IT Industry give thumbs up to Union Budget 2022

 The IT Industry of India on Tuesday welcomed the Union Budget 2022 presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Parliament. Here is a mixed reactions of IT companies 

Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairperson & CEO Salesforce India

“Overall, this is a budget with a long-term vision supported by growth oriented policies driving job creation, digital inclusion, climate action and infrastructure development and therefore, is very timely for our country. As we continue to digitally transform, the focus on bolstering digital payments with a consumer-friendly lens, will continue to augment digital adoption across regional India. As a knowledge economy, I cannot emphasise enough on the importance of skilling to lead the digital disruption. Initiatives to drive skilling, reskilling and upskilling, digitally, will ensure we are ready for the digital future much ahead of the curve. Lastly, climate change is the most pressing global crisis that humanity is facing today impacting every individual, institution, government, community, and business. Investments in energy transition and climate action will take us on our path to sustainable development.”

Kulmeet Bawa, President and Managing Director, SAP Indian Subcontinent

“The budget announcement deserves applause as it takes a stance to address the two biggest needs of the hour: inclusive digital development and climate action. This monumental decision will help drive the country towards a self-reliant future, by prioritizing positive economic growth and an optimistic outlook towards sustainability. Overall, India is setting itself up for a digital first approach by focusing on the much needed digital push that results in holistic job creation, skilling and overall improvement of the population’s livelihood as the nation recovers from the impact of the pandemic,”

Rajesh Maurya, Regional Vice President, India and SAARC, Fortinet

“In this budget the Government has made a strong economic statement with its focus on public investments to spur growth. Forward looking and catering to an aspirational Digital India the budget once again lays its emphasis on technology with the launch of Digital Currency using blockchain, Digital University for education in different Indian languages, roll out of 5G and boost to Start-ups.

Climate action is among the top 4 priorities for the Government. Climate change continues to pose a significant threat, and all business and public organizations across the country must do their part to address it.

Skilling programs and partnerships with industry will be re-oriented to promote continuous skilling avenues, sustainability, and employability. The launch of Desh-Stack e-portal will provide the ecosystem for skilling and livelihood. Fortinet has been dedicated to closing the cybersecurity skills gap by making all its NSE self-paced training courses free for everyone. We will further build on this commitment with a pledge to train 1 million people across the globe in the next 5 years.

Essential services, Digital currency and the sensitivity of the information the government holds all calls for a shared responsibility in protecting valuable data and digital assets. Smart planning, doing the cybersecurity basics and leveraging the increasing convergence of networking and security are keys to ensuring that all services can operate efficiently and securely.”

Shailendra Katyal, Managing Director, Lenovo PC and smart devices business Group (PCSD) India &  Site Leader, Lenovo India

“A welcome budget with investment-led growth and push on capital expenditure to fuel economic revival, digitization and employment generation. Calibration of custom duty rates will help local manufacturing of electronic products including computers. With the increased focus on ‘Skilling and providing employment in India’ in this budget, we are confident that local manufacturing will be encouraged and will further bolster the Indian smartphone market, as well as IT services and IT infrastructure markets. We also believe the focus on 5G technology will help in higher peak data speeds, more reliability, increased network capacity and a more uniform user experience. As a global technology leader, we believe these initiatives by the government and the paradigm shift to hybrid models for learning and working will lead to an accelerated adoption of technology in both consumer and enterprise segments.”

Ankit Agarwal, MD, STL(Sterlite Technologies)

“We believe that this budget will prove to be a Shot in the Arm for accelerating India’s Digital, Domestic and Defence ambitions. On the one side, it addresses digital connectivity for all through optical fibre and digital services in 100% of the villages by 2025. On the other side, it sets the foundation for India’s 5G readiness through spectrum auctions, R&D impetus, USOF allocation along with a boost for domestic manufacturing through a timely ‘Design-led manufacturing’ scheme. The move to allocate 68% of the Defence capital procurement budget for domestic players is also a positive stepping stone towards self-reliance in hi-tech manufacturing. At a macroeconomic level,  a 35.4% increase in capital expenditure will bring necessary investments and drive consumption. As India braces to reap benefits from this progressive budget, greater policy impetus for procedural simplification, such as single window clearances and more conducive models for private public investments, would act as a multiplier.

 From a longer-term perspective,  more Government investment in digital infrastructure would be absolutely essential for building a robust digital economy.  In this context, a digital-first budget philosophy that focuses on digitalization of ministries’ budgetary allocations will ensure across the board acceleration of public services in addition to enhanced connectivity.”

​Vishal Agrawal, MD, India and SAARC, Avaya

“We appreciate the government’s continuous focus on the technology sector with the Budget 2022-23. With the ongoing pandemic, the National Digital Health Ecosystem will act as boon to the healthcare workers as it will entail digital registries of health providers, health facilities, unique health identity and universal access to health facilities making their processes digitised and hence, seamless and simplified. At Avaya, we have been contributing to the industry in form of ‘remote healthcare’ for patient care. With social distancing becoming the new norm, frontline responders and healthcare institutions have swiftly adopted collaborative tools and cloud-based solutions to ensure continuity in providing quality healthcare. We look forward to assisting the government with this initiative.

 We also welcome the announcements on 5G rollout and PLI scheme as it will boost R&D, generate job opportunities, and enable enhanced connectivity across the country. In the last 2 years, Avaya has helped over 2 million people work remotely without disruptions and ensure business continuity and resilience for various organizations across verticals. Therefore, we appreciate the government moving towards a direction which will enhance hybrid work which indeed is the future of workplace.

 The Government has also allocated INR 50,000 crore equity infusion in MSMEs which will further strengthen their digital transformation journey. With Avaya being one of the leading global companies in the communications space, we look forward to helping MSMEs create unique customer experiences and scale up with the help of our robust and collaborative solutions.

 We are also thrilled about government’s announcement around data centers and digital infrastructure boost, and look forward to collectively contribute to the goal of a 5 trillion economy.”

Amit Chadha, CEO and MD, L&T Technology Services

Digital Engineering is the future and steps taken today will shape the country’s journey ahead on this. And the announcements under Union Budget appear to precisely embrace this proactive approach as the fundamental impetus has been on leveraging digital technologies to further the nation’s growth and march ahead. As a pure-play ER&D services provider, our belief is that such a mass scale enablement of the digital ecosystem will also result in complementing uptake of digital engineering capabilities resulting in the country maintaining its strong hold as a global preferred destination for engineering services.

Milind Borate, Co- founder and Chief Development Officer, Druva

“The government recognizes that as it puts its thrust on digital transformation to usher in economic growth the human capital of the nation needs to be modernized, digitally empowered and rightly skilled, and this is a very welcome move. The DESH- Stack eportal and the formation of a digital university are all steps in the right direction and a major push towards upskilling & reskilling that should go a long way in addressing skill gaps and employability issues of the industry.”

Alok Dubey, Chief Financial Officer, Acer India

“The Union Budget announced today showcased the government’s initiative towards Digital Transformation. From announcing a Digital University, for online learning to high-quality e-content across languages will enable the youth to skill, upskill and reskill themselves. These programs under digital learning and the connectivity expansion will further strengthen the availability and accessibility of internet in rural areas.

 With Govt infrastructure spending push, we are likely to see more employment and growth opportunities and enhanced private sector investment in manufacturing. We are confident that the exemption of duty on parts of select electronic items will further boost the domestic manufacturing of electronics goods under the PLI scheme. Overall, the Union Budget 2022-23 is a promising budget and a step forward towards ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’.”

Rajeev Singh, MD, BenQ India 

“The budget paves way for a digital savvy India, impacting betterment and quality of life and ease of doing business. We are glad that the Government of India, is cognizant and working towards boosting the digital infrastructure and economy. The emphasis on e-infrastructure in education is laudable. Fostering creativity with virtual labs and skilling e-labs for simulated learning environment will uplift education standards.

Expansion of PM’s one class, one TV channel program – eVIDYA from 12 to 200 TV channels, Digital University and the initiative of laying optical fiber by 2025 under Bharat Net will uplift broadband connectivity in rural areas, enabling all states to provide supplementary education in regional languages for K-12 classes. This will further increase the demand for advanced hybrid displays which in turn will give a boost to the virtual classroom and Blended & Hybrid Learning. Further, reduced alternate minimum tax rates, surcharges, concessional tax, and new tax schemes for newly incorporated manufacturing entities will uplift the ‘Gati’ of domestic manufacturing and fasten up economic growth. We look forward to a digital-first India in every front.”

Kunal Bahl, Co-founder & CEO, Snapdeal

“This is the Digital Revolution Budget. We welcome the government’s emphasis on creating new digital touchpoints to empower multiple aspects of our society and supercharge the startup ecosystem. New initiatives across currency, banking, education, skilling, health, passports, and logistics will enable a large part of the country to benefit from India’s growing digital revolution. The government’s focus on augmenting India’s road, rail, and telecom infrastructure will help further accelerate growth opportunities across Bharat.”

Sharath Srinivasamurthy, Research Director, Enterprise Solutions & ICT Practice, IDC India around the IT Industry

“India has seen accelerated technology adoption in the last couple of years and the budget seems to propel this adoption even further. Open platform for the national digital health ecosystem, introduction of core banking in post offices, digital ecosystem for skilling and livelihood and confirmation of 5G spectrum auction in 2022 will push technology adoption across government, private and consumer segments. Most of these initiatives will result in large scale digitalization projects and the expertise of Indian IT industry can be well leveraged to execute such initiatives. The budget is also forward looking as government has taken a sensible approach towards digital currencies as no government can afford to ignore the proliferation of technologies like blockchain.”

Sushant Gupta, Founder & CEO of SG Analytics

“The Union budget 2022 is certainly growth-oriented & futuristic as it covers different facets of technology and embraces digital adoption widely. Whether it is the introduction of a New Digital Rupee or Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), legitimizing private cryptocurrencies & NFT (with 30% tax imposition on virtual assets), Digital Universities, or Digitization of Post Offices, the list is ambitious and futuristic. The thrust and focus on digital technology are certainly welcomed and appreciated. Also, very timely and heartening is the focus on inclusive development, energy transition, and climate action as three of the four pillars of development.

I wholeheartedly welcome the decision regarding the provision of green jobs and the acknowledgment of new-age entrepreneurship and its drivers.”

Arvind Kumar, DG, STPI (Software Technology Parks of India)