The Union Budget 2022-23 tabled in the Parliament by the Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman seeks to complement macro-economic level growth with a focus on micro-economic level all-inclusive welfare.
Team Taazakhabar News reached out to people across the country to know their views about the budget. Here’s what a cross-section of people from the salaried and business class had to say:
Rajkiran Rai G, MD and CEO, Union Bank of India
The Budget 2022-23 is set in the context of recovering the economy with good macro stability. The Finance Minister takes forward growth impetus through enhanced outlays on public Capex, incentives for digital, start-ups, supporting MSMEs, and targeted welfare spending in 2022-23. The cumulative Government support through ECLGS rising to Rs 5 trillion till March 2023 is the welcome enabler for credit to vulnerable sectors of the economy. Moreover, the absence of capital allocation for public sector banks reaffirms confidence in the strength of the banking sector in meeting the credit needs of the economy. Overall, it is a growth-oriented Budget.
Anup Rau, MD and CEO, Future Generali India Insurance
Mental health problems are growing in our country; and have reached alarming proportions with the pandemic. Increasing evidence supports that mental health issues are proliferating across geographies, age groups, and genders.
We welcome the government’s initiative of a national tele-mental health program and believe it’s a good starting point to normalize mental health conversations and seek help and access to universal health facilities. As a responsible insurer and a purpose-led brand, we strongly believe that mental health is as important as physical health and remain committed to educating our citizens and creating awareness on mental wellness.
Gautam Mohanka, MD, Gautam Solar
The Indian renewable energy industry, notably the solar sector, must applaud the Indian government’s efforts to promote green energy during the last decade, especially during the pandemic. The appropriations in the most recent budget strongly emphasize renewable energy, energy efficiency, electric mobility, data centres, building efficiency, grid-connected energy storage, and green bond assistance, which is a terrific development. Following India’s broader global commitment to fighting climate change, the 2022 budget emphasizes allowing energy transition through provisions to boost local manufacturing of solar power equipment and batteries. The basic customs duty (BCD) of 25% has been imposed on imported solar cells and 40% has been imposed on solar modules by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) recently which will be effective from 1st April 2022. This will discourage Chinese imports of solar panels and solar cells to a great extent, giving a further boost to the ‘Make in India’ mission of the Government of India.
It’s a wonderful move as the risks of climate change are the strongest negative externalities that affect India and other countries. As the Hon’ble Prime Minister said at the COP26 summit in Glasgow last November, “what is needed today is mindful and deliberate utilization, instead of mindless and destructive consumption.” The low carbon development strategy as enunciated in the ‘panchamrit’ that he announced is an important reflection of our government’s strong commitment to sustainable development.
In addition, To facilitate domestic manufacturing for the ambitious goal of 280 GW of installed solar capacity by 2030, an additional allocation of 19,500 crores for Production Linked Incentive for the manufacture of high-efficiency modules, with priority to fully integrated manufacturing units from polysilicon to solar PV modules, will be made. This initiative is expected to produce 60 lakh new employment and an extra 30 lakh crore jobs over the following five years, which is recommendable.
Aakash Chaudhry, Managing Director, Aakash Educational Services Ltd
The Union Budget FY2022-23 is growth-oriented and has put the much-needed impetus on digital education boosting the penetration of learning where online education is still not accessible. To effectively bridge the learning gap created due to the pandemic, efforts such as setting up of the digital university, providing high-quality e-content, expansion of ‘One class, one TV channel’ under the PM e-Vidya scheme, equipping teachers with digital tools, creating virtual labs, promoting critical thinking will not only improve learning outcomes but will also provide students access to world-class universal education with a personalized learning experience at their doorsteps.
By developing syllabus in different languages, focusing on skilling, reskilling and upskilling youth, the Government has demonstrated its commitment towards breaking the glass ceiling and encouraging education in regional languages. Collaboration between public universities and institutions will create a network of the hub-spoke models with competitive mechanisms building a resilient mechanism for education delivery.
The budget aptly addresses last-mile delivery reach with a strong focus on empowering teachers through digitization and the necessity to train students in sync with global standards. The 25-year vision will build an open, digital, connected and inclusive India.
Dr Alok Khullar, CEO, Gleneagles Global Health City, Chennai
The impetus given to the healthcare structure in the last 2 years has benefitted the sector. In today’s budget, the focus on infrastructural development is bound to spur growth and enable accessibility for more people. It is imperative that healthcare infrastructure grows alongside the overall infrastructural development of the country. There is still a need for focused skill development for various healthcare needs which the budget failed to address. The impetus given to the manufacturing sector can facilitate setting up manufacturing units for healthcare devices and equipment in India, thus, reducing the end cost. While the pandemic has unfolded many aspects of healthcare, a lot of mental health problems across all age groups were also witnessed. We welcome the budget’s focus to implement a ‘National Tele Mental Health Programme’ to address the mental health problems and provide counselling & care services. This will create more awareness and also open more avenues in the overall health & wellbeing of an individual. Additionally, the budget aims to roll out a National Digital Health Ecosystem which comes in as a blessing for the public where digital registries of health providers and health facilities, unique health identity, consent framework, and universal access to health facilities will be made available.
