According to tech industry, Prime Minister Narendra Modi government has continued to stress upon digitalisation as reflected in the interim budget 2019. The industry is of the views that digitalisation is going to play a key role in achieving sustainable growth and development. Also, the government aim to achieve one lakh digital villages in the next 5 years will pave the way for India to emerge as one amongst the leading digital economies, across the globe. Here're the views of heads of technology industry in on interim Budget 2019.
Satya Kalyan Yerramsetti, Founder & CEO, Telebu
The government has continued to stress upon digitalisation, as reflected in the interim budget 2019 announcement. In the words of the interim Finance Minister, digitalisation is going to play a key role in achieving sustainable growth and development. The government further aims to achieve one lakh digital villages in the next 5 years and we believe that it is going to pave the way for India to emerge as one amongst the leading digital economies, across the globe.
The current plans and aspirations of the government will also boost the rural digital economy. At Telebu, we are excited to be part of this wave of change, as it helps accelerate our overall goal of proliferating into rural, as well as tier-2 and tier-3 cities. We will continue to build innovative enterprise communication products for Indian enterprises, MSMEs, start-ups, non-profit organisations and more.
Varun Rathi, COO and Co-Founder, Happay
This is certainly a budget with full of long term vision and the government is undoubtedly poised towards building India into a stronger economy which is modern and technology-driven. Digitization and automation has clearly become the new mantra of the government- the 10 dimensions for Vision 2030 reinforces the importance of technology in transforming India. Additionally, the step to create a portal on artificial intelligence will help the common man to understand the importance of AI.
Data is the backbone of AI. Currently, there is a lack of structured data availability in India. Having said that, this doesn't look infeasible at all and timing couldn't be better than this to launch a nationwide AI center. UIDAI, NPCI and GST council has laid the foundation of the most important piece of the puzzle – getting the identity, demographic, financial and skills data recorded in a structured manner. An AI council can now start laying some ground rules and create a regulated and open platform for anyone to innovate and create value for India.
Mayank Bhangadia, CEO & Co-Founder, Roposo
The government has delivered what it promised. The budget is, indeed, a huge relief for anyone and everyone. From farmers to startups, every person in India will benefit from this budget. It was really important to digitise rural India and show them the importance of Internet. The announcements of digitising 1 lakh digital villages in the next 5 years will prove to be just that. Tax exemption – the biggest announcement – is a massive relief for the middle class. Entrepreneurship is being promoted, which will clearly lead to jobs being created. The government has picked the pulse of job creation by boosting entrepreneurship, something which will most definitely lead to creation of jobs, especially for the youth. If that was not enough, the budget has taken care of unskilled laborers as well.
Takayuki Inaba, Managing Director, NEC Technologies India
The Government's effort towards using advanced technology like AI for masses is a welcome step. AI has been one of the biggest technological advancements in the recent past. The government's vision of developing a national program on AI will set the implementation process in motion and help people and government immensely. Identifying priority areas for AI hubs will streamline the development work in the AI domain and give a certain direction to the start-ups working on this technology. All these efforts will promote the use of technology and digitisation and play an important role in the development of the economy.
Gaurav Gupta, Co-founder and CEO, MyLoanCare
Budget 2019 was an opportunity for the government to provide the much-needed relief deserving sections of the society and it lived up to the expectations by rolling out many such measures in budget. The tax payers finally earned praise and reward of their contribution to nation building as the government increased the income tax exemption limit to Rs 5 lakh and an increase in standard deduction limit. Similarly, the farm sector has been extended direct income support, the GST compliant MSMEs get easy access to loans and the unorganized sector has now been covered under a pension scheme, the first of its kind in India.
The real estate sector and home buyers can cheer for measures such as capital gains tax exemption on gains of upto Rs 2 crore even if sale proceeds are invested in two properties and extending the tax exemption on notional rent on unsold real estate inventory to two years instead of 1 year earlier. The budget also highlights government's commitment towards rapid digitalization, online economy and simplification of tax procedures which should further improve ease of living and ease of doing business in India. Though the fintech sector wasn't a prime focus as it has always been over the recent years, we are of the view that fintech-centric collaborations will also be announced during the full budget later this year.
Anil Valluri, President, India & SAARC Operations, NetApp
The Government, in its Budget 2019 has articulated a compelling vision for India, both for the medium and long term. It has provided direction, and a finite and ambitious goal for India, of becoming a USD 10 trillion economy by 2030. I look forward to the details and to the Government marking progress against it. For the short term, this is a budget that has something for everyone, but more particularly the middle class, the agricultural community and marginalized sections of society. The sense of inclusion, financial as well as welfare is welcome and much needed to build the force for a stronger nation that can march towards what I call Vision 2030.
