Aravind SundaramBusiness leaders across India and across industries are keen on sharing their thoughts on the 2022 budget presented on February 01, 2022. Thought Habitat is more than happy to recognize all their thoughts on the budget.
Vikram Khurana, Chairman of Toronto Business Development Centre
The measures announced in the 2022 Union Budget are progressive and recognize the potential of startups in generating economic activity. Creating favourable tax policies towards deferral of taxes on profit, give the startups a chance to raise capital, create employment by providing a sort of payroll rebate, and an opportunity to redeploy capital in operations.
Capital is the lifeblood of startups and creating policies that make more capital available to startups by co-investing with private players provides an opportunity to risk share, and a more meaningful quantum of capital than the private sector alone would provide.
Promoting the use of proven technologies such as drones in backbone sectors such as agriculture brings entrepreneurship to rural India, in addition to providing real benefits to users in improving the conservation of water, monitoring crops, and other more innovative uses. The budget is certainly a step in the right direction.
Rajesh Venkat, Co-Founder, Coin Wealth
With the announcements on virtual digital assets, the Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has hit three birds with one stone.
- India has been a leader in the technology efforts in the segment and these pronouncements further cement the path to making India a thriving economic ecosystem.
- Two, we believe that clear tax guidelines are the first step to further policy in an asset class. The proposal to include clause 47A defining a Virtual Digital Asset is an affirmative step in that regard. Taxation will also provide vital info to the government about the transaction volumes and direction of flows to be able to make better decisions around future regulations.
- Three, there is new-found legitimacy attached to crypto that will galvanize startups and new projects in this sector to choose India as the destination to operate from. The FinMin has taken commendable steps towards this goal.
Ravi Chandra, CEO, MedPay
The announcements made in the Union Budget 2022-23 by the Honourable Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman present a roadmap for India’s digital future. We want to thank the government for extending financial support for digital payments which will continue in the fiscal year and this step will go a long way in promoting better, economical, and user-friendly digital payment platforms for financial inclusion.
The government has accelerated efforts to develop a digital health ecosystem in the country and the announcement of digital registries of health providers and health facilities, unique health identity, and universal access to health facilities is the need of the hour.
Most importantly, the Union Budget has taken a very progressive step to check the rising number of mental health cases in the country by announcing a National Tele Mental Health program. This will be a great help for those who are seeking support for their mental health problems such as depression, stress, anxiety, and other related disorders.
Dr. Azad Moopen, Founder Chairman and Managing Director, Aster DM Healthcare
Digital registries of health providers and health facilities, unique health identity and universal access to health facilities under the National Digital Health Mission are positive steps towards enabling access to healthcare for the wider population. Similarly, we are glad that mental health and the challenges put forward by the pandemic are being tackled at a National level with the launch of Tele-Mental Health Programme. Upgrade of 2 lakh Anganwadis with better facilities will further enable the primary healthcare system and much needed healthcare support in remote & rural areas.
While it is good to see that the focus on Digitisation, Sustainability, Energy Conservation and Development of Infrastructure has taken a clear precedence in Union Budget 2022, the allocation towards Healthcare is not to the level we anticipated. Coming out of the shadows of the pandemic, it is most important to allocate at least 3% of the Budget to healthcare.
Sarvagya Mishra, Co-founder & Director, SuperBot (PinnacleWorks)
The government has insisted on the development of digital infrastructure. Especially, in the education sector, the government has realised the need for a nationwide eVidya programme and digital university. This also opens prospects for new age tech startups to collaborate and contribute in establishing a robust digital infrastructure along with the government.
New businesses have been leveraging technologies like AI, machine learning and data analytics, and have presented successful implications which might come handy in enabling the national education projects.
Ankit Gaur, DGM – Marketing & Sales, Livpure
This budget of 2022 which was announced by FM Nirmala Sitharaman stating that India is going to provide duty concessions for certain electronics manufacturers and thus provide much needed relief for those sectors.
The budget will also be introducing the next phase of doing business and also will be launching ease of living. It will also encourage the private sector to create sustainable and innovative business models for battery and energy as a service, improving the efficiency in the EV ecosystem.
India is growing at a phenomenal pace with it being highest in all major economies, and this country is now in a significant position to withstand external pressures. We now have the goal which is complemented with micro-all-inclusive welfare, digital economy and fintech, tech-enabled development, energy transition and climate action. This budget is also poised to provide an impetus to growth and initiate an economic recovery taking advantage of public investments and capital spending.
Dr. Vijay Patil, Chancellor of DY Patil University
The government’s ‘equal education for all’ approach can positively change the dynamics of the education sector and can transform the country into a centre of education excellence.
The newly announced formation of a digital university to provide access to world-class education to Indian students will go a long way in making education accessible and student-friendly.
The inclusiveness of digital learning citing the prolonged closure of schools will also play a catalyst in the academic development of the students in the country and speed up academic recovery caused due to the pandemic. Additionally, the proposed ‘hub and spoke’ model will diminish any gaps in the system caused due to language barriers and the regional language syllabus will make education a home-coming experience for students especially in rural India.
Also, collaboration of the university with central universities in the country will not just provide the required digital infrastructure and training but will be able to forge deeper connections with students through customized and local experiences.
Furthermore, the roll out of 5G services by 2022-23 is likely to boost connectivity especially in the rural areas and most crucially will assist in flexible learning infrastructure. The expansion of SWAYAM PRABHA TV under the PM e-vidya scheme from 12 channels to 200 will enable states to provide supplementary education and empower them to build youth with ‘future-ready’ skills, the nucleus of economic growth and development.
New skill development courses will also help in bridging the skill gap in the country while equipping human resources with the knowledge and expertise to fulfil ‘jobs of tomorrow.’Also the implementation of the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme will encourage the formation and growth of more indigenous brands necessitating the need for talent that can propel the speed of development by minimizing time on ‘on-the-job’ learning.
Mayank Bathwal – CEO, Aditya Birla Health Insurance
This year, the budget has kept growth at its core along with a focus on rapid digitisation. The announcement of the National Digital Health Ecosystem is a path breaking step that will aid in creating a digital backbone for an integrated healthcare delivery in India. This digitalisation drive will enable deeper penetration and acceptance of health insurance, improve accessibility while also making it affordable.
Keshav Bhajanka, Executive Director, CenturyPly
Union budget 2022 has been a remarkable one in its effort to give boost for infrastructural development The increase in capital expenditure by 35% i.e., 7.5 lac crores is going to give tremendous impetus not only to the infrastructure sector, but also to overall real estate, steel, cement and others.The investment in Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojna where our government aims to create 8 Million new homes at a capital expenditure of 48000 crores will ensure sustained thrust on the housing sector.
Focus on logistics will further be developed through investment in PM Gati Shakti Yojna with the promise to build 25000 km of road infrastructure in the current year. Beneficial steps have been taken for the corporate sector as well such as an increase in the time period to establish a new manufacturing unit for availing the 15% lower tax rate from March’23 – March’24. Hence, the budget 2022 overall looks promising to propel India’s economic growth forward.
Ajay Kumar Mall, Managing Director, Mallcom India Limited
The Budget presented today is highly growth oriented as a lot of impetus has been given to infrastructure development. Also, the fact that the SEZ ACT is going to be modified is a welcome move because a lot of SEZ Units needs to be revamped to increase competitiveness for local as well as the export market.
Apart from this, there has been a great news in the garment and the footwear industry where a lot of imports of trims and embellishments has been allowed duty free which is a great step to boost the trade.
Capital goods imports, project imports at a reduced duty of 7.5% is also a welcome move that will lead to a lot of capital investments in the infra sector and help in boosting of trade.
Dr Prathap C Reddy, Chairman, Apollo Hospitals Group
During the pandemic, we saw an immense contribution of start-ups to innovation in healthcare and the extension of the tax benefits for another year should encourage more start-ups in the healthtech space to come up and invest in R&D especially in the field of AI powered smart wearables and predictive healthcare. This will in turn be invaluable in strengthening our fight against non-communicable diseases, which can otherwise derail the economic recovery by impacting our productive demographic.
“The budget keeps us on track on enabling universal health accessibility with the proposed National Digital Health Ecosystem. With digital registries of health providers and health facilities, unique health identity for each individual, this will help in providing universal access to health facilities. Along with the national tele-mental health program, this shows the enhanced focus on health. At Apollo Hospitals, we look forward to contributing to the success of these path-breaking initiatives along with rest of the private sector healthcare.
Deepak Yadav, Founder, GreenSat Innovation Labs Pvt Ltd.
The budget for 2022 has given both impetus and direction to the Agri-tech revolution, which has been gaining momentum in the country for the last few years. With the rapid penetration of technology and agriculture being the primary industry; it is encouraging to see the government take steps towards the promotion of this trend.
The introduction of funding for start-ups via Nabard will help resolve the seed capital issues faced by numerous entrepreneurs. Today, data has become crucial for the success of almost every activity. In agriculture, thorough data analysis and data-based predictions are critical aspects that aid in improving the income of farmers, yield quantity, and quality of output.
The announcement of steps like stress on Digital land records, India’s own digital currency, and increased usage of drones will establish a Big Data culture in the agriculture sector. These measures will make it easier for tech-backed agri-tech companies to reach out to an expanded set of farmers. With this budget, one can say that the gap between Indian farmers and prosperity is getting bridged with each passing day.
Amit Gainda, CEO, Avanse Financial Services
Union Budget 2022 focused on some of the progressive pillars, which are inclusive development, productivity enhancement, energy transition, and climate action, and thus, it can be rightly termed as the Booster Budget 2022. Diverse structured announcements have been made to provide an impetus to the growth of the economy.
We believe that some of the announcements have the potential to impact the overall education and the education financing sectors positively.
Providing necessary support to the education ecosystem was an integral part of the Union Budget 2022. In the last two years, school and college closures had a significant impact on learning. The proposal for creating a digital university, designed to impart lessons in all regional languages through a network of ‘hub and spoke’, and the launch of new e-learning content delivery platforms will accelerate the expansion of the ed-tech segment, thereby contributing to a surge in the education sector.
The announcements such as the alignment of the National Skill Qualification Framework with dynamic industry needs, the launch of DESH-Stack e-portal, promotion of Drone-As-A-Service (DrAAS), Battery Swapping Policy to improve efficiency in the EV ecosystem will contribute towards the introduction of several new skill sets that young learners and professionals can embrace to be future-ready. We, as an education-focused organization, are geared up to support the aspirants to acquire the necessary skills to contribute positively.
Keep watching this space for more updates!
Aravind Sundaram
Guest Author
