Budget 2022 sets tone for establishing India as global tech innovation hub, says NASSCOM

New Delhi: IT industry body Nasscom on Tuesday said the Union Budget 2022 sets the tone for India’s ’techade’ and for establishing the country as a global hub in terms of technology innovation. The IT body said while there were certain areas that were left unaddressed like enabling clarifications to allow units in SEZs flexibility to adopt hybrid work model and taxing employees only when they sell the shares, overall this is a healthy budget with a focus towards the future. “Strengthening the collective vision for an inclusive Digital Bharat, the Union Budget 2022 sets the tone for India’s techade. The government’s sharp focus on technology-enabled development and aligned investments in key sectors like healthcare, fintech, education, infrastructure, R&D, start-ups, agriculture and manufacturing is a testament to India’s technology prowess and the capabilities of the Indian technology industry to provide a fillip to sectors across,” Nasscom said in a statement. It added that the budget introduced measures ranging from taxation to investment to help boost the country’s economic activities, digital governance, ease of doing business, ensuring job creation, and marking India’s transition to an inclusive digital economy. Nasscom said it is encouraged to see the government focusing on digital skilling to encourage continual skilling avenues, sustainability and employability through online training, programmes, and industry collaborations, as well as the establishment of skilling e-labs for simulated learning settings. These are positive moves toward making India a global talent powerhouse, it added. “There were certain points that have been left unaddressed, like additional focus on industry-led R&D in emerging technologies, enabling clarifications to allow units in SEZs flexibility to adopt hybrid work model, easing the taxation of ESOP by making the taxation regime available to all DPIIT recognised startups and taxing employees only when they sell the shares,” Nasscom said. Lack of action on enabling direct foreign listing, and tax parity between domestic and foreign investors are some other things that Nasscom said it believes were not included in the Budget. “However, we believe overall this is a healthy budget, with a focus towards the future and we will continue to work with the government to ensure we strengthen the road map for a trillion-dollar digital economy by 2026,” it said. Tata Consultancy Services MD and CEO Rajesh Gopinathan said the Budget has “magnified” the Digital India vision and importance of technology in all focus areas like infrastructure, inclusive development, sustainability, sunrise industries and skilling. “This Budget provides many opportunities for growth for the technology industry by bringing world-class solutions and best practices for railways, healthcare, education, financial services, and regulatory bodies to accelerate India’s growth,” he added. Tech Mahindra MD and CEO CP Gurnani said the budget truly echoes India’s vision towards inclusive development and building a truly ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ by providing a blueprint for the economy from India at 75 to India at 100. “FM’s key announcements on blockchain and setting up e-passports with futuristic technologies are a step in the right direction to help India emerge as a global technology leader. The focus on innovation and R&D with an emphasis on strengthening talent capacity…will enable India to become a global hub for skilled talent,” he added. Keshav R Murugesh, Group CEO at WNS, said a much-required thrust has been accorded to the digitalisation of education along with a focus on upgrading the syllabus across colleges to equip upcoming talent with the right tools. “Announcements such as ‘Drone Shakti’ and for Drone-as-a-Service (DrAAS), besides the one-year extension for the incentives provided to them would immensely encourage existing and new players to focus on these areas. The announcement of reforms in customs administration of SEZs, which will be fully IT-driven is commendable,” he added. Amit Chadha, CEO and MD at L&T Technology Services, said digital engineering is the future and the announcements appear to precisely embrace this proactive approach as the fundamental impetus has been on leveraging digital technologies to further the nation’s growth and march ahead. “The theme of continued ease of doing business, consistency and stability in tax rates, rebates, push to further digitise the economy, issue of the 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,” Happiest Minds Technologies MD and CFO Venkatraman Narayanan said. Mindtree CEO and MD Debashis Chatterjee said the move to grant infrastructure status to data centres will be a game-changer for India, while initiatives such as digital rupee and e-passports - based on futuristic technologies - are positive for the tech industry. The digital push in various sectors is aimed at catalysing growth, efficiency, and inclusiveness in the new normal, he added. “Nurturing more structured development of tier II and III cities is a crucial move towards augmenting our ability to capitalise on our talent dividend, which continues to be one of the cornerstones of the global success of India’s IT services industry,” Chatterjee said. Arun Nathani, CEO and MD at Cybage, said significant expenditures in increasing the digital infrastructure for skill development across the country will eventually help address the supply-side constraints for IT and ITeS enterprises. SugarBox Networks CEO and co-founder Rohit Paranjpe added that the focus on new digital technologies in the Budget will help to enable seamless and reliable access to digital services across education, healthcare, and skilling, which are crucial developmental requirements for remote towns and cities in India. 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