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:
Rajiv Bhalla, MD, Barco India
The emphasis on growth, digitization and being future-ready outlines the government’s commitment to cohesive development and ‘Make in India’. Focus on Gati Shakti masterplan, youth, women, job creation, technology and infrastructure development among others will drive India’s Amrit Kal, a journey from 75 to 100 years as a democracy. India has the potential to be a world-class infrastructure centre, and the Budget has provided enough impetus to propel the same. In addition, we expect the digital ecosystem for skilling will boost human capital and empower industries significantly.
Anuj Puri, Chairman – ANAROCK Group
Providing a broad-spectrum booster shot to the economy, Union Budget 2022-23 is progressive – especially with its emphasis on building the infrastructure of the country. The FM clearly emphasised the top priorities of the government – PM Gati Shakti for sustainable growth, inclusive development, productivity enhancement, and financing of investments. In another major positive, the government’s aim to create 6 million new jobs over the next 5 years will enable the growth of residential real estate across the country.
A Gururaj, MD, Optiemus Electronics Ltd
The industry has been completely galvanized under the pioneering initiative of PLI scheme, with Hon’ble FM today stating that it has the potential to create 60 Lakh new jobs and additional production of 30 lakh crores. This is also a clarion call to the industry to work much harder in the years to come to make it a reality.
On a macro level, the scheme around design-led manufacturing as part of the PLI scheme would fasten the development of the ecosystem, and also changes in customs duty will drive greater domestic value addition in Electronics manufacturing in the country, which has grown rapidly in the last few years.
Kushal Chakravorty, Founder, Lotus Petal Foundation
The budget this year focused on digital learning citing the prolonged closure of schools impacting students’ academic performance. Announcement of new e-learning content delivery platforms in regional languages will improve access and reach of ‘high-quality e-content’ in all languages. 1-Class-1-TV channel will encourage supplementary education to children to make up for the loss of formal education due to the Covid pandemic.
This is a welcome announcement to address significant challenges in education, especially when the Economic Survey 2021-22 stated a significant impact on the Indian education system post-pandemic, and a decline in the enrolment of rural children in the age group of 6-14 years in schools. We hope the enrolment rates for relevant grades will start seeing an increase.
However, a shift towards online education has highlighted concerns of the digital divide. How will this be implemented to cover the underserved communities is what will show real impact. Also, there needed to be more focus on capacity building of teachers to use technology to impart education, which was missing in the budget.
Sanjay Shah, Chief Operating Officer, Wadhwani Foundation -India/SEA
Though the economic growth suffered due to the COVID-19 pandemic, India has still arisen to become one of the most powerful startup powerhouses in the world. The budget for the upcoming financial year promises India’s economic growth to be at 9.2%, with a special focus on inclusive development and financing of investments, among others. I conclusively believe that the startup ecosystem in India is aiming for a positive boom with the help of tax reforms and benefits. The extension in the redemption of taxes by one more year will be an important determining factor for startups reaching IPO valuations. Additionally, the Government’s decision to focus on 5G tech in India opens an array of entrepreneurial and employment-generation opportunities, along with helping every district in India to be exposed more to the world of independent businesses and startups.
Divam Sharma, Co-Founder, Green portfolio
The Budget 2022 is clearly focused on the long term growth of the Indian economy with a thrust on Capex, infrastructure, sustainability, clean energy, technology, skill development and job creation. Reducing the current account deficit and attracting Capex and investments will be a huge positive for the Indian economy which is positioning itself as a contender for China plus one. Government looks focused on using ideas to bring efficiencies, use technology, and look at inclusive sustainable growth increasing focus on clean energy. FM has struck all the right cords considering inflation and lack of fiscal room for the Government in this budget. This budget is a huge positive for the markets as there were no negative surprises and is going to ensure continuity of attractiveness of the Indian economy.
Vikram Kumar, Co-founder, MyTat( Skilling Startup)
Budget 2022 gave a major and much-needed thrust to digital skilling with initiatives like Digital DESH. Emphasis on a digital ecosystem for skilling and livelihood points to the much-needed market-oriented digital skills development.
