
Union Budget 2023-24 has garnered a positive response from the business community with several experts praising the initiatives announced by the finance minister. The budget, aimed at fostering growth through digital transformation has received praise for its focus on the financial sector, skill development and the start-up ecosystem in India.
Prateek Toshniwal, Founder, Director & Advisor at Tosniwal Ventures, says, “The Union Budget for the 2023-24 fiscal year has changed the capital investment landscape in the country. The economy is projected to grow at 7%, the highest among major economies. India is on the right path, despite current challenges. The finance minister’s cap-ex target for 2023-24, at Rs 10 lakh crore is 33% higher than the 2022-23 budget estimate of INR 7.5 lakh crore and represents 3.3% of GDP.”
Ashish Singhal, Co-Founder and CEO of CoinSwitch echoes digital transformation, “It’s great to see the financial sector as one of the seven priority sectors in the budget. While we are still reading the fine print, the thrust to improve financial literacy and to build DigiLocker as a one-stop KYC solution are positives for the Wealth Tech Ecosystem. Being an early adopter of DigiLocker, its use has greatly helped us at CoinSwitch to implement more user-friendly KYC standards. The government’s continued focus on financial inclusion, building digital infrastructure, entrepreneurship, and up-skilling our youth will have a great impact on the economy.”
Vikram Ahuja, Managing Director of ANSR and Co-founder & CEO of Talent500 is particularly impressed with the budget’s emphasis on skill development and the start-up ecosystem, “The 2023 Union Budget hits all the right notes for skill development and the start-up ecosystem in India… This will be further amplified by the decision to set up 30 Skill India International centres across different states to cover new age courses for coding, AI, robotics, mechatronics IoT, drones etc. The Budget has reinforced India’s positioning as a technology-driven and knowledge-based economy and I’m optimistic that there will be easier and more friendly regulatory moves to support our growth as a global innovation hub.”
However, there are some concerns raised by expert as well, with Vikram Ahuja pointing out the lack of investments in IT Infrastructure in Tier-2 and 3 cities, “Lack of investments in IT Infrastructure in Tier-2 and 3 cities is a big miss, considering the huge talent pool dispersed across such cities in the country.”
In conclusion, the Union Budget 2023-24 has received a positive response from the business community with several initiatives aimed at fostering growth through digital transformation receiving praise. The budget’s focus on the financial sector, skill development, and the start-up ecosystem in India has been well received by experts. However, there is still room for improvement, and experts believe that more needs to be done to support the growth of IT infrastructure in Tier-2 and 3 cities in the country.