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:
Kamal Khetan, Chairman and MD, Sunteck Realty Ltd
the budget is a capex-oriented budget, covering all major macro-economic growth engines, that includes infrastructure, housing and MSME sectors. The government’s focus on the creation of 80 lakh affordable housing units by 2023 and allocation of Rs. 48000 crores towards the PM Awas Yojana, will go long way to support housing and allied sectors.
The Real estate sector is bouncing back from post-pandemic, and the proposal of expanding highways in the country by 25,000 kilometres and focusing on urban infrastructure will give it the support it requires. To bring trust and transparency to the whole sector, the government’s ‘One Nation, One Registration Software’ will prove to be a pivotal step. The process promises to bring uniformity to ‘anywhere registration’ of deeds and documents and ease the systemic lock jam.
Dr GSK Velu, Chairman & Managing Director, Trivitron Healthcare & Neuberg Diagnostics
As expected, Budget 22-23 was a balanced effort to improve overall economic growth. Today, the healthcare sector in India is at a much stronger position than ever before. Measures introduced in Budget 2022-23 will further strengthen the healthcare sector while focusing on prevailing challenges.
The rollout of a National Digital Health Ecosystem will ensure that all segments of the society are able to access affordable and adequate healthcare in a seamless and efficient manner. Such an ecosystem can potentially make universal healthcare a reality for India.
Further, the fact that mental health counselling and care services found a place in the budget is a testament to how far we have come as a country. Inarguably, the Covid pandemic has adversely affected the mental health of the population at large. Thus, the launch of a National Tele Mental Health program can play a catalytic role in both normalising conversations around mental health as well as ensuring that people are able to seek support for mental health-related challenges.
Though there was not much for the medical devices industry directly in the Budget, the industry will benefit from the Government’s increased focus on healthcare. The National healthcare mission outlay has been kept at ~37,000 crores like the previous year and this is a bit disappointing, considering the fact our healthcare infrastructure needs a big boost in the coming years. The demand from all healthcare experts was to increase healthcare outlay in the current budget.
Dr Silpi Sahoo, Chairperson, SAI International Education Group
Right from the Finance Minister’s use of a Tablet to propose the budget explained that India is on the path of a digital revolution in the near future. As expected the government has well thought to reduce the digital learning gap between the urban and rural by introducing ‘1-Class-1-TV channel” covering multiple regional languages, which will not only counter the Learning losses but will bridge the learning gap. The PM’s e-Vidya will be further expanded from 12 to 200 channels to facilitate supplementary learning.
For the implementation of NEP 2020 great stress is implied on shifting the focus on Upskilling, therefore the launch of Digital DESH e-portal for skilling, upskilling and reskilling will be the key to newer dynamics. To develop the 21st-century skills of critical thinking amongst students setting up virtual labs and skilling e-labs will be valuable. To enable quality learning for each child quality e-content will be made through various means. Teachers will be trained to use better e-teaching outcomes and enhancement of learning experiences. Huge focus was laid on e-services in rural areas, it is proposed that all the villages will be laid with optical fibres by 2025, and villages will be at par with the urban areas.
Setting up of Digital University is a great step towards accessibility of quality world-class education for all. As per the NEP 2020, Foreign Universities will be set up and Gujarat to set up the model Foreign University to make education accessible for all.
An increase in the overall financial allocation for the education sector for 2022-23 to Rs 1.04 lakh crore from Rs 93,224 crore (Budget estimate) in 2021-22 in view of Samagra Shiksha is certainly a welcome move. It’s a great education budget; belling the cat at the right time through the implementation is to be thought upon. We are looking forward to a quick implementation of the proposals.
Anurag Garg, Managing Director & Country Head, Vitesco Technologies, India
In the budget 2022-23, there are so many important announcements that will be helpful for the Indian automotive segment paving their way into the EV segment and the manufacturing sector at large. Continuing with the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ stride from last year, there is a continuous strong push towards building self-reliance in manufacturing and localization in this budget too. This year the government has shown major attention to the overall digitalization of various services and pushing clear air & sustainability as one of the most important highlights.
We appreciate the heightened emphasis in respect to the EV segment, the introduction of the new policy for battery swapping will encourage the use of electric vehicles. We also look forward to seeing further action to step up initiatives to boost EV infrastructure and EV ecosystem to achieve its broader decarbonization goals and support clear air resolutions. With additional increased focus on expanding EV infrastructure across the country, with more EV charging stations to help vehicle owners to shift to electric cars without the lesser worry of connectivity, these decisions were much needed at this period to boost usage of EVs.
Dr Mona Lisa Bal, Chairperson, KIIT International School
The Union Budget 2022 is a hit and miss for the education sector. While it has finally addressed and recognized the learning loss the pandemic has created, the need to develop the digital infrastructure of the country was not adequately focused on the budget. The economically disadvantaged students especially in rural areas have lost essential years of education and the introduction of supplementary teachers was highly necessary. Supplementary education can help bridge the gap to a large extent. The increase of ‘One Class One TV Channel’ from 12 to 200 TV Channels to provide supplementary education in regional languages for classes 1-12 is a welcome move but it will not be enough. It is important that we adapt our education system, pedagogies, and assessments according to the changing times. Upskilling is the need of the hour. Thus, the launch of the Digital DESH e-portal for skilling, upskilling and reskilling will be key to adapting to the shifting dynamics of our present. Setting up of virtual labs and skilling e-labs will be valuable in developing critical thinking amongst students.
Access to high-quality e-content can help enhance the quality of education received by students. Making this accessible in regional languages additionally is a positive step towards a wholesome education. The development of a digital university to provide access to students for world-class quality education with ISTE Standards will be beneficial in the long run by making education available for a wider audience through the power of the internet. However, the much-needed increase in budget allotment for the education sector was missed. Further constructive measures towards digitization and resuming physical classes are needed.
Gautam Malhotra, Managing Director, FuelBuddy
The Union budget 2022 is a bold and growth-oriented budget with a huge Capex of Rs 7.50 lakh crore provided for infrastructure. This marks a jump of 35.4 per cent in Capex to fund various infrastructure projects in FY 2022-23. This is a positive move for a door-to-door fuel-delivery company like FuelBuddy which will witness higher overall demand for fuel especially diesel, as the big infrastructure push will accelerate sales of heavy earth moving equipment, commercial vehicles and fleets. We stay committed to creating a robust supply chain delivery mechanism for our customers.
Simran Lekhi, Founder, Kidstack
The Budget 2022 gives a further push to Entrepreneurs in India by extending the Tax Rebate for start-ups till March 2023. Unlike the 2021 Budget, which emphasized “vocal for local” Toys, this year lacked a dedicated policy for promoting domestic manufacturing. Creating a domestic task force to serve the global demand in the Gaming, Animation and Visual Effects Sector is another boost for the Toys & Gaming Industry. Apart from digitizing education, we also need to look at prioritizing play in our classrooms, especially for younger children who have lost 2 formative years due to the pandemic.
