As the budget of year 2018 is released, diverse reactions are coming in on finance minister Arun Jaitley’s Budget presentation. The top leaders across the Industry were quick to react on it.

Here are some of the reactions:

Sumeer Chandra,
Managing Director,
HP Inc. India

“The Government has taken a very balanced approach in Union Budget 2018 with a special focus on strengthening the rural economy, infrastructure development and helping small and medium businesses. Government’s vision to move from black board to digital board schools by 2022, revitalization and upgrading of education sector through increased fund allocation and focus on education related research will create a brighter future for the young. We are enthused by the government’s focus on skills development and empowering students with the right educational tools. We are also thrilled with the Government’s emphasis on promoting research and use cases for digital manufacturing and 3D printing. We believe this technology will enable speedy growth of the manufacturing industry and help India in becoming a major manufacturing hub.”

Sahil Chopra, CEO and Founder, iCubesWire

“The much-awaited announcement of Union Budget prompted a gust of anticipation & higher expectations. While Mr. Arun Jaitley, the Finance Minister touts the Union Budget as primarily focused on the agricultural sector, it sure reeks of reforms beneficial for numerous other sectors as well.

The government has always encouraged the digital sector to flourish & the budget rightfully justifies their farsighted approach. This year the allocation to Digital India Scheme has been doubled to INR 3073Cr which is a worthwhile move for the industry as a whole. Not only that, with the onset of fast-paced technology & Artificial Intelligence shaping the new segment of digital World, NITI Aayog will establish a national programme for Artificial intelligence. This is a clap-worthy reform which will help organizations diversifying with AI to have a wider scope with vast awareness among everyone. For a higher internet penetration, 5 Lakh wi-fi hotspots will be set up in rural areas, which again is beneficial for the rural dwellers. The need to eliminate cryptocurrencies which are funding illegitimate transactions was also mentioned. The government has proposed to revamp the system of sanctioning loans to SMEs. As per the budget reforms now the information will be linked with GSTN & will be fetched from the same. This comes across as a welcome move as not only will it streamline the process but will enable people to get accustomed to the digital ingress. Corporate companies with a turnover of up to INR 250 cr. will also be highly benefitted from the budget as the corporate tax has been further reduced to 25%.

As per my opinion, the Union Budget has surely set a benchmark & the year looks promising with excellent reforms leading to growth & development of the economy.”

Vikas Agarwal, General Manager at OnePlus India

“Since the announcement of Make in India program 3 years back, over 85% of smartphones sold in country are now produced locally. So, this is opportune time to introduce next set of regulations to attract investment in the manufacturing sector and establish India as a global hub for electronics. At OnePlus, we are fully committed to the Indian market and welcome the proposed regulations. Currently, all OnePlus smartphones are produced locally and we are already exploring ways to further increase the share of local manufacturing to ensure there is minimal cost impact of any new regulations to the end customer.”

Rajan S. Mathews, Director General COAI

"We applaud the government’s vision and commitment towards Digital India and the Digital economy. The Hon. Finance Ministry Shri Arun Jaitley has recognized the importance of a resilient cyberspace and doubled the allocation for Centres of Excellence across the country to be championed by the DST. We, are also enthused to see that Niti Aayog, will now be spearheading a national program to direct efforts in Artificial Intelligence, Quantum Computing, Blockchain, Robotics, and Digital as a way of life. The industry welcomes these timely initiatives. The support extended to IIT Chennai for an indigenous 5G test bed is also a welcome move. We are also happy to see that the allocation of Digital India has been doubled and the government proposes to set up 5 lakh WiFi hotspots. On Ease of Doing Business, he has incentivized the states identifying over 3000 parameters and introduced competitiveness amongst themselves, through a ranking mechanism.

However, for realizing the Hon. PM’s vision of a fully connected and empowered Digital India, we reiterate that the telecom industry is deeply disappointed that none of our key asks have found mention in the Hon. FM’s budget. We had sought a reduction in levies and taxes, and an urgent intervention is critical for resuscitating the sector, which is currently experiencing its worst financial health and hyper competition. We reiterate our four key asks, reduction extremely high and unsustainable levies & taxes, reduction in BCD on 4G LTE Equipment, clarity on RoW related taxation at the state level, & clarification on lowering the tax rate to 1% on discounts extended to small dealers. While, the FM has emphasized the importance of moving to a digital economy, the actual digital highway, which is telecom has found no mention in terms of substantive support, unlike road, railway, highways, electricity, which have received substantial mention. We are saddened to see that telecom which is the bedrock for moving the Digital economy forward, continues to remain an Orphan.

The FM, while recognizing infrastructure as a key to growth has pushed the implementation of the Smart City Mission & 99 Smart cities have been approved but it is critical that telecom not be paid a lip service, as it is an essential, intrinsic infrastructure core, for a resurgent India & a thriving Digital Economy. ­­ Like the emphasis on Bharat Net, we hope that the substantial asks of the telecom sector can be addressed for speedy infrastructure rollout across the country to truly serve the poorest of the poor and truly bridge the digital divide between India and Bharat.”

Sanjay Kumar Kalirona, CEO & Director, COMIO

“The Union Budget-2018 is a positive step towards India’s growing smartphone market. The increased custom duty on mobiles will further boost local manufacturing and will be the essential push to create a manufacturing eco-system in India. Smartphones play a crucial role in today’s times and this budget is an extension to the ‘Digital India’ initiative. With focus on development, it is a progressive budget and is a stepping stone to India’s growth story.”

Ramesh Mamgain,
Area Vice President,
India and SAARC Region, Commvault

"Doubling allocations towards Digital India and enhancing the National Mission on Cyberspace Security sets the tone to protect the data of India Inc. and its citizens. Unique IDs for companies will definitely go a long way in contributing towards interest of the nation and increasing transparency by corporates. Commvault, with its global industry leading solutions, is also committed to partnering with the GoI and India Inc. in building a robust data protection framework."

Anil Valluri, President, NetApp India & SAARC

“India’s Budget FY18: A Continued thrust on transformation

The last few years have seen large initiatives designed to bring about substantive change. The FY18 budget marks time, with its particular focus on agriculture, healthcare and infrastructure and the continued thrust on the MSME segment. The focus on wide scale broadband access, on Machine learning, AI and robotics, on R&D as well as skilling, and on Smart Cities will keep pushing India’s Digital agenda, well supported by the additional fund allocation. It is a quietly progressive budget, and timed well to focus on readying all cross sections of Indian society to reap the benefits of the future.”

Ashwin Bhandari, CEO iVOOMi India

It’s a welcome initiative towards make in india, in last 2 years ecosystem in India has already taken first level growth and situation has improved a lot. All the required resources for making the phones in India are stable, hence this will fuel industry growth, boom localisation to next level.

We at iVooMi will be changing over to 100% (currently is above 95%) make in India with this initiative and start the development of localisation for PCBA SMT, Battery complete unit, Transducers making in India to drive the growth to next level, “Targeting 2020 as Completely designed and Manufactured Phone In India”.

Further incentivising the higher level manufacturing (Surface Mount Technology, Injection Moulding, Optical Electronics) is recommended to expedite the design and development within Indian ecosystem.

Padmanabha Krishnamurthy, CFO at Paladion Networks

"The 2018 budget has a strong focus on Agriculture, Healthcare, and Rural Development. I believe this will contribute to the holistic growth of India. The reduced corporate tax rates to the MSME sector is welcome, but I hope it is in the books to extend this benefit to all companies soon. The continued focus on digital growth by the Government including a special focus on Cyber Security with the launch of Centers of Excellence is a huge necessity for India and I am happy to see it in this Budget. Finance Minister has tried to keep the fiscal deficit within the target limits. Overall it is a prudent and growth-oriented budget. "

Rostow Ravanan, CEO, Mindtree

“The budget balances the need for fiscal discipline against the political gains required in a pre-election year. We are happy to note the Government’s interest and budget allocations to areas like Blockchain, AI, and Digital. We are also interested to learn more about the largest social insurance scheme planned by the Government – this could be a large opportunity for using technology to deliver superior outcomes.”

Vivek Agarwal, Co-founder, M-tech Informatics Ltd

We welcome the Budget 2018 by the Honorable Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. The Union Budget 2018 is a growth oriented budget with enormous push for health, agriculture, education and infrastructure, which we believe will usher in healthy economic growth in the years to come. Speaking specifically of mobile phone industry, we are glad that our demand of increasing customs duty on mobile phone CBU [completely built units] imports to 20 % from the existing 15 % has been met. This will prevent dumping of phones in the Indian market, boost domestic manufacturing and provide a level playing field to home grown brands. The announcement is in line with the objectives of the Make in India initiative.

Jay Chen, CEO, Huawei Telecommunications India

“We applaud the forward looking Union Budget 2018 where the Hon’ble Government is extensively focusing on digitalization with further support to initiatives like Digital India, Smart Cities, Swachh Bharat among others. The Union Budget laid down plans to connect additional 1.5lakh gram panchayats with fibre optic networks under the BharatNet. This will create access and affordability and will help in bridging the digital divide even further.

The Union Budget 2018 will further strengthen India’s journey towards Digital Transformation and reinforces the foundation to help us in building intelligent networks and reshaping the world”

Rajesh Maurya, Regional Vice President, India & SAARC, Fortinet

The Wi-Fi hotspots, New Smart Cities, internet connectivity, investments in Telecom infrastructure and Digital India expansion is going to witness proliferation of online devices, and the hyperconnectivity towards which India is heading needs to be secured with a very sound cybersecurity policy. Data Protection is a top priority, and a security approach that leverages the power of automation, integration, and strategic segmentation backed by threat intelligence are critical to the implementation of the above programs.

The collective brilliance that the digital and cybersecurity communities have amassed in our country is staggering—with each new generation poised to push us further. At one time, we were challenged not to ask what our country could do for us but what we could do for our country. It is time that the leading organizations in digital technology come together once again to ask the same ‘what we can do for our country’ to protect our new digital empire.

Ajey Mehta, Vice President India, HMD Global

“HMD Global continues its strong emphasis on PM Modi’s Make in India campaign. While the import duties for mobile phones increased to 20%, along with a 15% duty on key components, this will have a minimum impact on our business, as all of our current portfolio of Nokia phones are manufactured in India.”

Prakash Mallya, Managing Director, Sales & Marketing Group, Intel India

“Today’s Budget clearly pivots on a digital-first India, and three recommendations made by the FM relate directly to the potential we see in the country. First, the NITI Aayog effort to institutionalize research and development in artificial intelligence reinforces the value that machine learning can bring to issues of national importance. If synergized with the work being done by the academia and industry, we can expect fast emerging use cases that can democratize AI in India. Second, exploring the application of blockchain in governance is a strong indicator of the government's intent to improve citizen services without compromising on security, especially as Aadhaar gets linked to citizen accounts. And finally, the DoT’s establishment of an indigenous 5G center is an encouraging sign of the government’s view of collaboration with the broader technology ecosystem as the best strategy to accelerate the rollout of 5G infrastructure in India.”

Rajiv Bhalla, Managing Director at Barco Electronic Systems

“The Union Budget 2018-19 is a balanced budget that I believe will help drive & sustain long-term growth for India. The increased focus on higher infrastructure spends, smart cities, digital India, and healthcare is a step in the right direction. With 99 smart cities being selected and an amount of over Rs. 2 lakh crore being allocated, it will give the nation a significant opportunity to upscale its Infrastructure as a growth driver. In addition, doubling the Digital India budget allocation this year is a step ahead towards becoming a digital-first economy which will assist in reshaping and empowering the country by leveraging technology.

The budget also brings momentum to India’s Healthcare by announcing Rs. 1,200 crore for 1.5 lakh wellness health centers, which is set to bring advancements in the Indian Healthcare sector.

Furthermore, we hope that impact due to the increased customs duties will offset the government’s dedicated push towards promoting manufacturing in India.

All in all, the budget is set to have a transformational impact and give a massive boost to the economy.”

Arvind Chandrasekhar,
WW Government Affairs Lead,
AMD Cryptocurrency

The Finance Minister’s vision to evaluate the use block chain technology while clarifying Govt. of India’s stand on cryptocurrency is a great example of not throwing the baby out with the bath water.

AI

We welcome the announcement for NITI Aayog to initiate a national programme on Artificial Intelligence. AMD being a primary provider in this area hopes to partner actively with the policy making body to bring world class standards to India.

The announcement on setting up of Centers of excellence for Artificial Intelligence is welcomed as this provides a consolidation of knowledge and a strong knowledge base that can be leveraged by the country.

We hope that by the active use of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, the “Operation Greens” to address price fluctuations in potato, tomato & onion are aided to provide forward thinking and better predictability to the farmers and consumers alike.

Digital

The Ekalavya Residential Schools should be modelled around technology strongly as it can play a significant role in leap-frogging the tribal children to bridge the gap they face today.

The proposal to roll out e-assessment is a welcome technology move and shows that we are truly moving towards a Digital India.

MSME

The additional focus being brought in a big way to the MSME sector paves the way for rapid adoption of technology which was badly needed for this sector.

Arvind Bali, Videocon Telecom and Videocon WallCam

The budget has a clear push towards socio-economic growth of the country with aggressive focus on agriculture, education, rural economy, healthcare and infrastructure. The allocations aimed towards rural India will increase consumption which boost industries and help in nation building. Focus on digital solution and new age technologies is a big push in terms of creating the right environment for the next level of development in India. The increase in customs duty will further boost 'Make in India'

Keshab Panda, CEO & MD, L&T Technology Services

“We welcome the government’s thrust on encouraging R&D pursuits in the areas of AI, machine learning, robotics and edge analytics. This move will further leapfrog the innovations in this space that is significantly driven by Indian companies and will place the country at the centre of global digital transformation focus.”

Keith Martin, Head, Asia Pacific, Corporate Business, F-Secure

The Union Budget 2018-19 announced the mission on cyberspace which will be launched in support of the establishment of centres of excellence and stated that the allocation to the Digital India programme has been doubled to ₹3073 crore in 2018-19. This is huge step by the government with financial backing to make India a cyber-secure nation. Today, nearly all aspects of our lives are only, with everything from financial transactions to confidential personal data being accessible from every device. Such substantial focus on the sector by the Indian government further encourages us at F-Secure to support the country with our best-in-class solutions, helping our customers minimize their risk and guard against the cybercriminals.

Neeraj Sharma, Country Head – Spreadtrum India.


“The increase in the customs duty on imported mobile phones is a great move which will boost the ‘Make in India’ campaign by promoting local manufacturing. The government’s focus on the new digital technologies will help lead to a empowered digital society and a knowledge economy.”

Ashwini Aggarwal, Chairman, India Electronics & Semiconductors Association

“The Government has executed path-breaking reforms like GST and the bankruptcy bill in the recent years. The budget’s objective was to build on the evolving economic scenario with enablers for private sector investments. Announced MSME benefits augur well for the industry. Stated ESDM / electronics sector focus is good with various measures taken to make it easier to do business across sectors. With this, the industry hopes for appropriate kick-start packages to enable Make-in-India in this sector, we hope to see this in the fine print. Additionally, the provision for the development of 2 defence industrial production corridors in India, will boost indigenous manufacturing and make India more self-reliant for its defence needs.

Welcome measures for regulating regimes for venture capital funds and angel investors will ensure a further boost, especially to the start-up sector. Increased scholarships for select 1000 BTech students for PHDs at IITs and IISCs will strengthen domain knowledge and drive the innovation ecosystem.

The budget has also laid a lot of stress on improving the education system and set aside funds for training of untrained teachers, and doubled allocation for skilling with a special focus on new technology areas. Additionally, the use of blockchain will be encouraged to provide further impetus to the digital economy and fast-track the Digital India vision of the government. There is also the most important announcement around revolutionising healthcare and universal access to it. This will bring in a lot of attention to telemedicine and impact it will have on the holistic healthcare needs of approximately 50 crore beneficiaries. Overall, this year’s budget has raised the bar for the expectations of making India a self-reliant economy with the best set of skilled workforce and taking a huge leap towards being a global technology and manufacturing hub.”

Suman Reddy, MD, Pegasystems India

“The 2018 budget brings us one step closer towards the realisation of Digital India with allocated budgets for R&D, training and skilling in AI, machine learning, Robotics, and Data sciences. We welcome the government’s focus on e-governance through blockchain, digital manufacturing, IoT, quantum computing, big data and the monumental focus on digital transformation. The national program designed by Niti Aayog to boost R&D would ace India’s positioning as the centre of innovation. Broadband coverage for rural areas would certainly help reduce the digital divide. Such government initiatives would help democratize AI for citizens. Necessitating skilling of IT employees as they have been lately burdened with the pressure of feeling redundant, will go a long way in curbing job loss by creating and defining new roles for employees. Government’s proposal to invest INR 1 trillion to develop premium education infrastructure over the next four years is a welcome move towards ensuring quality education. Growth of fintech companies and recent policies of ease of doing business will boost entrepreneurship. India is at the cusp of digital transformation and establishment of centres of excellence will augment its positioning globally.”

Souma Das, Managing Director, Teradata India

"We welcome the Finance Minister's emphasis on adoption of new age technologies like artificial intelligence, blockchain and machine learning. Leveraging these technologies will drive new insights from data to enable better policy implementation and fast-track reforms leading to improvement in citizen services and accelerating economic growth. We are excited about the government's continued focus towards Digital India as it enables transparency, better governance and resource utilisation. The thrust on digitization by doubling the expenditure for 'Digital India' and setting up programs to channelize research efforts in new-age technologies is definitely a step in right direction. "

Shrenik Bhayani, GM, Kaspersky Lab (South Asia)

"The union budget of 2018, very evidently pictures a positive growth that the government has shown towards digitalization in India. Their push towards the research efforts in Artificial Intelligence is a smart step taken by Mr. Arun Jaitley.

The aim to setup 5 lakh hotspots is a great step, which also calls the need for being alert on the cybersecurity front. People need to be educated about antivirus solutions and be made aware about not falling for phishing attacks.

The blockchain can be an effective technology and I feel that exploring Block Chain Technology for payments is a brave step taken by the government. I am excited for the development of this remarkable and useful technology in our country, as it is in fact increasingly being implemented by a vast number of industries. At the same time, it can be an attractive target for cybercriminals. Some cyberthreats have been inherited from e-payments, such as changing the address of the destination wallet address during transactions and stealing an electronic wallet, among other things. Therefore, we should remain vigilant to stay secure.”

Pranav Roach, President, Hughes Network Systems.

“The proposed Budget for 2018-19 highlights the government’s focus to spread internet connectivity and strengthening rural broadband infrastructure. The Finance Minister announced during the budget speech that one lakh Gram Panchayats have already been connected thanks to expansion of the network but this also highlights the fact that more than 2 lakh villages are still awaiting access to high-speed broadband. Internet connectivity is undeniably a great enabler and also a medium through which maximum governance with minimum government can be implemented. Satellite broadband technology can greatly help connect the under-served and un-served regions. We request the government to use high throughput satellite connectivity we're proposing to bring."

Gaurav Agarwal, Managing Director, India & SAARC, Symantec

"The Government of India has made great strides towards digital enablement over the last few years. This year’s Union Budget further validates their strong focus on leveraging the best of technology to enhance socio-economic equity, capital and capacity within the country. Setting up of half a million Wi-Fi hotspots, and push for digital payments are definitely positive signs.

However, in the accelerated hyper connectedness which also includes critical infrastructure sectors like banking, energy and telecom coupled with government’s keen interest to explore technologies such as AI and blockchain, it is essential to ensure adequate investments are made towards cyber security and data protection. Recent large-scale, sophisticated attacks have underscored the importance of cyber security tremendously, and therefore government departments and agencies should consider allocating at least 8% of their respective technology budgets for strengthening their cyber defense.”

Priya Mahajan, Head of ASPAC Public Policy & Regulatory Counsel, Verizon Enterprise Solutions

We welcome the focus of the Union Budget on disruptive technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Big Data, Internet of Things (IoT) and Robotics. With the renewed focus on Digital India, we hope that the Government of India also consider additional reforms to the telecom sector. Reforms that will create a predictable, flexible, lightly regulated and reliant on technology policy framework that incentivizes the businesses to invest, reinvest and to compete in India’s telecom market on a level playing field basis. Reforms that will also provide consumers with greater choices to modernize and simplify regulations for all stakeholders. We are also encouraged that the government is considering series of initiatives to empower the Indian citizens with broadband access thereby bridging the digital divide. Broadband access will spur demand for digital services and usher in a new era of digital revolution, establishing India as one of the most robust ecosystems for investment and innovation in the world.

Rajesh Aggarwal, Co-Founder Micromax

This year's Budget has brought significant changes, focusing on various key aspects which are largely stressed upon our overall economic growth – Rural, Agriculture, Ease of doing business, skilled based education, job creation, healthcare, housing, Structural reforms and infrastructure development which will help stimulate and strengthen the Indian economy.

The emphasis is on establishing a programme to bring in direct efforts towards building a holistic ecosystem for Artificial intelligence. The focus on AI is a welcome move towards technological advancements in India and an allocation of INR 3073 crore for the Digital India scheme will certainly propel digital adoption and smartphone adoption in the country.

The increase in customs duty on Mobiles will encourage local manufacturing. As India is becoming the global hub for manufacturing, the measures taken by the government will surely grow confidence amongst the manufacturers and I strongly believe that this will further create business and human resource opportunities as well. Also, with the government’s move to invest in over 5 lakh WIFI Hotspots, will enable rural India to have Broadband access which in turn will be a significant stepping stone in the Digital India movement.

The government’s measures towards the import duty on printed circuit boards (PCBs), camera modules, connectors and other components that go into making smartphones, will boost the Make in India initiative and will relentlessly pursue in curbing imports and building value addition in the country. Micromax is deeply connected on the Make in India initiative with 3 running factories and we support this.

However, the increase in customs duty on the certain parts of TV might affect the manufacturing ecosystem adversely. We need the government to help in creating an improved local manufacturing and a better component ecosystem for the consumer electronics manufacturers as well. With focus on growth, it is the budget to look forward that would add an impetus to the India’s growth story.

GB Kumar, Vice President – India and APAC at Prysm Inc.

“The one key takeaway from Union Budget 2018 is clearly the envisioned rise of India as a connected and technology-driven nation. There is a clear focus on creating a digital economy through sizeable strategic investments in developing the requisite infrastructure. With the government’s enhanced commit to the Digital India scheme – an allocation of INR 3,073 crore, and the successful selection of 99 cities (out of 100) for the Smart Cities initiative – we believe we will see expedited implementation of Connected Cities. Another commendable announcement was the allocation of INR 10,000 crore to the Bharatnet project and establishment of 5 lakh Wifi hotspots in rural geographies. The government’s announcements that promote digitization through greater connectivity, will fuel uptake for collaboration and remote working solutions resulting in a more productive and connected India.

We hope Government will actively encourage emerging technologies such as block chain. This is important for Indian tech industries and start up ecosystems to flourish. Overall, it is a progressive budget, something that puts the onus on the Indian Information Technology industry and also benefit from.”

Jatin Dalal, Chief Financial Officer, Wipro Limited

“The Budget has largely delivered on the socio-economic agenda of strengthening the agricultural and rural economy, health care, infrastructure and education in the country. On the tax front, while reduction in the corporate tax rate for companies with turnover less than Rs. 250 crores is a step in the right direction, it would need to be followed up with further rationalization in the form of broad based reduction of MAT and corporate tax rate. We welcome the greater push for digitization and increased transparency in administration. The introduction of new scheme for e-assessments across the country would lead to reduced tax administration cost and increased tax payer satisfaction.”

Ajeet Khurana, Head, Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Committee of India


'Hearing the Finance Minister talk about Cryptocurrency on Budget day is clear indication of how important and widespread this technological innovation has become in India. BACC welcomes the statement, and reaffirms our unstinting assistance to the Government, and all regulators, in helping evolve a robust ecosystem for Cryptocurrencies.'

Rahul Agarwal, CEO & MD Lenovo, India.

“The union budget has upheld the macroeconomic reforms and initiatives through the inclusive welfare agenda. We are bullish on the ‘Make in India’ initiative and expect the budget propositions to provide an impetus to the manufacturing sector. The revision of import custom duties on smartphones from 15% to 20% will significantly strengthen the manufacturing ecosystem within the country and increase domestic value addition. However, there is an immediate need to provide similar manufacturing incentives to the PC sector and accelerate the vision of Digital India. Furthermore, increased allocation for improving the IT infrastructure by providing 5 lakh WiFi HotSpots and broadband access to 5 crore rural citizens will supplement the IT penetration in the country. This will in turn help the young demographic population to reap the benefits of technology in education”

Pradeep David, General Manager, Universal Robots – South Asia. 

“MSMEs have been a pillar of major emerging economies like India. MSMEs being a focus for Universal Robots, the government investment and tax reliefs will encourage the growth of this sector and lead to further employment generation. The allocation of the investments announced in the budget 2018-19 will help research and development in areas of Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence and Robotics & Automation. Some of the interesting outcomes of this budget have been the duty enhancement on certain automobile components, doubling of resource allocation for food processing and to the digital India program. The food processing industry is growing at 8% and is an exciting development as cobots play heavily in end of Line packaging automation, an essential area to be competitive for global and local food processing companies. The Digital India program, a key to Industry 4.0 wherein cobots play an integral part as one of the key levers to supplement labour in terms of productivity, quality and ergonomics allowing India Manufacturing to climb up the value chain. Lastly, the government’s outlook on the automation in major manufacturing industries with the advent and adoption of newer technologies which will lead to increase in the efficiency of the business processes, operations and productivity.”

Surendra Singh, Country Director, Forcepoint

“The government has come out with a truly ‘Bharat’ budget and has introduced several inclusive digital programmes for rural India to reap benefits of information technology. From doubling the outlay for promoting digital economy for the next year and plans to speed-up digitisation with initiatives such as implementing five lakh WI-FI hotspots to provide the internet to rural citizens, connecting one lakh gram panchayats via internet cables, announcing a national program to direct efforts in Artificial Intelligence and increased digital intensity in the education sector are welcome steps. However, as more technology use grows amongst people so would be the need to become aware of cyber threats. Cyber security will now be more important than ever for securing digital assets as more and more people connect and conduct business using technology. There is a requirement of holistic strategy that provides cybersecurity frameworks for both public and private sectors with the government educating and ensuring compliance. The strategy should be all encompassing including small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as they don’t have expertise to deal with emerging cyber security attacks. A lot more focus needs to be put on educating the public and it is not just the government but also a corporate responsibility.”

Amit Singh, Co Founder and Smart City Expert, Yitsol Technologies

"Smart City is “THE SOLUTION” to deal with massive population growth, rural to urban migration, and depleting city resources. I welcome the budget allocation for smart cities, and this should become the catalyst to transform our cities. However this focus for smart cities should not be just for once, but continuous.With increased government focus, we should look forward for more advanced technological innovations in the area of smart city implementation. Usage of Artificial AI to control urban management systems, including traffic lights and emergency dispatch of all services. Real-time data analysis of the traffic would enable the city authorities to plan better city traffic management.

Ravi B Goyal, Chairman & Managing Director, AGS Transact Technologies Limited

“As India’s leading end-to-end payment solutions provider, we appreciate the government’s agenda to push ‘ease of living’ since it will simplify lives through technological innovation thereby spurring automation.

With the government recognizing the immense potential of MSMEs and trying to nurture a financial ecosystem for them to grow, Fintech companies will play a critical role in financing space for MSMEs. Online loan approvals for MSMEs will enable higher MSME financing and reduce the cash crunch faced by them.

As anticipated, digitisation is the foremost agenda this year as well. With the allocation to Digital India scheme being doubled up to Rs 3073 crore, financial inclusion will receive the much needed impetus. The announcement to allocate Rs 10,000 crore for creating of 5 lakh WiFi HotSpots to provide broadband access to 5 crore rural citizens will ensure Digital India initiative penetrates deeper into the remote areas. Overall, these initiatives will definitely enable the booming FinTech and Banking Payments Services industry to further enhance this growth.

Additionally, the Government’s plans to come out with a policy to introduce toll system on ‘‘pay as you use’’ basis along with the system of cash toll payments being replaced with Fastags and other electronic payment systems will make road travel experience effective and seamless.”

Sunil Sharma, Managing Director Sales - Sophos India & SAARC

“With the rise in bitcoin’s popularity and a strong warning to act with “extreme caution” and understand the significant risks of choosing to invest in cryptocurrencies, it’s no wonder 2018-19’s budget has a special emphasis on taking measures to stop cryptocurrency circulation and explore the usage of Blockchain technology. Cryptocurrency is popular with cyber crooks and usually cryptocurrency is the end, rather than the means of the crime, for example, when crooks infect your computer with coin mining software to hijack your CPU to earn money, or scramble your data with ransomware and demand that you pay them in cryptocoins to get it back.” Sharma further added, “We welcome the reduction in corporate tax as it will be a growth enabler to the entire micro and SMEs.”

Gagan Rai, Managing Director & CEO, NSDL e-Governance Infrastructure Limited

“This is a budget for the masses due to several reasons. Firstly, 10 crore families will receive health insurance cover. Secondly, thrust on education by teachers’ training on a mass scale. Thirdly, agriculture has been encouraged and focus would be given to double farmer income by 2022. We also welcome the measures that the Government of India plans to undertake to hasten India's movement to a digital economy.

There will be significant use of Aadhaar numbers even for the businesses, as all business entities will be allotted an Aadhaar like unique ID number.

The Government has also announced various benefits for students and the education sector in India. This will give focus to digital boards. Allocation of 1 lakh crore rupees in promoting learning based outcomes and research sector will give a further boost to education sector.”

Robbin Shen, Managing Director - Dahua Technology India

“The Union Budget presented to the Indian Parliament in New Delhi on February 1, 2018 by our Honorable Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has many good provisions and positive implications for the security industry. The allocations of Rs. 5.97 lakh crore for infrastructure, Rs. 2.04 lakh crore for 99 ’Smart Cities’, Rs. 3974 cr for MSMEs, the proposed creation of 10 iconic tourist destinations, training for 50 lakh youths by 2020, 5 lakhs Wi-Fi spots in rural India, dedicated and affordable housing, building of 24 new government medical colleges and hospitals , revamping of 600 railway stations, equipping all trains with Wi-Fi and CCTV cameras , making corporate tax at the rate of 25 % upto Rs. 250 cr and increase in health , education and social protection all augur well for our industry and expedite India’s growth.”

Nikhil Arora Vice -President & Managing Director, GoDaddy India

“The budget this year focused towards “Ease of Living” & “Ease of doing Business” to strengthen agriculture, health, education, employment, MSME and infrastructure sectors”. It is good to know that our economy is on course to achieve over 8% growth. Government is recognizing the multi-faceted role played by the MSME sector towards encouraging the generation of self-employment with these tax relief and subsidies on custom duty. This year’s budget also saw a huge allocation of funds to the MSME sector to help them get started and continue to grow, this allocation comes as a big relief for the sector badly in need for such encouragement. More support for MSME for NPAs and troubled enterprises and funding will indeed benefit the MSME sector at large and contribute to the Indian economy in the long run. Overall, the budget focusses on making positive structural reforms to drive India’s growth story further.”

Arjuun Bajaj, CEO and Founder - Daiwa
"According to the government notification, there is an increase of 20 per cent on complete TV set and 15 per cent on sum of the LED TV parts, which is good for manufacturers. The However, now for manufacturers the biggest challenge is for them is 10% i.e. custom duty on open sell which lead to bare min gap between manufacturer and importer, and TV’s made in india more expensive. Would request the government to make it back to 0 % duty on the open cell to promote Make in India and pass benefit to the manufacturers. For further GST should be reduced to from 28 % to 18 % as TV is now a necessity and not a luxury item. Overall, the budget is development oriented fulfilling the ease of doing business and ease of living for citizens."

Mukesh Chaudhary, Country Head-India, SAARC & ME, RAPOO Technologies India

“This budget will have a positive impact on sectors like Agriculture, Food Processing, the affordable housing sector, healthcare & the textile sector. Overall this budget is a step towards minimizing the gap between Rural and Urban areas. This will surely foster overall industry growth.

We do not see much of an impact on the IT industry. However, since the budget has categorically increased focus on the digitalization of the education and healthcare sectors, it may result in some good opportunities for our industry.”

Snehashish Bhattacharjee, Global CEO and Co-Founder, Denave
“It can be said as quite a people-centric budget balancing nicely between a clear developmental focus without losing the sight of containing the fiscal deficit. The focus on agriculture, healthcare and education is welcome and much needed in a country like ours. The education (apart from Skilling India) investments should help realize the benefits of the demographic dividend we boast of as a country. PM research fellows is also a good idea but would need effective and fair implementation for required outcome.

Long Term Capital Gains tax was expected however the finance minister has played it fair by fixing Feb 1st as the starting point for the same. The capital support and interest subsidy for the MSME sector will push the SMB success story further with the onus lying on effective implementation again. Merging and then listing of National, Oriental and United Assurance Insurance companies is also a rational move which will not only better the optimal utilization but will also make them more competitive and effective.”

Sashank Rishyasringa, Co-founder - Capital Float
“The Finance ministry has demonstrated incredible foresight. We appreciate that the Finance Ministry acknowledged the importance of digital lenders like Capital Float in aiding the growth of the MSME sector. As founding members of The Digital Lenders Association of India (DLAI), we met with the Finance Ministry, along with other leading Fintech lenders, last year and presented a whitepaper with recommendations to foster Fintech lending. We’re delighted to see those suggestions being incorporated in spirit and in letter. These include increased capital injection into the MUDRA Yojna up to Rs 3 lakh crores & doubling the allocation to the Digital India initiative. In addition, our request to access funds from MUDRA is also being considered by the Ministry, as they are reviewing the refinancing policy and eligibility criteria for NBFCs. We also welcome Mr Jaitley’s forward-looking approach towards adopting blockchain, which will play a crucial role in shaping digital payments in the country.”

Gaurav Hinduja, Co-founder - Capital Float
“The Government and the Finance Ministry continues to identify the MSME sector as being critical towards increasing GDP & employment. The recapitalization of the PSU banks up to Rs 5 lakh crores and allocation of Rs 3 lakh crores in MUDRA loans ensures a higher availability of formal finance for credit-starved MSME segments. Another huge step towards boosting the growth prospects of MSMEs is the reduction of corporate tax to 25% for enterprises with a turnover of up to Rs 250 crores. The development of unique identities along the lines of AADHAAR for individual enterprises will enable us to further our efforts towards financial inclusion, as we can extend digital credit services to MSMEs with little to no documentation. The extension of Kisan Credit card to fisheries & animal husbandry farmers and the allocation of Rs.10,000 crore for fisheries & aquaculture, animal husbandry funds further adds to the Government’s efforts towards absorbing more segments into the formal financial ecosystem.”

Rajesh Rege, Managing Director, Red Hat, India and SAARC
“It was a well-rounded budget. Emphasis on education, entrepreneurship & healthcare was much needed & is welcome. FM’s comments on AI & Blockchain are a step in the right direction & we look to an early implementation of these initiatives.”

V Ramakrishnan, CFO - TCS
"This is a forward looking, growth-oriented budget with a focus on the rural economy, healthcare for the poor, investments in infrastructure, Digital skilling, education and jobs creation. Several programs announced in the budget represent big strides in building a Digital India: the outlay for the smart cities program; the plans to explore blockchain technology; the national program for adoption of artificial intelligence and for research, training and skilling in cyber-physical systems; the innovative use of technology to digitally re-imagine agricultural markets to empower small and marginal farmers; and the extending of broadband access to 5 crore rural citizens to bridge the digital divide. Lastly, having partnered the State Bank of India in their highly successful and seamless merger with six associate banks, we are excited about the planned merger of the three public sector insurance companies. I would rate this budget a score of 8 out of 10."