“The Union Budget is woven around three primary themes: aspirational India, economic development for all, and a caring society,” said Nirmala Sitharaman, finance minister, while presenting the Union Budget 2020-2021 in the Lok Sabha or lower house of the Indian Parliament. The Budget speech is keenly watched by other parliamentarians in the house, while a live telecast kept the rest of the nation engrossed.

‘Aspirational India’ refers to an India wherein all sections of the society seek better standards of living, with access to health, education and better jobs. Economic development will become a reality through reforms across swathes of the economy. A caring society is one which is both humane and compassionate.  

What is interesting is that Budget 2020 comes just when its GDP (gross domestic product) growth has been at a staggering 6.1 per cent in the 2019 financial year. A sluggish economy with unemployment levels are concern areas which hopefully the Budget has addressed. And appropriately so, as India – the world’s fifth largest economy – aims to be a $5tn economy by 2025.

The new economy is based on technological innovations that disrupt established business models and re-write the world economic order. India has already embraced new paradigms such as the sharing economy with aggregator platforms thereby displacing conventional businesses. The government has harnessed new technologies to enable direct benefit transfers and financial inclusion on a scale never imagined before.

The Union Budget has been outlined against the backdrop of two crosscutting developments. The first, being the proliferation of technologies like analytics, machine learning, robotics, bio-informatics and artificial intelligence. 

The second aspect is that the number of people in the productive age group, i.e. 15-65 years, in India is at its highest. It’s only natural that employment opportunities are being created in a diverse section of verticals. The Budget has proposed a detailed government-initiated scheme to boost the manufacturing of mobile phones, electronics and semi-conductors. Seen holistically, mobile assembly and tablets happen through electronic equipment.

With this, the community of domestic mobile manufacturers is expected to expand and generate employment. It remains to be seen whether the proposed scheme will lower the prices of iPhones. Nevertheless, this announcement reinforces the government’s vision of the ‘Make in India’ programme. It’s also a step towards establishing India as a location of final assembly for network products.

“In Budget 2020, technology has been clearly recognised as both a disruptor and enabler of new models of business and lifestyles. The government is looking to the future and the next generation of quantum technologies with the announcement of INR 8,000 crore for further R&D in this field,” explained Satya Easwaran, partner and leader, KPMG in India.

The budget has embarked on a national mission for promoting quantum computing and its applications. This is an emerging form of computing. As of now, quantum computing is largely being researched in labs. What we require is its commercial application and one hopes that the Budget gives it the required boost. By doing so, it will position India with globally elite countries. India would probably be the third biggest and a pioneering nation if it can break into this technology.

The proposal of a policy to set up data centre parks throughout the country will drive in more efficiency on data. The development of these parks will encourage the participation of the private sector. This employment-driven move will enable firms to skillfully incorporate data in every step of their value chain.

“Budget 2020 and the finance minister’s speech has well-articulated India’s vision on not just being a leading provider of digital solutions, but one where technology is the bedrock of development and growth,” said Debjani Ghosh, president, Nasscom. The finance minister’s thrust on leveraging emerging technologies for education, healthcare, agriculture and governance will help India address the key challenges of access, affordability and inclusion.

Start-ups are receiving due attention with measures announced to not just provide early life funding from the government to support ideation and development, but to also ensure that innovation and associated intellectual property rights (IPR) can be protected. 

“The budget has clearly recognised the importance of talent, technology and entrepreneurship in the growth of the country. It is commendable to see the continuous commitment of the government to bridge the skill gap and to develop India’s large talent pool, for which the government has allocated Rs 3,000 crore towards skilling,” added Dharmender Kapoor, CEO and MD, Birlasoft.

Goods and Services Tax (GST) has led to efficiency gains in transport and logistics sector. This has benefitted MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises). Consumers have also got an annual benefit of Rs 1tn because of GST. “It is also commendable to see an extra push given to the manufacturing ecosystem in the country. The budget 2020 is a step forward in achieving the nation’s $5tn economy,” felt Kapoor.

The removal of Dividend Distribution Tax (DDT) was a long-pending request from the industry and will benefit companies that have global operations.

India’s foreign direct investment rose to $284bn during the period of 2014-2019, up from $190bn that came in from 2009-2014. Debt, which is the bane of any economy, has been lowered to 48.7 per cent of the GDP in March 2019, down from 52.2 per cent in March 2014.

By 2030, India is set to have the largest working-age population in the world. The country is preparing for it through a New Education Policy that will be announced soon. Meanwhile, student-friendly measures are already being rolled out.

Students in the general stream (vis-à-vis services or technology stream) need to fine tune their employability quotient. About 150 higher educational institutions will start apprenticeship embedded degree/diploma courses by March 2021. Online degree options will be made available to less privileged students as those who do not have access to higher education. This will be applicable to institutions ranked within top 100 in the National Institutional Ranking framework. It is also intended to start a programme whereby urban local bodies will provide internship opportunities to fresh engineers for a period up to one year across the country. 

Finally, a National Police University and a National Forensic Science University are being proposed in the domain of policing science, forensic science and cyber-forensics.

“The Union Budget is woven around three primary themes: aspirational India, economic development for all, and a caring society,” said Nirmala Sitharaman, finance minister, while presenting the Union Budget 2020-2021 in the Lok Sabha or lower house of the Indian Parliament. The Budget speech is keenly watched by other parliamentarians in the house, while a live telecast kept the rest of the nation engrossed.

‘Aspirational India’ refers to an India wherein all sections of the society seek better standards of living, with access to health, education and better jobs. Economic development will become a reality through reforms across swathes of the economy. A caring society is one which is both humane and compassionate.  

What is interesting is that Budget 2020 comes just when its GDP (gross domestic product) growth has been at a staggering 6.1 per cent in the 2019 financial year. A sluggish economy with unemployment levels are concern areas which hopefully the Budget has addressed. And appropriately so, as India – the world’s fifth largest economy – aims to be a $5tn economy by 2025.

The new economy is based on technological innovations that disrupt established business models and re-write the world economic order. India has already embraced new paradigms such as the sharing economy with aggregator platforms thereby displacing conventional businesses. The government has harnessed new technologies to enable direct benefit transfers and financial inclusion on a scale never imagined before.

The Union Budget has been outlined against the backdrop of two crosscutting developments. The first, being the proliferation of technologies like analytics, machine learning, robotics, bio-informatics and artificial intelligence. 

The second aspect is that the number of people in the productive age group, i.e. 15-65 years, in India is at its highest. It’s only natural that employment opportunities are being created in a diverse section of verticals. The Budget has proposed a detailed government-initiated scheme to boost the manufacturing of mobile phones, electronics and semi-conductors. Seen holistically, mobile assembly and tablets happen through electronic equipment.

With this, the community of domestic mobile manufacturers is expected to expand and generate employment. It remains to be seen whether the proposed scheme will lower the prices of iPhones. Nevertheless, this announcement reinforces the government’s vision of the ‘Make in India’ programme. It’s also a step towards establishing India as a location of final assembly for network products.

“In Budget 2020, technology has been clearly recognised as both a disruptor and enabler of new models of business and lifestyles. The government is looking to the future and the next generation of quantum technologies with the announcement of INR 8,000 crore for further R&D in this field,” explained Satya Easwaran, partner and leader, KPMG in India.

The budget has embarked on a national mission for promoting quantum computing and its applications. This is an emerging form of computing. As of now, quantum computing is largely being researched in labs. What we require is its commercial application and one hopes that the Budget gives it the required boost. By doing so, it will position India with globally elite countries. India would probably be the third biggest and a pioneering nation if it can break into this technology.

The proposal of a policy to set up data centre parks throughout the country will drive in more efficiency on data. The development of these parks will encourage the participation of the private sector. This employment-driven move will enable firms to skillfully incorporate data in every step of their value chain.

“Budget 2020 and the finance minister’s speech has well-articulated India’s vision on not just being a leading provider of digital solutions, but one where technology is the bedrock of development and growth,” said Debjani Ghosh, president, Nasscom. The finance minister’s thrust on leveraging emerging technologies for education, healthcare, agriculture and governance will help India address the key challenges of access, affordability and inclusion.

Start-ups are receiving due attention with measures announced to not just provide early life funding from the government to support ideation and development, but to also ensure that innovation and associated intellectual property rights (IPR) can be protected. 

“The budget has clearly recognised the importance of talent, technology and entrepreneurship in the growth of the country. It is commendable to see the continuous commitment of the government to bridge the skill gap and to develop India’s large talent pool, for which the government has allocated Rs 3,000 crore towards skilling,” added Dharmender Kapoor, CEO and MD, Birlasoft.

Goods and Services Tax (GST) has led to efficiency gains in transport and logistics sector. This has benefitted MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises). Consumers have also got an annual benefit of Rs 1tn because of GST. “It is also commendable to see an extra push given to the manufacturing ecosystem in the country. The budget 2020 is a step forward in achieving the nation’s $5tn economy,” felt Kapoor.

The removal of Dividend Distribution Tax (DDT) was a long-pending request from the industry and will benefit companies that have global operations.

India’s foreign direct investment rose to $284bn during the period of 2014-2019, up from $190bn that came in from 2009-2014. Debt, which is the bane of any economy, has been lowered to 48.7 per cent of the GDP in March 2019, down from 52.2 per cent in March 2014.

By 2030, India is set to have the largest working-age population in the world. The country is preparing for it through a New Education Policy that will be announced soon. Meanwhile, student-friendly measures are already being rolled out.

Students in the general stream (vis-à-vis services or technology stream) need to fine tune their employability quotient. About 150 higher educational institutions will start apprenticeship embedded degree/diploma courses by March 2021. Online degree options will be made available to less privileged students as those who do not have access to higher education. This will be applicable to institutions ranked within top 100 in the National Institutional Ranking framework. It is also intended to start a programme whereby urban local bodies will provide internship opportunities to fresh engineers for a period up to one year across the country. 

Finally, a National Police University and a National Forensic Science University are being proposed in the domain of policing science, forensic science and cyber-forensics.