BFSI Sector
Jai Prakash, Co-founder & CEO, VRXtream
This has been a digital & Growth oriented budget. Although the government has not proposed any bill on crypto, the two regulatory clarifications from the FM has made a lot of things clear for this nascent but booming industry. It is wonderful to know that RBI will introduce the Blockchain powered Digital Currency. This would certainly give an impetus to the participation of institutional players in the blockchain space. Also the announcement of 30% tax on the transfer gains of digital assets is most welcome as it establishes the legitimacy of crypto trading in India. Hoping to see that as the new class of assets finds more traction with the people, cryptocurrencies are recognised and widely adopted as the alternative investment vehicles.
Dhiraj Relli, MD & CEO, HDFC Securities
The Budget is growth-inducing and does the heavy lifting by sharply increasing capital expenditure. The focus on boosting manufacturing as well as an underlined emphasis on areas such as startups, modern mobility and clean energy, shows the FM has prioritised long-term growth. Individual taxpayers may feel a bit disappointed with the lack of direct tax cuts but this Budget lays the ground for a multi-year growth boom. The FY23 fiscal deficit has come in higher than expectations. Let’s hope the interest rates and inflation do not remain high for long.
Aashit Shah, Partner, J Sagar Associates (JSA)
The Budget has proposed that amendments will be brought into the IBC to make it more effective and also facilitate cross border insolvencies. The IBC has significantly changed the insolvency landscape over the past few years and improved recovery rates for lenders. However, the judicial infrastructure needs to be beefed up so that the timelines for admission and resolution can be crunched. The ambiguities in the IBC on rights and priority of secured creditors as well as dissenting creditors need to be clarified. The resolution process is a bit prescriptive in certain situations such as limiting the number of amendments to the resolution plan. Changes or clarification in some of these areas will help make the IBC more effective. An IT based accelerated system for voluntary winding up will assist companies to exit operations and help to significantly reduce the present delays in winding up.
Abheek Barua, Chief Economist, HDFC Bank
The 2022-23 budget finely balanced fiscal retreat with supporting economic recovery. The budget focussed on a familiar strategy of driving capital expenditure to drive growth, with the intention of crowding in private investment through higher public spending. Although markets could be disappointed with a higher fiscal deficit of 6.4% of GDP for FY23 than expected, it is perhaps prudent to not undertake aggressive fiscal consolidation at this nascent stage of recovery. While elevated market borrowings are likely to pressurise bond yields, inclusion of green bonds in the borrowing plan are an interesting innovation. In terms of specific policy announcements, the move towards self-reliance through protection for domestic manufacturers (change in custom and import duties) aligns with the long-term goal of Atmanirbhar Bharat. Moreover, there is an effort to weave in short term capital spending with the long term 25-year investment plan for India. Specific moves on education and mental health issues are critical and well-recognised in the budget. Lastly, Central Bank Digital Currency is likely to have an impact on banks, but the implications of the same will have to be thought through further.
Abhishek Rungta, Founder and CEO, INT
The thrust provided to digital assets in form of giving green signal to crypto currency is a much-needed welcome step. With a flourishing fintech ecosystem, this openness to digital currency will help optimize and fasten the mass scale leverage of digital infrastructure. The B2B sector is expected to be among first movers to include digital currency-based transactions for businesses. From demand perspective, we believe that the country’s push towards digital-led framework for all key aspects, will result in increased opportunities for IT services from domestic market.
Startups/MSME Ecosystem
Vinay Agrrawal, Founder, Hubbler.
The government has made its intention of promoting startups very clear in this budget. Enunciation of the push to the digital economy will ensure exponential growth for startups. With strong government support, I am sure the number of new startups in 2022-23 will far exceed the number in the current financial year.
According to Economic Survey 2021-22, the government recognised over 14,000 startups during the year, taking the total number of recognised startups to 61,400. With this, India became the third-largest startup ecosystem in the world. The constant support from the government will strengthen the ecosystem further.
The plan to enable startups to manufacture drones will boost the new-age OEMs, while opening up of defence R&D to startups will enable more entrepreneurs to strengthen the defence backbone of the country. Extension of tax benefits to startups incorporated by March 31, 2023 will also incentivise new startups.
Poshak Agrawal, Co-Founder & CEO, Florence Capital (an Ethical Lending platform designed exclusively only for women)
We welcome the vision outlined in the Union Budget 2022 regarding digital payments and how it can be a key tool towards enabling financial inclusion. The Budget has acknowledged that taking forward the digital banking and fintech innovations is the way to go – it is proposed to set up 75 digital banking units in 75 districts of the country by scheduled commercial banks. We hope to be able to support this mission and vision of financial inclusion by providing secured, transparent and accessible credit to women. Financial inclusion will play a key role in ensuring that the goal of 9.2% economic growth is achieved.
Ajay Ramasubramaniam, Co-Founder & CEO, Startup Reseau
Wearing a startup enabler lens, what is noteworthy is the mention of technologies ranging across AI, IOT, Blockchain and Digital across core sectors of the economy. India @ 75 is setting up a massive road map for India @ 100 to be a technology powerhouse in infrastructure, financial services, agriculture and national defense. Setting up a roadmap for adoption of CBDC and making digital and fintech as the priority of the Gov’t stands out in the Budget 2022 announcement. Allocation of INR 1,500 Crores for development initiatives in the North East is another big one, that should see the startup ecosystem grow in the region.
Prashanto Das, Founder, Hyperstate Technologies
This is the Big Tech Push budget- A recognition of breakthrough tech and all that it contributes to the growing digital consumption economy.
Nocode tech platforms like Kappa that democratise tech for a larger mass can help the larger population become more tech savvy in a shorter time, creating new employment opportunities. Further, we see many opportunities esp with humanisation of assets that can help small businesses grow exponentially in building duniya ki apni dukan without a significant expense in infrastructure.
For a country hungry to grow quickly, the FM’s words resonate with our outlook.
Alok Mittal, Co-Founder & CEO, Indifi Technologies
This year’s budget has taken significant future-forward steps towards financial inclusion; the integration of post office banks, widening the scope of MSME portals and setting up digital banking are all incredible steps in extending access to finance. Moreover, the budget has also addressed the current pain-points of the MSME ecosystem by extending ECLGS, with the additional allocation to be earmarked for hospitality and related industries. This provides renewed impetus for the lending ecosystem to lend to MSMEs and empowers them. Steps taken to leverage portals like Udyam, e-shram, NCS & Aseem will go a long way in further strengthening credit facilitation and enhancing entrepreneurial opportunities for MSMEs.
In terms of startups, initiatives taken towards amping up the ease of doing business in India are welcome additions to the budget. Moreover, the steps taken for existing start ups like extending tax redemption and steps taken to attract more investment into the ecosystem is encouraging for the entrepreneurial spirit of India.
Pulkit Sharma, Co Founder and Ceo, Khabri
“We highly support our government’s decision of the Production Linked Incentive Scheme that will create 60 lakh new jobs in the next 5 years. The idea of Digital university will help India set a top-notch world-class education. We believe that knowledge and awareness will support India becoming Atmanirbhar and through the expansion of the One class, one TV channel’ program of PM eVIDYA this cause will be highly achievable.
Regional languages will be empowered through this program, which enables all states to provide supplementary education in regional languages for classes 1 to 12. These digital initiatives will provide for a more conducive environment for the adoption of tech-based learning and which will directly route to empowering youth from real Bharat”.
Chetan Kumar, Co-Founder, Ekank Technologies
Firstly, would like to appreciate our government extending the tax initiatives for startups up to March 2023. Through tax initiatives and new reforms in the direct tax, the startup ecosystem will enhance effectively within no time. The idea of launching a digital university will help understand people the culture of India through world-class education.
The Introduction of Digital currency by the central bank will definitely lead away to cheaper currency management. The highlight of the budget for us is the expansion of the One class, one TV channel’ program of PM eVIDYA which will help promote the regional languages in the country as through the program, all states will provide supplementary education in regional languages for classes 1 to 12.
The government has also focussed on establishing a positive mental health environment and with Ekank Technologies, we completely support this initiative through our feature of ‘light read’, which gives the users a chance to enjoy stress-free reading.
Sai Srinivas, Co-Founder and CEO, Mobile Premier League (MPL)
“It is very encouraging to see that the Union Budget has taken into consideration some of the long-pending suggestions for the Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, and Comics (AVGC) sector, while noting the strong potential this industry holds for employment-generation as well as taking ‘Made in India’ game titles global.
We welcome the Hon’ble Finance Minister’s announcement to set up an AVGC Promotion Task Force to provide a much-needed boost to the sector. This announcement highlights the need to build capacity to serve both domestic and global markets, and is a strong indicator of the impetus that the government is willing to provide for its growth. It is also heartening to see the government’s commitment to work with the industry, allowing for a balanced approach that accommodates the needs of all stakeholders and strengthens the ecosystem holistically. A progressive tax regime, predictable regulatory framework and supportive funding policies will allow the industry to compete on the world stage and fulfil the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision for the Indian digital gaming sector to be a global powerhouse. Moreover, it will also help develop a workforce of young and employable AVGC professionals to usher in the next tech revolution from within India.
The Budget rightly mentions that promoting the digital economy and sunrise sectors will be a priority in the next 25 years (75 to 100 years of India’s Independence) — the Amrit Kaal of India. With a renewed focus on the AVGC sector, blended financing for deep tech and IT, hardware and electronics manufacturing combined with deployment of 5G and affordable internet in underserved areas, it is clear that the government is committed to take the Indian startup ecosystem to the next level.
We are hopeful that with the positive support of the government, the coming years will see online gaming, VFX and esports startups leading the charge in the global economy. By developing deep tech intellectual property and exporting services, they can help cement India’s position as a world leader in the sector.”
Subodh Garg, CFO and Growth leader, Pickrr
Union Budget 2022, with its strong impetus to technology and startups, is future-driven. The Gati Shakti scheme proposed by the Finance Minister in today’s budget will play a crucial role in shaping the logistics sector in the coming years. This scheme will provide a boost to the overall infrastructure landscape in India and will subsequently foster the advancement of the logistic segment. The announcement of the expansion of the highway network by 25000KMS and the development of 100 new cargo terminals will increase the connectivity and will help in the swift movement of goods across the country.
We believe that the Gati Shakti scheme will propel the economy by leading to more jobs and opportunities for the youth.
With technology playing a crucial role in shaping the country’s startups, it was great to see that the Union Budget 2022 introduced various start-up-friendly policies, tax relaxations to enable innovation and ease-of-doing-business and reduce compliance costs.
Shivjeet Ghatge, CEO, StepSetGo
“The Union Budget 2022 presented by our Honourable Finance Minister, Mrs. Nirmala Sitharaman, has projected an encouraging mega push to the start-up economy in India. In fact, some of the transformative policies such as the 100% tax rebate on the profit made for a period of three years can help us conducively tackle our working capital requirements and grow steadily. This will also largely expedite the start-up revolution in the country.
The focus on 5g connectivity as a part of the ‘Digital India’ initiative will pose as a game changer to players like us and enable us to contribute more significantly to the economy while leading India to a healthier way of living. Moreover, it will help us change the face of fitness in the country and will allow us to make fitness more inclusive and infrastructure-agnostic. It will provide us the opportunity to mitigate any tech related inadequacies caused due to data speed and help us augment our product offerings by aiding comprehensive R&D in smaller pockets of the country.
Additionally, we believe that the Union budget has taken into consideration the plight of the entrepreneur and is focussed on both relief and recovery. The extension of the tax incentives till 2023 and the impetus to digitalization will give us the financial freedom to focus on innovation and scale up operations. We are glad that the government is extremely enthusiastic about fuelling the aspirations of young entrepreneurial India as we believe that we have it in us to become the start-up superpower of the world.
Prasanna Rao, MD & Co-founder, Arya.ag
The Union Budget has set the ball rolling for the agritech sector in the country. The special focus around the post-harvest considerations related to millet farming is a welcome step and will help enhance the country’s farm produce quotient. The Budget has also placed agritech in the right limelight with the Finance Minister reposing faith on the role of these new age players to transform the agriculture sector in the country under the PPP mode. Furthermore, Finance Minister’s assurance on government support to FPOs and small farmers to procure farming equipment as well as gain access to technology-led capabilities and services is also in the right direction. Overall the intent to inculcate a strong element of digitization in form of Kisan drones for crop assessment, in the agri value chain, will leapfrog India’s place in the global agriculture landscape.
Pertaining to start-ups, the move to extend the tax incentive scheme till March, 2023 is encouraging and will benefit a large set of players.
Dia Kirpalani VP, Head of Strategy – Blink Digital
The rolling out of 5G was a much-awaited move as it will bring a further digital push across sectors, including ad agencies. Content creation will see a huge transformation with the surge in consumer consumption especially in the video, voice, animation format and the gaming vertical.
As a result, I believe you can expect to see a fresh boost in the AR/VR space, and we are already seeing Metaverse adoption accelerating. Consumers will be able to engage with media across multiple devices, which will further democratize the entertainment sector. And ad agencies will be seen leveraging this expanded media mix to bolster brand credibility on online mediums.
Vaibhav Odhekar,Co-Founder & COO at POKKT
The Indian gaming industry is growing at an exponential scale and giving the long-due recognition to the Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comic (AVGC) sector is a welcoming move. We believe this proposed move of creating a new task force will entice young professionals, creating job opportunities and drive economic growth. The initiatives proposed are steps in the right direction, however we will wait for concrete steps to be taken by the government.
Electronics Sector
Sambit Chakraborty, Board of Adviser, Indigrid Technology
The policies should take a holistic approach to ensure that there is a proper and adequate supply network of swappable packs and swap stations so that it works as if someone is fuelling their vehicle and is able to “swap” in 2-3 minutes. Ground charging does not really work except at home (not for commercial purposes) because of the load it will exert on the grid and the time it takes. Convenience especially for the last mile operators, gig economy players and home tests/collections is key. Second, there is a proliferation of low quality Chinese players who are “cheap”. There are substantial safety and dependency issues being built into the system. If the policy can build in a structure to raise the safety and “atmanirbhar” aspects and the made in india aspects – that will be a boon for india in the long run. There are many Indian manufacturers of safe batteries and swap stations who would then not have to choose to lower quality and safety standards.
Mughilan Thiru Ramasamy, CEO & Co-founder, Skylark Drones
The union budget and the initiatives announced by the honourable Finance Minister continue to provide impetus to the growth of the drone industry in India. The introduction of drone shakti is a welcome move and will ensure business momentum and drive faster adoption of UAVs in the country. It is encouraging to see the government promoting Digital India and digitisation of various sectors through the integration of UAVs through varied applications and drones as a service. India with its vast natural resources spanning from agriculture, minerals, and great infrastructure is finally getting the much-required momentum to become digital.
The announcement to promote the use of ‘Kisan drones’ in the agricultural sector as part of the Budget for 2022-23 will enable the drone industry to collaborate with our farmers to improve operational efficiency and maximize profitability. This is a welcoming move and will make India’s agricultural sector future ready.
Today, both enterprises and the government are realising the economic and social opportunities that India’s widespread and dispersed geospatial assets can provide to the nation. Becoming Digital First and creating a digital repository of India, will enable faster growth of our economy and the much-needed transparency thereby improved governance. UAVs offer an ideal compromise between scalability, economic feasibility, immunity to error, and productivity. The faster adoption of UAVs is therefore critical to realise the potential of these geospatial assets.
A Gururaj, MD, Optiemus Electronics
The industry has been completely galvanized under the pioneering initiative of PLI scheme, with Hon’ble FM today stating that it has potential to create 60 Lakh new jobs and additional production of 30 lakh crores. This is also a clarion call to the industry to work much harder in the years to come to make it a reality. On a macro level, the scheme around design-led manufacturing as part of the PLI scheme would fasten the development of the ecosystem, and also changes in customs duty will drive greater domestic value addition in Electronics manufacturing in the country, which has grown rapidly in the last few years.
Akash Gupta, Co-founder & CEO, Zypp Electric
The formulation of battery swapping standards and interoperability is a much-needed step in the right direction. There’s been a lot of confusion in the swapping companies, which has dampened EV adoption. Seamless and widespread charging infrastructure is the need of the hour to accelerate the EV revolution in the country. The focus and thought towards the EV sector by the honorable finance minister reflects the government’s poise towards accelerating EV adoption. This will also help us achieve our vision of expanding our battery-swapping network across 100 cities in the next three years I would have loved if GST in battery and spare parts had also been reduced to 5% like it’s there for E-vehicles purchases; this would also help the entire electric vehicle ecosystem.
Vijay Kumar Mikkilineni, Head of Marketing, TCL India
“We welcome the Finance Minister’s increased focus on the consumer electronics industry and formation technology, which will definitely benefit all worldwide companies, including ours. The 2022 Union Budget allocated 1.97 lakh crore ($26 billion) for PLI projects, notably electronic components, which are among the 13 vital sectors that would undoubtedly help our economy expand.
Furthermore, reduced customs taxes will encourage electronics manufacture, which will benefit the electronics industry.”
Rimo Bose, PR and Branding Manager, TCL India
“Extending the support to the government for increasing focus on the consumer electronics sector and formation technology, which will undoubtedly benefit all global brands like us. The recent Allocation of Rs 197 million (US $ 26 billion) to PLI projects in the United Budget (202122), especially electronic components, is one of the 13 key sectors that will definitely help our economy grow.
In addition, tariff reductions will drive the production of electronic devices, which will be the greatest benefit of the electronic device sector.”
Healthcare & Lifesciences Sector
Dr. K Madan Gopal, Senior Consultant, NITI Aayog
There has been focus on Infrastructure. Overall there has been increase of about 16% in budget from BE of 2021-22. Support for National Blood transfusion council is a very welcome step and was long overdue. This will pave way for safe and quality blood transfusion services. The National digital health mission has got a big boost in this budget and the newly announced National Mental telehealth counselling will be another milestone.
Dr. Niteen Desai, Dean, NMIMS Sunandan Divatia School of Science
Biotechnology and Healthcare: Advances in biological sciences have brought a paradigm shift in health care, which includes rapid and more sensitive diagnostic methods, treatments with fewer side effects, and new and safer vaccines. Detection of early onset of diseases and treatment has helped in improving the quality of life and life expectancy in this decade.
Agri-biotechnology: With an increase in population and deteriorating environmental conditions, scarcity of food will be another threat in front of humankind. These challenges are being tacked with advances in biotechnological applications in crop improvement like genetic engineering, tissue culture, molecular markers, drought tolerance, disease diagnosis, and treatment, post-harvest management, etc will fulfill the needs.
Environmental Biotechnology: The intervention of biotechnological techniques are playing a pivotal role in the management of environmental pollution. Environmental biotechnology can be used to detect, prevent and remediate the emission of pollutants into the environment in several ways.
IT & Technology Sector
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.”
Rajarshi Bhattacharyya, Co-Founder, Chairman and Managing Director, ProcessIT Global
The Union Budget 2022 is a forward-thinking, positive, tech-oriented, macro-budget. A positive tone was set with India estimating a GDP growth of 9.2% for FY 2022, highest among all economies.
The budget is pro-young and aspirational India with emphasis on digital and technology, especially with focus on health, education and the start-up ecosystem. There is now better clarity on the implementation of digital technologies across the sectors. Spectrum auction for 5G rollout to be conducted and completed in 2022-23 is another positive step towards growth.
Regarding promoting the growth of start-ups, it is encouraging to know, the tax incentives will be increased for one more year, i.e., extending the period of incorporation of the eligible start-up to, 31st March, 2023 from the earlier 31st March 2022. Furthermore, launch of the ease of doing business and ease of living in general and extending of the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme up-to March 2023 for MSMEs in the hospitality and related services are encouraging measures too. The raising and accelerating MSME Performance (RAMP) programme with Rs. 6,000 crore outlay over the next 5 years will certainly support the sector to become more competent.
Stride towards progress is seen with the inclusion of Data Centre and Energy Storage Systems in the harmonized list of infrastructure as it will certainly facilitate credit availability for digital infrastructure and clean energy storage, which is the need of the hour.
It is heartening to know the proposed skilling programme will be re-oriented for skilling, up-skilling and re-skilling of our youth, the future of India, with the launching of the e-portal to deliver online training, besides providing relevant jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities.
The establishment of Digital Banking Units across the country will further promote digital banking and adoption of digital payments. Introduction of Digital Rupee could also give the much-needed boost to India’s digital economy.
Venkatraman Narayanan, Managing Director & CFO, Happiest Minds Technologies
A capex heavy, investment push and demand generating budget. I expect the private sector to more than match the capital spend of the Government thus supporting GDP growth of 9% plus, leaving enough headroom for expenditure on farms, health, education and other social sectors. The theme of continued ease of doing business, consistency and stability in tax rates, rebates, push to further digitise the economy, issue of RBI backed digital currency, legitimising digital assets, etc. seem to aid and support the all and in specific the IT Industry which is expected by NASSCOM to grow to become $350 billion in size in 5 years. In all sounds like a ‘financial budget’ of the Country.
Nikhil Rathi, Founder and CEO, Web Werks
There is excellent scope for the IT sector, building on the past, to provide a stronger foundation for the future. The budget is sure to strengthen the foundation by infra status to data centers with a focus on gaming and tech, in addition to digital currency.
This budget further accelerates the Digital India push. Infra Status to data centers will provide further impetus to a fast-growing industry giving access to benefits like cheaper finance. Growing energy costs globally can be mitigated with — Focus on Green Clean energy and energy storage as infrastructure will make India a location that can build the backend to the data center industry even better. This helps set the stage to make India a data center Hub. Gaming, tech, and digital rupee will create more transactions, thus more data which in the country will further increase the need for data centers. It will also facilitate an increase in the timeline for Startups, as a foundation will further build for startups with the extension of benefits for another year, and with infrastructure getting a boost they can build on a sound foundation in India.
Nitin Sharma, Partner at Antler India and Global blockchain Lead at Antler
This is a huge development. For the first time, a budget speech at the highest level has framed things in terms of “virtual digital assets” which can be regulated and taxed as a legitimate asset class in the future.
The devil will be in the details but I see this as possibly a step 1 towards a regulatory framework which many of us have been advocating for since 2018 to ensure India plays a huge role in the development of Web3 – the new Internet.
Until now, the debate was slightly misguided by assuming all digital assets were “private cryptocurrencies”, while most cryptos aren’t meant to be currencies. For me, it was still a positive surprise because the RBI continues to have serious opposition to non-sovereign digital assets, and only supports a government CBDC.
At the same time, it was important to curtail rampant speculative retail activity and with the tax brackets and TDS, the government wants to disincentivize some of that.
We have to wait for the crypto bill later this year to understand the details around whether the CBDC will mean any further constraints with respect to digital assets, but the overall intent seems positive and clear.
At Antler, our thesis remains the same. Indian developer talent can shape the future of blockchain and Web3. We understood early that regulation would be a multi-year process and had reiterated our commitment last year to backing 25-30 startups developing Web3 infrastructure from India for the global market.
Om Malviya, President, Tezos India
We are happy to note that the FM has announced crypto tax provisions in this budget, legitimising crypto transactions in some way. However, it is disappointing to see that the Government has decided that the income from the transfer of digital assets will be taxed at 30 per cent — which seems to be too high, given that the NFTs, cryptocurrencies and digital assets space is already booming and has immense potential for the economy in the near future. I am hopeful and certain that once the full potential of crypto is realised it will be lowered further.
Sudhir Kunder Country Director, DE-CIX India
It is encouraging to see that Data Centers have been granted Infrastructure Status in Budget 2022. It is a significant moment for everyone involved in the technological industry. Data Centers are critical to our country’s digital growth. This was the best decision for our country’s digital growth.
The 2022 Budget allocates more funds to data centers, fintech, the digital economy, and other digital elements, which will undoubtedly benefit interconnection platforms like DE-CIX, which are contributing to the digital economy’s success.
By virtue of our reach across the length and breadth in India we will be able to play a significant role in government endeavor to Digital Economy.
Education Sector
Vamsi Krishna, CEO & Co-Founder at Vedantu
“The COVID-induced gap in learning needs to be addressed on priority and EdTech platforms should continue to ensure that students receive uninterrupted learning in such challenging times. By providing students easy access to quality learning, this year’s budget lays a clear emphasis to reduce the gap between students in remote areas and education. Initiatives such as the ‘One Class One TV Channel’ and the E-Vidya scheme is a welcome move that will drive impact at scale and bridge the language divide amongst students from small-town India. We believe that this budget rightly aligns with our vision of democratizing education by providing students access to high quality learning, improving learning outcomes and thereby contributing to a vibrant knowledge economy.
Prateek Shukla, co- founder and CEO Masai School
Union Budget 2022 bolsters India’s vision of becoming the fastest-growing economy, with the country’s economic growth rate estimated to be 9.2% in the upcoming financial year. The Government’s focus on improving the quality of education at the primary education level in rural India is commendable. On education, it is clear that the Finance Minister has correctly recognized the problem with India’s K-12 education. However, I do not understand how the budget for education has decreased even further, lowest in the last 2 years.
It is astounding how we are expanding existing schemes in the roadmap with lesser money, a drop of Rs 4971.34 crore. Additionally, there is minimal mention of higher education, and the current problem of teacher shortage, outdated courses, and skill-based learning are still not addressed. This is worrying.
We can see the expansion of Government infrastructure spending, which will create many jobs in the unskilled sector. We also heard FM’s mission statement on skilling. The launch of Digital DESH e-portal for the youth portrays the Government’s sharp shift to outcome-driven education to prepare Indian youth for the changing job ecosystem. But no further details have been announced, including budget allocation towards this program. If we are scaling our infrastructure at the rate mentioned today, it will create massive opportunities for a technically skilled workforce. How are we as a nation going to fulfill that demand?
But, the way the Finance Ministry is looking to roll out holistic education and upskilling initiatives is a massive win in creating future-forward India in the digital age.
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