Budget reaction quotes for Union Budget 2023
Amit Chadha, CEO & MD, L&T Technology Services
"The Union Budget 2023 has shown a strong focus on boosting digital infrastructure and adoption, which is a positive sign for the technology industry. It was also encouraging to see Hon'ble Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman share her vision of "making AI in India and making AI work for India”, further highlighting the importance of building a strong AI ecosystem in India. We welcome the government’s move towards developing three AI excellence centres and 100 5G labs, as well as introducing the National Data Governance Bill, which will open up a wide range of opportunities for business growth and employment generation. As a pure-play ER&D services provider, our belief is that such a mass scale enablement of digital transformation and innovation will unlock the full potential of the Indian engineering and technology sector. It 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.”
* Venkatraman Narayanan, MD & CFO, Happiest Minds Technologies
“Digital has emerged as the hallmark of Union Budget announced today. Be it setting up of AI-focused CoEs, or Unified Digital Skilling platform, the role of digital technologies is empathetically at the forefront of India's economic rise. It will be interesting to see how the paperless digital locker based documentation storage and management for citizens shapes up, as accordingly it promises to open up a wave of opportunities in the domestic market related to cyber security, cloud, AI and ML. While tax exceptions on exports are a welcome step, certain breather on corporate tax would have complemented it well.
Overall, it is a sound and holistic budget devised to ensure upliftment, empowerment and inclusivity to all.”
* Mr. Girirajan Murugan, CEO, FundsIndia
“We welcome the union Budget 2023, as the announcements made in the Budget are a testament to the Government's commitment to fostering a stable and inclusive financial landscape. The government has raised capital expenditure, shown fiscal prudence and declared the new personal income tax regime as default. With greater emphasis on the rural sector, social sector schemes, infrastructure creation, and for the middle-income group we think that the budget is financially prudent for the people. I am confident that these measures will not only benefit the industry but also contribute to the overall economic growth of the country. We look forward to leveraging these opportunities to provide innovative and accessible financial services to our customers and drive progress in the sector."
* Manish Mimani, Founder & CEO, Protectt.ai on the Union Budget 2023
“It is encouraging to see the government focus on building a digitally-driven nation in the Union Budget. By expanding innovative services in the fintech space, along with announcing the vision of Make AI in India and Make AI Work for India, we have a lot to look forward. Though not explicitly highlighted in the Budget, we can also expect to see the cybersecurity landscape evolve and benefit from increased use of AI in operations, products, and services. In addition, the government’s relief measures for startups in areas of tax benefits and setting off losses comes as a welcome move, and will go a long way in encouraging the Indian startup ecosystem to continue to innovate.”
* Dr Saundarya Rajesh, Founder – President, Avtar Group
The Union Budget 2023 by Smt. Nirmala Sitaraman, Honorable Minister of Finance, Government of India presented as the Last Mile Inclusion budget has covered the cohorts such as indigenous tribes, youth, MSME's, women and senior citizens with a potentially impactful list of benefits being offered to them. The sustainable city program is an applaudable move for it is one of the key inclusion measures required to increase women’s workforce participation. When there is a focus on capital expenditure spending on infrastructure, it is bound to have a ripple effect on women’s employment. As per Avtar's recent report on Top Cities for Women in India report, more industrial investment in cities result in ecosystem infrastructure improving including day care facilities, commute facilities and medical amenities. This can act as a catalyst to enable women's employment, thereby improving women's workforce participation in the country. However, despite our President of India expressing concerns over the skewed gender ratio in economic activity, no specific schemes for the urban working women have been announced. As per the data available, between 2019-20 and 2020-21, rural women’s labour force participation rate (LFPR) increased from 33% to 36.5%, while urban women’s LFPR fell from 23.3% to 23.2%. There has not been a significant rise in this population, a talent segment that contributes significantly to the country’s GDP. If women’s workforce participation has to burgeon, then corporates have to be incentivized to hire and sustain this underrepresented talent pool. The only silver lining is the heavy focus on skilling – the Unified Skilling Platform and its link to MSMEs, a sector that has the potential to boost women’s workforce participation.
* Mr. Prabhat Chaturvedi,CEO, Netafim Agricultural Financing Agency Pvt. Ltd. (NAFA)
Today’s union budget announcement is a testimony to policymaker’s intent of touching every aspect of the economy. Formation of National Financial Information Registry to serve as a central repository of financial and ancillary information is an excellent decision. It is a smart step and will aid in solving the problem of lending, foster financial stability and encourage financial inclusion in the country by aggregated data. It will support smaller NBFCS to bring cost-effective credit underwritings, particularly focused on MSMEs. It will also help to conclude End-to-end digital processing efficiently with standard checks and balances within prompt turnaround time. The Vivad Se Vishwas initiative will boost the confidence of entities dealing with MSMEs as it covers the performance risk. The announced measure will have a butterfly effect on the credit sector as well as will provide cushion to create an engine of growth.
* FADA PRESIDENT MR MANISH RAJ SINGHANIA
“The Modi Government's last full budget has been populist in all aspects as it will help boost Auto Sales all around.
While the capital outlay of Rs 10 Lakh Cr in infra spending will definitely aid CV sales, the aim to scrap all old government vehicles by aiding State Governments will boost all segment sales.
Apart from this, the reduction in individual tax slabs will benefit the ailing entry level 2W and PV segment. Reduction in highest tax surcharge from 37% to 25% will also benefit luxury vehicle sales. With focus on Electrification, relaxation on import duties of Lithium ion batteries will help in price reduction of EVs, thus make it affordable for the masses.
On business front, being part of the MSME universe, cost of credit guarantee will reduce by 1% thus helping Auto Dealers in raising funds. The budget has also focussed on ease of doing business by reducing more then 39K compliances and enabling entity level digilocker for storing and sharing documents.”
* Mr. Rajesh Sharma, Managing Director, Capri Global Capital Ltd
In the backdrop of a slowing global economy, budget’s strong emphasis on capital expenditure as well as social sector spending seeks to strengthen foundations for growth continuity over medium term without ignoring short term social welfare needs. The collateral-free credit limit under the revamped credit-guarantee scheme for MSMEs should inject the right booster shot for a sector that has begun to emerge very strongly after the pandemic. The expansion of the digital ecosystem for skilling, especially through linkages with employers including MSMEs augurs well for the growth of new businesses and employment. The direct tax proposals fulfil much anticipated expectations of the tax-paying middle class. Overall budget estimates are pragmatic and based on reasonable assumptions of nominal GDP growth. It has once again provided a good anchor to all stakeholders for the year ahead. The likelihood of outperforming the estimates seems higher. The budget has sounded a positive note for the economy to guide itself over the next 25 years on the path to becoming a developed nation.
* Neeraj Dhawan, Country Manager, Experian India
We welcome the government’s efforts to enable more fintech innovative services and simplify the KYC process by expanding the scope of documents available through DigiLocker. India’s fintech services have been revolutionised by our digital public infrastructure, through Aadhaar, PM Jan Dhan Yojana, India Stack, UPI, and Video KYC. Additionally, the move to set up an Entity DigiLocker which can be leveraged by MSME’s, large businesses, and charitable trusts to safely secure and store their documents, which can be shared with various authorities and regulators, is a positive step towards ease of doing business. Another positive from this budget is the government’s commitment to putting the final touches to National Data Governance Policy. This will add good momentum to India’s emergence as a knowledge-powered economy.
The setting up of the National Financial Information Registry is a progressive one and in line with the PM’s vision to make India a leader in the knowledge economy. It will help organisations keep the necessary documentation accessible for both business operations and compliance audits. The revamping of credit guarantee for MSME’s to the tune of Rs 9,000 crore will enable additional collateral-free credit of Rs 2 lakh crore and reduce the cost of credit by 1%, is another welcome step. The move to improve bank governance and enhance investor protection by amending certain sections in the Banking Regulations Act, Banking Companies Act and RBI Act is bound to increase investor confidence in the India’s economic story.
* Dr Alok Khullar, CEO, Gleneagles Global Health City
We are delighted to note that the budget session was introduced with the announcement of increase in allocation for Research in the healthcare sector including Pharma, Clinical Research and Public-Private partnership in Healthcare Research. The government’s initiatives to encourage Research and Development in Healthcare is a much-needed move. The collaborative set up of Research and Innovation Centre and the facilities in select ICMR Labs made available for research by public and private medical college faculty and private sector is commendable. Setting-up of more nursing colleges is a welcome move to generate adequate Nursing workforce every year. Introduction of courses for medical devices will fill a significant gap in the industry.
* Mr. Nemin Vora, CEO, Odysse Electric Vehicles
Union Budget great encouragement for the automobile and EV sector
“With the budget announcement completed, we can see the emphasis on this year's budget on wider adoption of Electric Vehicles for public as well as private use. The introduction of the National Hydrogen Mission in India is a huge step towards making the country greener and more sustainable.
Government's decision to increase the income tax rebate limit on personal income from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 7 lakh in the new tax regime is a welcome step for the middle-class citizens. This step is likely to help the sector as more disposable income with salaried customers may give supplementary push to demand for personal vehicles.
Another significant announcement made by the government is the elimination of customs duty on capital goods imported for the manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries. This step is a boost for companies that are / would be manufacturing batteries for electric vehicles locally. Overall, this move by the Government of India is expected to have a positive impact on the lithium-ion battery industry, making it more accessible and cost effective for businesses.”
* Mr. Sumeet Mathur, Vice President & Country Head of ServiceNow India Development Center with regards to the importance of skilling.
“The Government’s focus on developing a technology and youth led economy will play a pivotal role in further strengthening India’s position as the ‘Bright Star’ across the globe. Policies like Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana 4.0 and National Education Policy are centred around encouraging industry participation to develop cutting-edge digital skills along with soft skills amongst the youth. This initiative will help in job creation as well as in the creation of a future resilient workforce, empowered for purposeful work at the intersection of technology and people. The skilling initiatives proposed by the Hon’ble Finance Minister in the Union Budget 2023-24 are strategically inclined with ServiceNow’s vision to democratize learning. The emergence of no-code or low-code platform along with Artificial Learning will boost the development of low barrier pathways in digital careers for the creation of a more inclusive workforce in this digital economy.”
* S Anand, the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of PaySprint, Fintech venture focussed on Next Gen Neo Banking Solutions, offering a Unified Open API Platform.
"Streamlining of the KYC regime through the adoption of PAN as a common identifier is a winning proposition across the entire FinTech landscape. Individuals will be empowered by this novel ease of always staying KYC ready by updating documents through DigiLocker & Aadhaar. This standardisation will accelerate the initiation process of a multitude of banking & financial activities such as investment, insurance & account creation among others and I believe this is a giant leap towards a Financially Inclusive India. The acceptance of PAN as a universal identifier for all digital systems of the designated government agencies is a majorly progressive move. For entities, this will drastically reduce the contemporary compliance complexities & improve ease of doing business.
Additionally, the introduction of entity DigiLocker will further enhance verification & onboarding processes, unlocking a yet untapped potential for expansion.
Overall, this is a highly performance & growth oriented budget, kudos to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman & the Indian Government."
* The Founder of Monrow shoes, Veena Ashiya is a 3rd generation entrepreneur. Helming Monrow shoes as the Founder & Chief Energy Officer, a homegrown brand that pledges to deliver comfort and style. "The FY23 budget laid emphasis on technological developments. While speaking about digital payments, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman stated, “Digital payments continue to find wide acceptance. In 2022, they show an increase of 76 per cent in transactions and 91 per cent in value. Fiscal support for this digital public infrastructure will continue in 2023-24.” The announcement to further strengthen 5G paired with support for digital payments is a boon for D2C brands like ours. The extended date of incorporation for income tax benefits to start-ups from 31.03.23 to 31.03.24 and the proposition to provide the benefit of carrying forward losses on change of shareholding of start-ups from seven years of incorporation to ten years, will be a huge relief for Indian startups."
* Apurv Modi, Managing Director & Co-Founder, ATechnos Groupis, an Indian leader in gaming, digital transformation consulting,Tech & Health care.
“I am pleased that the Hon'ble Finance Minister announced India's first Amrit Kaal Budget inspired by 'Saptarishi' or the seven great sages. The government plans to set up 3 Centers of Excellence for Artificial Intelligence (AI)’ in top educational institutions for realizing the vision of Make AI in India, for India. Moreover, 100 labs for developing applications using 5G services will be setup in engineering institutions is a very promising announcement for the tech start up space in general and gaming in particular.
The Honorable Finance Minister deserves full credit for announcing a progressive budget. The government proposed removing the TDS threshold of INR 10,000 for online gaming startups. Also, online gaming startups should provide for TDS and taxability on net winnings at the time of withdrawal or at the end of the financial year.
We look forward to the taxation rate for the gaming sector as it is yet to decide. For now, an 18% tax is being levied on the commission collected by online gaming platforms for games not involving betting or gambling, whereas it is zero for the contest entry fees. However, with the government's support and the right policies, the gaming industry could become the driving force of the economy in India and help create jobs for millions of people."
Apurv Modi is a successful young entrepreneur who has developed a path in Media, Broadcasting, Content that is in the mobility and techno mobile sector in India and International Market.
As a young entrepreneur, Apurv is passionate about Innovation in content, Creativity in production and development in Virtual Event, Games, Gamification, Enterprise Gamification, Healthcare tech Mobile TV, IPTV, OTT, Smart TV that can help people to increase the era of Entertainment improve lives of people across worldwide Market.
* Mr. Pankaj Sharma, Co-Founder & Director, Log9 Materials:
"The government’s decision to extend the concessional duty on lithium-ion cells for batteries for another year is definitely welcoming as it would sustain the ongoing momentum within the Indian EV sector. Considering EV batteries account for approx upto 60% of the EV cost, this relaxation will make electric vehicles more affordable and hence enhance the EV adoption rate."
