Union Budget 2018: Reactions from the IT Industry - Part IV
IT News Online Staff
2018-02-02
Rajan Navani, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Jetsynthesys (Jetline Group)
Budget 2018 demonstrated the commitment of the Government on Digital India by doubling allocation, developing an increased focus on new technologies including artificial Intelligence and blockchain. The contribution of new age businesses and technologies over the next decade to GDP will be significant as will be the ability of Indian companies to be part of global supply chains through value added technologies. All of this will result in more entrepreneurs and additional jobs that will drive the future of a New India.
The incentive provided to 5G, increased Wi-Fi hotspots and smart cities will drive greater data consumption which will particularly benefit the online and mobile gaming companies in India.
K. K. Mookhey, CEO and Founder, Network Intelligence
The move to make cryptocurrencies illegal is a major announcement; it is likely to create a negative impact on the price of these currencies, especially Bitcoin. A better idea may have been to come out with some sort of a regulatory framework around cryptocurrencies. On the other hand, the point raised by the Finance Minister about exploring the usage of blockchain technology for payments is a very good initiative. It will support homegrown technologies that have already invested in the technology and will attract new investments in this technology. It is a positive sign to see that 5 lakh Wi-Fi hotspots will be set up covering 5 crore rural citizens. This falls in place with the country's Digital vision. We would have liked to see more substantial movement on setting up the CERT-Fin for the financial sector.
Sridhar Krishna, Chairman and MD, Sankhya InfoTech
The Union Budget 2018 presented yesterday addressed many of the concerns of rural India and that of the MSME sector. We applaud Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, for introducing measures to alleviate some of the pain points they suffer. The outlay for healthcare and education is a much needed boost to create a more healthy and skilled and educated India.
On the civil aviation front, Finance Minister unveiled plans to increase the number of airports in the country by 5 times in this year from a current total of 124. India is the third largest and the fastest growing domestic aviation market in the world with respect to the number of domestic tickets sold, and this plan will greatly aid in growing the number of trips to one billion a year. It further mentioned 56 new airports and 31 new helipads will be connected under the UDAN scheme. The massive expansion, as envisaged, will have a multiplier effect on employment opportunities in the aviation sector. It will also have a commensurate effect on training requirements which are of a critical nature. Pilots, airport staff, baggage handlers, among others will have to be given proper training to minimize untoward incidents, potential accidents and be on the ready to deal with emergencies such as that of Indigo Airlines in the recent past. The mismanagement and rude behavior by the crew members highlights the need to improve the standard of training the professionals in the industry.
In a major step, the Budget announced the largest government-funded health insurance scheme to be implemented anywhere in the world. The sheer size and coverage of the scheme committed will require investment to train and skill additional resources and address shortage of qualified medical professionals. India lacks trained experts, and the corresponding measure to increase the number of medical colleges will provide a boost. However, this needs to also be backed by improvements in training. Technology can help bridge the gap here, with cloud and virtual reality based training modules, there are now more efficient pathways for these front of line critical care providers to be on top of their game.
Aniketh Jain, CEO and Co-Founder, Solutions Infini
Cryptocurrency is not a legal proposition and the usage of the same is discontinued by the Government. However, the usage and need of block chain technologies is not discouraged and will be looked upon case by case, which is a positive sign.
Cryptocurrency which is powered by Bitcoin is the digital currency that has raised quite a buzz in the investment market. According to reports, several banks possess frozen account cryptocurrencies in India while ROC (Registrar of Companies) has stopped companies to act in such exchanges.
The underlying assets of cryptocurrencies have been volatile with heavy price fluctuations. The roots of the cryptocurrencies and the related transactions are not extravagantly transparent making them more questionable. Hackers are gaining most out of this scenario as the difficulty of tracing the roots of accounts and transactions are very high. There have been several instances where the accounts of the investors have been prone to hacker attacks and there's no established mechanism to revive the accounts from the hackers. The vulnerabilities of losing the money invested in these accounts is extremely high as there are no pre conceived notions to revive the hacker's attack, paving them ways to swag the wealth."
Nikhil Rungta, MD, Intuit India
We are delighted about the recognition from the Government, MSMEs are indeed a major engine of growth and employment generation. This budget not only provides small and medium enterprises easier access to their working capital requirements, but also highlights the importance of the role of online fintech lending companies. In the last year, while GST has been hailed as a much-needed overhaul of the indirect tax system, many small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) across sectors - services and product alike - are still adapting to the new tax regime. Of the 51 million SMBs present in the Indian market, around 20 percent are somewhat digital-savvy. Since the Government is highly supportive of making India digitally tax-compliant, this budget will help small business by making it easier for them to adopt financial technology solutions that would help them make their tax filings faster and much more convenient.
Sriram S, Co-Founder, iValue InfoSolutions
It's a pragmatic budget and not a popular one as many expected to focus on the key needs like agriculture, rural and the poor. Also, some of the senior citizen issues have been addressed. Healthcare has been given importance along with insurance sops.
Great to see that the corporate tax rates are cut down to 25 percent for business up to Rs. 250 crore. It would have been better if it was linked to net income rather than the gross income. Most IT partners will get benefitted with this measure. The Government could have given more thrust to Digital India, Make in India and Smart City initiatives with incentives for digital payments. The Re-introduction of LTCG without removing STT was a real disappointment.
Overall a good budget with money being spent judiciously where required.
Prashanth G. J, CEO, TechnoBind
We will call this a pro-Industry budget from IT industry's perspective. The biggest announcement being the reduction of corporate tax for MSMEs from 30 percent to 25 percent for companies with a turnover of Rs. 250 crores is a welcoming move. This will benefit around 90 percent of Indian firms and will help generate additional revenue. The Government's push for cybersecurity is also one of the most awaited measures.
The boost to infrastructure and telecom sector with a gentle push to Digital India will incentivize the IT industry. The Government's support for the use of blockchain will open gates for many new players as well as increasing the competition in this sector. Also, its commitment to research in areas such as Artificial Intelligence, big data and machine learning will assist the IT industry further.
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