‘Saptarishi’ outlined in the budget today is a vision for Bharat@100 – a democratic and developed nation by 2047. India’s growth plans are ambitious, ‘unleashing potential’ requires intense capital investment that must be financed by exploring current avenues such as FDI which continues to be a key catalyst for growth. Foreign Investors who are more committed to the motherland require certain liberalisation in terms of taxation of global income on extended stays in the country. Several reports and case studies have shown a strong positive correlation between FDI and economic growth and a lot of our Asian neighbours have successfully used FDI to achieve exponential growth. For India too, this must be the next immediate step to direct the nation towards “Amrit Kaal.”

Nilanjan Banik, Economist, Mahindra University
“It is a fantastic budget. It has elements of unleashing purchasing power both from the perspective of consumers and businesses. For the common man, there has been an increase in tax rebates. For businesses and the economy as a whole, there has been an increase in the allocation of capital expenditure. Capital expenditure is hiked to Rs 10 trillion and this money when used for building roads, ports, and airports will lead to a further round of income and employment generation. Additionally, an all-time high allocation towards the railway sector will complement this connectivity pan-India and will make India a better place to do business. And all of this spending towards capital expenditure is undertaken by taking into consideration that the fiscal deficit is kept under control. Money is being spent judiciously and towards the infrastructure sector, keeping in mind the long-term (amrit kaal) growth.”

Pulkit Pandey, Principal Analyst, Gartner
“Indian Government’s proposal to setup one hundred 5G labs in India is a balanced-decision which portrays their current as well as futuristic outlook. This decision will help the country to portray their capabilities in the field of 5G with respect to connectivity and identifying potential use cases. The Finance Ministers’ emphasis on education sector (smart classrooms), agriculture (precision farming), transportation (intelligent transport systems) and healthcare applications, also shows the focus on these industries, thus setting the ground for 5G application development.”

Mr. Vishal Agrawal, MD, Avaya
“We appreciate the government’s continuous focus on the technology sector with the Budget 2023-24. The introduction of three centres of excellence for artificial intelligence to enable ‘Make AI for India’ and ‘Make AI work for India’ is something to look forward to for the upcoming digital nation.

The initiatives outlined for skill development and research in cutting-edge fields like artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and 5G, among others are encouraging for the IT industry.

In line with the GoI’s initiative to strengthen the MSMEs, we look forward to supporting them in creating a user-friendly space and helping them further to scale up with the help of our robust and collaborative solutions.

The government’s initiative to set up 100 labs for 5G solutions across engineering colleges and the announcement around the National data governance framework will further empower the students, Indian start-ups, and researchers that will collectively help us achieve our collective vision for the 5 trillion economy.”

Mayank Khandelwal, Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer, NEC Corporation India
“The 2023-24 Union Budget presents a bright outlook for India’s growth in various industries, with an estimated 7% growth in the economy. Emphasizing on infrastructure development, the government’s 33% increase in capital expenditure is a commendable move that will benefit the infra and logistics industries.

The budget reflects PM Modi’s aim to transform India into a digital economy with initiatives such as the creation of 5G labs and AI Centers of Excellence. It also aims to improve ease-of-doing business in India by reducing compliances, keeping the fiscal deficit under 6% and promoting sustainable green growth. In conclusion, the budget is optimistic, focused on growth, and strengthens the digital landscape.”