The attention and allocation to building a green infrastructure and a decarbonised energy regime is the core of the Union Budget which puts india on the path of being future proof, said Prashant Ruia, Director, Essar Capital.

“The ₹35,000 crore allocation for energy transition along with an ambitious target of 5 MMT of hydrogen will unleash new demand impulses across the length and breadth of the country thereby fielding green growth. This has been complemented by a custom duty and tax reliefs for green mobility” he added.

Yogesh Mudras, Managing Director, Informa Markets in India said, “Sustainable growth in each sector is the Government’s top priority in this year’s budget. With an emphasis on shifting to green fuels, green hydrogen is another paramount of budget 2023; therefore, the ₹30,000 crore for energy transition investment will help the nation to touch green hydrogen production of 5 million tonnes by 2030,” he said. 

“In times of unprecedented volatility and uncertainty, the Government has maintained a consistent stance across five definitive themes – follow a path to fiscal prudence, continue to press on the capex accelerator to support growth and give a boost to private sector investment, provide adequate support to the most vulnerable sections and those who have been impacted the most by the pandemic, follow conservative & pragmatic budget maths and move further towards simplification and reform,” said Sanjiv Chadha, Managing Director & CEO, Bank of Baroda.

Bhargav Dasgupta, MD & CEO – ICICI Lombard on the Union Budget said, “The Union Budget FY23-24 is an extremely progressive and inclusive one with a huge focus on infrastructure and capex growth while maintaining the fiscal consolidation path. With fiscal deficit being reduced to 5.9% whilst providing an extremely bullish capex investment of ₹10 lakh crore (highest ever); will in effect convert revenue expenditure to capital expenditure which has a higher multiplier effect.”

Agnishwar Jayaprakash, Founder CEO, Garuda Aerospace said, “The Union Budget announced will certainly prove to be beneficial. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s announcement has highlighted many points for the scope and development of the start-up economy.”

“Garuda Areospace’s virtual skilling and training universities will aim to empower 1 lakh youth by providing them with training and skilling for becoming drone pilots. Alongside this, Garuda will also provide them with job opportunities,” he said.

Sudhir Mehta, Founder & Chairman, Pinnacle Industries & EKA Mobility said, “The focus on capital expenditure with promising prospects for the commercial vehicle, green mobility, and railway sector is indeed encouraging. One of the most progressive announcements is the custom duty removal on capital goods imported for manufacturing Li-ion batteries, for electric vehicles built locally in India, which will ensure the cost rationalization for electric vehicles substantially.”

“This will not only help us achieve our sustainability goals but also promote ‘Made in India’ products & technology. The government is consistent in its focus on green mobility, and budget allocation toward the National Hydrogen Mission will bring new opportunities for growth & innovation,” he said.

K.V. Hariharan, Sr. Vice President-FP&A, Data Analytics & Strategic Planning, Amway India said, “The Government’s emphasis on upskilling, job creation, infrastructure development, and strengthening digital capabilities with inclusive growth at the core of the announcements has laid the blueprint for India’s road to a $5 trillion economy.”

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman holding the Budget Papers at the North Block in New Delhi on February 01, 2023.
| Photo Credit: R.V. Moorthy

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1 raised the personal income tax rebate limit, doled out sops on small savings, and announced one of the biggest hikes in capital spending in the past decade as she did a tightrope walk in the Budget between staying fiscally prudent and meeting public expectations in the year before general elections.

Ms. Sitharaman’s fifth straight Budget comes at a time when the economy is slowing and there is a need for increased spending on social sectors as well as ramping up incentives for local manufacturing. The Modi government will seek third term next year and the BJP will face nine Assembly elections this year.

Announcing its last full budget before the 2024 elections, the NDA government focused on a slew of measures that expanded Capital Expenditure spending and tied in various priorities including Green Growth, Youth Power, and Inclusive Development. This was also accompanied by major tax announcements for the salaried class, with changes in tax slabs and a clear intention to shift to the new tax regime.

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It was encouraging that the Finance Minister today opened the Union Budget speech by talking about India’s economic growth, which is expected to be at 7%, the highest among the major economies. It was reassuring as across the world, there are several nations standing at the brink of a slowdown.

India’s success in managing the COVID-19 pandemic, even as it put people first, and yet managed to minimise the economic impact, stands as a valuable lesson for generations to come; that populations are the bedrock of an economy. Further, the crisis underlined that a nation must ensure its healthcare ecosystem is not only robust, but resilient too.

In the present day, delivering healthcare and making ecosystems resilient require a fine balance between advanced medicine, cutting-edge technology, skilled resources and preventive healthcare. A country’s health infrastructure must enable its doctors to deliver best-in-class clinical outcomes. There must be continuous innovation to boost quality of medical education and a concerted focus on skilling for healthcare is vital. Finally, contemporary technologies should be harnessed to achieve these goals, bridge gaps and prepare for the future.

I believe the Budget announcements set the course towards most of these aspects that will have an impact in the near and longer-term too. In particular, a welcome one was the 157 new nursing colleges that would be established in collaboration with existing medical colleges.

Similarly, skilling youth for the manifold aspects of healthcare will create a valuable talent factory for India and the world. Several nations with a considerable silver population are grappling with an acute paucity of resources and exporting our talent. New multidisciplinary courses for medical devices, setting up of 5G labs and centres of excellence for Artificial Intelligence will ensure that India has the talent base to exploit the opportunities from futuristic medical technologies, as they arise.

Focus on medical research and innovation with select ICMR labs made available to the private sector for research and development (R&D) will encourage collaboration between biotech entrepreneurs and the government. These initiatives along with a new programme to promote research and innovation in the pharmaceutical industry highlights the Budget’s focus on technology in making strong strides towards a healthier and more prosperous India.

Above all, the fact of medicine is that the best way to beat disease, is to avert it. Therefore, similar to the thrust on the Sickle Cell Anaemia Elimination Mission announced today, it would be wonderful if many more of the non-communicable diseases are targeted to prevent millions of untimely fatalities.

The writer is Executive Vice Chairperson, Apollo Hospitals and past president, NATHEALTH

India has made remarkable advancements in the digital realm. File image
| Photo Credit: AP

The Government proposes to set up 100 labs for developing applications using 5G services in various engineering institutions across the country. Three Centres of Excellence for AI will also be set up. These measures will realise a new range of opportunities, business models, and employment potential, as per the Union Budget presented by the Finance Minister on February 1.

According to her, these labs would cover, among others, applications such as smart classrooms, precision farming, intelligent transport systems, and healthcare.

Reacting to the proposal, Bipin Sapra, Tax & Regulatory Services, Partner, EY India said that the government had taken a big leap to embrace 5G much more swiftly by setting up these labs. He agreed that they would indeed further boost employment and business opportunities in the country. “Amrit Kaal focuses on being a technology-driven and knowledge-based economy with one of the primary visions of growth and job creation. India has made remarkable advancements in the digital realm and various new initiatives have been adopted to improve the lives of people, accelerating the societal benefits of these technologies,’‘ added Mr. Sapra.

Piyush N. Singh, Senior Managing Director, Accenture, said setting up new centres of excellence for AI and 5G labs for developing apps would help democratise AI and push for wider adoption of 5G services. “It will be important for the private sector ecosystem to work closely with the government to realise the digital future of India,’‘ Mr. Singh said.

These measures will go a long way in unleashing the digital potential of the country, said Puneet Gupta, vice president & managing director, NetApp India/SAARC. “In a world that is driven by data and AI, we see numerous and infinite opportunities ahead of us. The mission of Amrit Kaal has put us in a strong position to truly call this a digital budget, given its large focus on technology and digital,’‘ added Mr. Gupta.

According to Manoranjan Mohapatra, CEO, Comviva, with the ongoing 5G rollouts in India, the government’s decision to establish a large number of 5G application labs is a timely move to spur innovation in developing the 5G ecosystem and India-relevant use cases. “There is a great opportunity to combine 5G and AI to improve network speed, responsiveness, and efficiency. The special emphasis on establishing AI centres of excellence will help produce a new pool of specialised tech talent to enable India to preserve its global advantage and leadership,’‘ Mr. Mohapatra said.

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The Union Budget seems to be full of good intentions but what happened to the good intentions of last year, how much of it was realised? Education budget is down to 2.5% from 2.64% while the health budget is down to 1.98% from 2.2%. Quality and accessibility of free basic education is still a big issue and still it is not addressed. There is no vision for improving the education sector, according to the Aam Aadmi Party, Mysuru.

Reacting to the budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman, the party asked, “The plan for Economic Empowerment of Women, Relief for MSMEs, National Digital Library for Children and Adolescents is looking good on paper, but how much of it will be realised? Mahila Samman Savings Certificate is good but why only for 2 years?”

Unfortunately, the potential of the women workforce of our country has never been harnessed. Women workforce could add to a significant increase in GDP for which there is a lack of vision from the Centre, argued Malavika Gubbivani, AAP leader, Mysuru.

The delivery of previous promises like piped water connection, PMAY housing, etc., has been less than 50%. How much of the promises will be delivered this time, she asked, in a press statement.

Gas subsidy should have been reintroduced. There is nothing to ease inflation, the statement added.

Corporate tax should have been increased and the benefits passed on to the middle class/salaried class. “Yet again, this government has proved it is pro-corporate,” she alleged.

In her 2022 budget, the Finance Minister had promised economic growth to be 9.2% but actual growth is likely to be 6.8% according to the RBI (prediction as of December). an outcome budget like the one presented by Delhi government should be followed. The effectiveness of the measures announced in the previous budget should be presented along with social audit results, argued Ms. Gubbivani.

Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said Phase III of eCourts Project will build on the gains made by the earlier two phases that proved crucial in the delivery of justice during the COVID-19 pandemic when courts were under lockdown protocol. File
| Photo Credit: PTI

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday allocated ₹7,000 crore for the launch of Phase III of the eCourts Project that seeks efficient administration of justice.

Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju, in a series of tweets, thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Finance Minister as well as Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, who headed the eCommittee of the Supreme Court.

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“This will ensure “Ease of Justice” and further improves the justice delivery system that the Hon’ble PM @narendramodi ji has always envisioned,” Mr. Rijiju tweeted.

“I also compliment the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India, Dr D.Y. Chandrachud ji who as the Chairperson of the eCommittee of the Supreme Court of India has been instrumental in the success of the earlier phases of the eCourts Project and who personally supervised and mentored the formulation of the DPR [Detailed Project Report] of the Phase-III of the Project,” he added.

The Minister said Phase III of eCourts Project will build on the gains made by the earlier two phases that proved crucial in the delivery of justice during the COVID-19 pandemic when courts were under lockdown protocol.

“The project envisages various path breaking initiatives like: Digital & Paperless Courts that aim to bring court proceedings under a digital format in a court, thereby, limiting the use of paper and speeding up the disposal of cases, Online Court that focus on eliminating the presence of litigants or lawyers in the court, Expansion of scope of Virtual Courts beyond adjudication of Traffic Violations,” Mr. Rijiju said in the tweets.

The Minister noted that the use of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning would allow for data analysis to work towards reduction in pendency and understanding litigation patterns and forecasting future needs.

While 4,400 fully functional eSewa Kendras will provide assistance to all lawyers and litigants, live streaming of court hearings would allow for further transparency in judicial proceedings, he said.

Digitisation of all court records will further pave the way for a completely paperless environment in future. “An Online Dispute Resolution platform will encourage alternate dispute resolution and a robust video conferencing system will create seamless connectivity between the jails & courts, allowing for all bail appearances over VC,” Mr. Rijiju said.

Rajasthan Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot
| Photo Credit: PTI

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on February 1 criticised the Union Budget for neglecting the important areas of education, health and social justice and reducing the allocation by 33% for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), which had proved to be a lifeline for the poor during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mr. Gehlot said the Budget was against the poor, landless farmers and common people.

“Only headline-making hollow announcements have been made in the Budget… The provision for agriculture and farmers’ welfare is 6%, or ₹7,500 crore, less than the previous year. Similarly, there is a reduction of 15%, or ₹23,000 crore, in the subsidy for urea,” Mr. Gehlot said while reacting to the Budget.

Also Read | Explained | The funding and demand for MGNREGA

The negligible increase in the budgetary allocations for education, health and women and child development had shown that these areas would remain neglected, Mr. Gehlot said. Besides, the life of the common man would become even more difficult in the absence of any policy statement for reducing inflation, he added, while pointing to the spiralling prices of essential commodities.

The senior Congress leader said the Budget was “very disappointing” for Rajasthan, as the demand for giving national status to the Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project (ERCP), which would benefit 13 districts through interlinking of three rivers, had not been accepted. The project was directly related to the development of the State, he said.

“The Narendra Modi government has sanctioned ₹5,300 crore as an additional assistance to Karnataka for the Upper Bhadra Project, keeping the elections in mind. This shows the Centre’s step-motherly treatment towards Rajasthan,” Mr. Gehlot said.

Mr. Gehlot said the people of Rajasthan would give a “befitting reply” for the treatment meted out to them at the appropriate time.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presents the Union Budget 2023-24 in the Rajya Sabha on the second day of Budget Session of Parliament in New Delhi on Wednesday.
| Photo Credit: ANI

The Ministry of Science & Technology has received an allocation of ₹16,361.42 crore in the Union Budget, a nominal increase of 15% from the previous budget estimate. Between 2021-22 and 2022-23, the Ministry had received a 3.9% decrease.

The bulk of the hike has gone to the Department of Science and Technology (DST), which has received ₹7,931.05 crore, up 32.1% from last year.

The Ministry of Science & Technology had an important part to play during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially supporting research and innovation on vaccines, medical devices, and drugs.

Also read |Budget 2023 | Nirmala Sitharaman lists 7 priorities

Apart from the DST, it includes the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), which received ₹2,683.86 crore, a nominal hike of 3.9%, and the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), which received ₹5,746.51 crore (1.9%).

Most of the DST’s increase comes from a ₹2,000 crore allocation to the National Research Foundation. The government announced this entity in 2021 with an outlay of ₹50,000 crore over five years to “strengthen the governance structure of the research-related institutions and [to] improve linkages between R&D, academia, and industry”.

The Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) under the DBT, an implementing body under the government’s ‘Mission COVID Suraksha’ in 2020 to develop COVID-19 vaccines and augment vaccine manufacturing, has received a 40% cut.

The Ministry of Earth Sciences has received ₹3,319.88 crore, a hike of 25.11%. While high, this is relatively lower than the previous hike of 40%.

These Ministries and departments are together responsible for promoting, supporting, and translating research in the country and its applications in various sectors.

India’s gross expenditure on research and development (GERD), which includes State government and private-sector investments, has been steadily declining since 2009-2010, making higher public sector investment in R&D a longstanding demand of the national research community.

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A worker in one of the oldest and largest diamond polishing units of Surat checking its dazzle. File image for representation
| Photo Credit: Vijay Soneji

To harness the potential of Lab Grown Diamond (LGD) or synthetic diamond segment, the Union Budget 2023-24 presented by the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has laid emphasis on research & development as well as to make it competitive in the international markets.

“LGD is a technology-and innovation-driven emerging sector with high employment potential. These environment-friendly diamonds which have optically and chemically the same properties as natural diamonds. To encourage indigenous production of LGD seeds and machines and to reduce import dependency, a research and development grant will be provided to one of the IITs for five years,” the FM said in the Parliament.

Also Read: Key Highlights from Union Budget 2023-24

To reduce the cost of production, the FM has proposed to reduce basic customs duty on seeds used in their manufacturing. Also she has proposed to increase customs duties on silver dore, bars and articles to align them with that on gold and platinum.

Vipul Shah, Chairman, Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) said the FM” decision to accept their recommendation pertaining to the LGD industry would ensure India’s end-to-end world leadership in rough to finished lab-grown diamond and jewellery manufacturing.

“Another positive pro-growth move is that the conversion of physical gold into digital gold will not attract capital gains tax,” he said.

Saiyam Mehra, Chairman, Gem & Jewellery Council (GJC), the domestic council of the industry said, “The Gems & Jewellery Industry’s critical concerns are not addressed in the Union Budget 2023-24. While the Research and Development grant will be provided to one of the IITs for the development of Lab Grown Diamond seeds and machines, the other sectors of the industry have been ignored.”

“The reduction in Gold Custom Duty in this Budget was our big expectation, which has severely hampered the industry and encouraged smuggling and grey market. GJC has been actively representing the reduction in customs duty of Gold over past many years. However, the Silver Dore Bars Custom Duty has been brought at par with Gold and platinum in this budget. This move will adversely affect the masses,” he said.

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Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman addressing the Post Budget press conference at the National Media Centre in New Delhi on Wednesday, January 1, 2023.
| Photo Credit: R.V. Moorthy

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced new initiatives for the cooperative sector in her 2023-24 Union Budget speech. The Minister stated that new cooperatives that commence manufacturing activities before March 31, 2024, shall get the benefit of a lower tax rate of 15%, as is presently available to new manufacturing companies.

“Secondly, I propose to provide an opportunity to sugar cooperatives to claim payments made to sugarcane farmers for the period prior to assessment year 2016-17 as expenditure. This is expected to provide them with a relief of almost ₹10,000 crore,” the Minister said.

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She announced a higher limit of ₹2 lakh per member for cash deposits to and loans in cash by Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies (PACS) and Primary Cooperative Agriculture and Rural Development Banks (PCARDBs) adding that a higher limit of ₹3 crore for Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) on cash withdrawal is being provided to cooperative societies.

She said that for small and marginal farmers, and other marginalised sections, the government is promoting cooperative-based economic development model. A new Ministry of Cooperation was formed in 2021. The government has already initiated computerisation of 63,000 PACS with an investment of ₹2,516 crore. In consultation with all stakeholders and States, model bye-laws for PACS were formulated enabling them to become multipurpose PACS. A national cooperative database is being prepared for countrywide mapping of cooperative societies.

“With this backdrop, we will implement a plan to set up massive decentralised storage capacity. This will help farmers store their produce and realise remunerative prices through sale at appropriate times. The government will also facilitate setting up of a large number of multipurpose cooperative societies, primary fishery societies and dairy cooperative societies in uncovered panchayats and villages in the next 5 years,” she said.

Lauding the efforts, Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah said on Twitter that the decentralised storage capacity will play an important role in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s resolve to increase the income of farmers.

“With the plan to set up the world’s largest decentralised storage capacity in the budget, farmers associated with cooperative societies will be able to store and sell their produce at the right time and get a fair price,” Mr. Shah said.

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