Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Finance Minister of India, said, “Our vision for Amrit Kaal includes a technology-driven and knowledge-based economy with strong public finances and a robust financial sector,” during the presentation of the Union Budget 2023-24 on 1st February 2023. Based on what she announced, here are the top 10 takeaways for tech firms from budget 2023.
Top 10 takeaways for tech firms from budget 2023
1. Common identifier– The PAN or Permanent Account Number would be used as the common identifier for businesses that need to have a PAN for all digital systems of selected government agencies. This should help with doing business at ease. It would be facilitated via a legal directive.
2. Agriculture to get digital public infrastructure– Digital public infrastructure would be built for agriculture as an open standard, open source, and interoperable public good. This would help with inclusive farmer-centric solutions using proper information services for crop health and planning. It would also improve access to credit, insurance, farm inputs, market intelligence, crop estimation, and support for developing the agri-tech industry as well as start-ups.
3. Fintech services– Fintech services have already been facilitated by the digital public infrastructure including PM Jan Dhan Yojana, Aadhaar, UPU, India Stack, and Video KYC. The scope of documents available in DigiLocker will be expanded further to enhance it.
4. 5G services– Around 100 labs would be set up in different engineering institutions for developing applications to create new opportunities, employment potential, and business models using 5G services. The lab will design applications like precision farming, smart classrooms, health care applications, and intelligent transport systems.
5. Entity DigiLocker– An Entity DigiLocker would be set up for use by large businesses, MSMEs, and charitable trusts. This would be done to safely and securely store and share documents online as per requirements with different regulators, authorities, business entities, and banks.
6. Lab-grown diamonds– This is a highly emerging technology-driven and innovation-driven sector with great potential to generate employment. Lab-grown diamonds are environment-friendly and have the same chemical composition as natural diamonds. They look identical as well. To encourage the production of LGD seeds and machines domestically as well as to reduce imports, an R&D grant would be provided to a selected IIT for five years.
7. Data Embassy and GIFT IFSC– Indian government would set up Data Embassies in GIFT IFSC for countries looking for digital continuity solutions.
To boost business activities in GIFT IFSC, powers will be delegated under the SEZ Act to IFSCA. This would prevent dual regulation. A single-window IT system would be set up for registration as well as approval from SEZ authorities, IFSCA, RBI, GSTN, IRDAI, and SEBI.
8. Multidisciplinary courses for medical techs– Dedicated multidisciplinary courses would be introduced to existing medical institutions for medical techs. This is to ensure the availability of skilled people to maneuver and operate futuristic medical technologies. The students would also be involved in further research in the medical tech field and develop high-end manufacturing processes.
9. Skill India digital platform– A unified Skill India Digital platform would be launched to expand the digital ecosystem for skill further. It would allow demand-based formal skilling, set up links with potential employers counting MSMEs as well, and offer access to entrepreneurship schemes.
10. Green Hydrogen Mission– The newly launched National Green Hydrogen Mission is expected to manifest low carbon intensity and reduce dependency on imports of fossil fuel. India is gearing towards technology and market leadership in this sector with the target of reaching 5 MMT in annual production by 2030.
Hope you found the information on the top 10 takeaways for tech firms from budget 2023 useful. Let us know your opinion on the Union Budget 2023 for the tech field and otherwise as well.
