Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget of the Modi government before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections on 1 February 2023. The total size of the 2023-24 Budget stood at Rs 45.03 lakh crore - a 7.5 percent jump over the revised estimate for 2022-23 - and to help meet the gap between its income and expenditure. The Centre will borrow a record Rs 15.43 lakh crore from the market through the issuance of bonds.

“Currently, those with an income of Rs 5 lakhs, do not pay any income tax and I proposed to increase the rebate limit to Rs 7 lakhs in the new tax regime," the Finance Minister said while presenting the Budget. The income tax exemptions and restructuring will provide a huge relief to the middle- and lower-middle classes and help them accomplish their aspirations.

“This Budget hopes to build on the foundation laid in the previous Budget, and the blueprint drawn for India@100. We envision a prosperous and inclusive India, in which the fruits of development reach all regions and citizens, especially our youth, women, farmers, OBCs, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes” the Finance Minister said.

In the last nine 9 years, the Indian economy has increased in size from being 10th to 5th largest in the world. We have significantly improved our position as a well-governed and innovative country with a conducive environment for business as reflected in several global indices. We have made significant progress in many Sustainable Development Goals, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman added.

The key features of the budget are highlighting inclusive development with opportunities for citizens with focus on youth, growth and job creation, strong and stable macroeconomic environment.

Industry’s reaction on this year’s Union Budget 2023-24

Puneet Gupta, vice president & managing director, NetApp India/SAARC

“The announcements made by the Hon’ble Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman have given us a lot to be excited about. 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. From the government’s announcement of setting up of 100 5G labs and the development of 3 Centers of Excellence for AI, all of these will go a long way in unleashing the digital potential of the country. In a world that is driven by data and AI, we see numerous and infinite opportunities ahead of us. It will be a privilege for us at NetApp to play our role in building a truly digital nation which is the future of tomorrow.”

Ramanujam Komanduri

Country Manager, Pure Storage India

“The Union Budget presented by the Hon’ble Finance Minister is growth-oriented and inclusive. The impetus for the 'Digital India' vision is clear from budgetary allocations across sectors like infrastructure, skill development, sustainability, MSME, and entrepreneurship.

This budget provides numerous growth opportunities for the technology industry by bringing digital solutions and innovation in legacy sectors like infrastructure, manufacturing, education, railways, healthcare, financial services, and regulatory bodies to turn India into a technology-driven, knowledge-based economy. Also commendable is a clear intent and investment in making India a net zero carbon emission country by 2070 through National Green Hydrogen Mission. Overall, the budget 2023 promises to sustain and catalyze India’s economic and digital growth with a strong role played by technology."

Rajnish Gupta, India and Sub-Continent Lead, Zebra Technologies APAC

In this Union Budget, the government has set the tone to unleash both human and digital potential for the country’s socio-economic development. This is reflected from all the 7 key priorities including reaching the last mile, infrastructure and investment, youth power, inclusive development, unleashing the potential, green growth, and financial sector.

The government has shown a clear objective of raising the infrastructure development in the country as it plans to raise its capital expenditure by 33% to INR 10 trillion ($122.29 billion) in the next fiscal year. This will provide the much-needed impetus to the existing infrastructure schemes like Gatishakti, Bharatmala, Parvatmala, Sagarmala amongst others.

Apart from this, with the announcement of PM Kausal Vikas Yojana 4.0, the government has set a clear agenda to make the Indian youth ready for next generation technologies. The initiative to train 47 lakh youths digitally on industry 4.0 technologies like AI, IoT, drone and 3D printing etc. will make them ready for the industry-specific roles. This will be key for the logistics sector as organizations have started deploying technologies to automate warehouse, supply-chain, and workforce management.”

Anil Chawla, India MD, Verint

From agriculture to youth, the government has taken concrete steps in every segment to facelift the country’s socio-economic status. With organizations increasingly investing in next-generation technologies like AI and ML to elevate customer experience, visions like ‘Make AI in India’ and ‘Make AI for India’ will be critical to elevate operations in the customer engagement industry amongst others. This will help in creating a talent pool, doing R&D or developing products that will work for both Indian and global organizations in their CX journey.

Apart from this, with the PM Kausal Vikas Yojana 4.0, the government has set the agenda clear to make the Indian youth ready for next-generation technologies. The initiative to skill 47 lakh youths digitally on AI amongst other next-generation technologies will make them ready for industry-specific roles and this will also help organizations to bridge the engagement capacity gap. As an organisation with 100% AI-enabled solutions, including technical services support, cloud operations, development services, and R&D, India is our second largest revenue-generating market in the APAC region. Enabling an environment to research and develop further on Artificial intelligence will help the overall services sector grow by leaps. At present all our services are being offered from India.”

Alok Dubey, Chief Financial Officer, Acer India

"The Union Budget unveiled today echoes the government's objective of "Digital Development" for the country.

It places a high value on technology and innovation as a whole. Realizing the vision of "Make AI in India and Make AI Work for India" is projected to strengthen the country's standing in the technology industry globally and generate numerous possibilities for the youth. The mention of lowering the minimum TDS threshold and clarifying taxability linked to online gaming is an encouraging step towards gaming industry in India, and it is expected to open up more prospects in the following year. This year's budget also has prioritised sustainability; this is a step toward a green future that allows businesses and SMEs to enter the market with green products and services; this is a commendable and promising move. Overall, the Union Budget 2023 is promising and represents a significant step toward digital transformation and a holistic sustainable growth.”

Manoranjan Mohapatra, CEO, Comviva

“With the ongoing 5G rollouts in India, the government's decision to establish 100 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 efficiencies. The special emphasis on establishing AI centres of excellence shall help produce specialized talent to enable India preserve its global advantage and leadership. These are extremely positive initiatives and shall bring technological advancements to the country as AI and 5G are the two most critical elements to enable futuristic innovations and developed related 5G ecosystem.”

Matthew Foxton, India Regional President & Executive Vice-President, Branding & Communications · IDEMIA

“I am pleased to see the focus in Union Budget to strengthen the Digital ecosystem, India's digital advancements in this decade have been remarkable, especially the integration of digital infrastructure and identity framework. Establishing a strong national identity system is crucial as it boosts security, drives economic growth, and strengthens social unity. The adoption of a unified KYC process, utilizing Digilocker and Aadhaar as the primary means of identity verification, is a positive step forward and will increase financial accessibility for marginalized communities”.

Arvind Bali, CEO, Telecom Sector Skill Council

“The government's focus on the skill development of India's potential youth talent through initiatives like NEP, PMKVY 4.0 for skilling in niche new-age technologies like 5G, AI, 3D printing, drones, coding, mechatronics, robotics, and IoT draws further impetus to the ongoing efforts. Blue and grey-collar job demand in India grew by up to four-fold in 2022. Annual demand in telecommunications and 5G have increased by 33.7 per cent in September 2022. There was a demand for 1.3 million workers in FY22-23 which is growing each year and. New use-cases including cloud computing, robots, and the Internet of Things (IoT) are also seeing a sharp rise in hiring. We believe the initiatives will be beneficial to close country's growing demand supply gap of technical talent workforce. With the government's push to establish 30 Skill India international centres, 100 premier labs for developing applications to use 5G services, and centres of excellence for AI, India has the potential to deliver talent not only across domestic markets but also to the international market. The initiative like the Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS) is also a progressive move by the government to uplift the tribal population and empower the students to take up new job opportunities.”

Rajiv Bhalla, Managing Director, India & Vice President APAC, at Barco

“Indian economy is heading towards a bright future, the 'Saptrishi' of the Budget 2023 prioritizes on inclusive development, reaching last mile, unleashing potential, green growth, youth power. Announcement around adding 50 tourist destinations as a whole package and focusing holistically on physical as well as virtual connectivity, tourist guides, high standards for food streets and tourists’ security through an app to enhance tourist experience, is a significant step that will unlock growth and job opportunities in the sector. The Budget is perfectly aligned with Barco’s aim to make India a popular tourist destination with visible impact, allowing people to enjoy compelling entertainment experiences. Further, Budget has focused on overall growth & sustainability as India has the potential to be a world-class infrastructure centre, moving toward net zero carbon emissions by 2070 & setting up the AI based solutions in health, education, and sustainable cities will give additional push towards the extensive use of technology”.

A. Gururaj, MD, Optiemus Electronics

“This year’s budget is a strong effort to consolidate the Indian economy in post-pandemic dynamics, raising the personal tax exemption limit will certainly boost consumption and the electronics industry will surely benefit from it. Continuing the import duty cuts on Camera Lens and batteries for mobile manufacturing is a welcome step and this will continue to fuel the remarkable growth India has witnessed in domestic manufacturing.”

Jagdish Mitra, Chief Strategy Officer & Head of Growth, Tech Mahindra

“It is a very positive budget from a technology sector perspective, as it sets the right message about 5G labs, setting up AI centre of excellence and the focus around skilling, which is absolutely the key need for the country as we live through the Prime Minister’s vision on TechAde and technology being the core enabler. From a business perspective, steps around ease of doing business have been taken and I think that's commendable. I would like to congratulate the Finance Minister and the government for taking these steps”.

Triveni Rabindraraj, Head of Sales at GoTo, India.

"Union Budget 2023 is a great development and comes with many positives keeping people at the heart of Amrit Kaal vision. With the level of technology disruption and digital adoption witnessed in the last year, it is exciting to see the government’s inclined interest towards a technology-driven and knowledge-based economy. Start-ups and SMEs have the potential to be the key employment generator in the country. The renewed emphasis on growth in the MSME sector, women empowerment, and skilling is a welcome move as it strengthens inclusive and sustainable progress across all industries. The Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana 4.0, Make AI in India, and increased focus on 5G continuum will prove to be a big push to bridge the talent gap and prepare country’s youth for Industry 4.0 by empowering them with new-age technology skills needed to make India one of the world’s preferred innovation hubs. These initiatives will level the playing field to enable MSMEs to invest in and improve their digital talent, enhance employee value proposition, and drive better business outcomes.”

Balaji Rao, Area Vice President, India & SAARC, Commvault

“The budget 2023 has been laid down with a future-ready outlook and highly compliments nation’s objective of innovative, technology-driven and knowledge-based economy. The increased impetus on data generation and management while ensuring privacy, security, and trust is a powerful move. The India Datasets program and the proposed National Data Governance Policy will empower academia, researchers, and start-ups with access to a large repository of India-specific dataset and is an indispensable move by the government to further propel the Digital India vision.

Furthermore, the government is pushing the agenda of upskilling to prepare for a resilient future. The framework outlined to upskill the youth with 30 Skill India International centres, will bridge the persisting digital gap and unlock a massive pipeline of jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities. The initiatives for telecom services and modernization of agri sector through Digital Public Infrastructure will be critical in modernizing and broadening the scope of data generation, management, and protection.

The cumulative effect of all the initiatives will eventually generate enormous amounts of data that will intensify the need for reliable, unified data management and protection solutions. The budget 2023 is a foundation for India@100 and will strengthen our digital ecosystem, drive transformation, and fortify India as a leading digitalized nation.”

Sudhir Kunder, Country Director, DE-CIX India

‘Successes in the previous budget and our transformation into the 'AmrutKal' were highlighted today by the Honorable Financial Minister.

It's encouraging to see continued support for digital payment systems, digital document integration, and the creation of a digital public infrastructure for agritech and Fintech. Introduction of Digital lockers, Digital Library, E-Courts, and the promise of one hundred research labs to create applications for 5G were the landmark announcements.

Empowering youth with 30 Skill India Centers imparting skills like Coding, AI, robotics, mechatronics, IoT, 3D printing, and drones with other NextGen cutting-edge technologies will make them economically independent.

Establishing three Institutes of Excellence for Artificial Intelligence Development is a major step forward for our country and will help to create AI in India and make AI work for India.

Summarizing, the budget makes it abundantly clear that 2023 will be the year of digitalization, with demands for digitalization rising throughout the year. As an Interconnection Platform, DE-CIX India is pleased to shoulder the duty of ensuring the long-term viability of India's Digital Infrastructure as "We Make Interconnection Easy. Anywhere".’

Nitin Varma, Managing Director, India & SAARC, CrowdStrike

“The 2023 Union Budget holds immense promise for technology development and skilling. Today, developing new skills is essential for various industries with new and emerging technologies. In particular, cybersecurity is a field that is constantly evolving and requires regular upskilling through advanced training programs. In the recent years, we have seen a significant rise in cyberattacks, however, many organizations are struggling with skill gap and resource crunch. It is encouraging to see that infrastructure and investment as well as youth power are main priorities as these are closely aligned with dynamic industry needs. Investments in infrastructure will have a large multiplier impact on growth and employment, leading to ramping up the virtuous cycle of investment and job creation.

The government’s decision to formulate the National Education Policy, focused on skilling will facilitate job creation at scale. The digital ecosystem for skilling will be further expanded with the launch of a unified Skill India Digital platform for enabling demand-based formal skilling. The proposed Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana 4.0 meant for skilling youth shall entail new age courses for Industry 4.0 like coding, AI, robotics, soft skills etc. It is a great incentive keeping in mind the importance of skilling, upskilling and reskilling in the present scenario. Another emerging technology today is Artificial Intelligence.

The three proposed centres of excellence for Artificial Intelligence too is a good opportunity for industry players to partner in interdisciplinary research, develop cutting-edge applications and scalable problem solutions. These initiatives will pave the way for building a workforce that will be skilled and ahead of the curve in their respective industry.”

Deepak Visweswaraiah, vice president, platform engineering, and site managing director, Pegasystems, India

“The Union Budget for 2023 sets the stage for a growth-friendly strategy with a vision of a technology-driven and knowledge-based economy in the post-pandemic world. As the budget focuses on seven pillars of growth with a three-pronged approach to facilitating ample opportunity for citizens, especially the youth, providing a strong impetus to the development and job creation, and stabilizing the macroeconomic environment, we are well-positioned to tackle difficulties and prosper in the new normal.

This year's budget provides us with a forward-looking blueprint for India’s resilience, competence, and innovation. The Centre emphasizes on ensuring the community's overall progress through technology and digitalization. By offering new-age courses in 3D Printing, drones, coding, Robotics, AI, etc, through Kaushal Vikas Yojana or developing 30 Skill India International centers, India could further strengthen its position as the ultimate destination of top talent. I am pleased with the Centre's measures for Make AI for India and Make AI Work for India, intended to encourage innovation in AI. The establishment of three Centres of Excellence for Artificial Intelligence at prestigious educational institutions coupled with leading industry players partnering to conduct research and develop cutting-edge applications would unleash the potential of the Indian economy. As a result, India will be able to create an effective AI ecosystem as well as nurture skilled AI professionals. This is also a significant step in promoting financial inclusion in India, allowing industries across sectors to become more accessible to a broader segment of the population.

Innovation is at the core of this year's budget as the government takes its digital India initiative to the next level with the deployment of 5G services and a new program to promote R&D in pharma. In addition, the Data Governance Policy will be launched this year to enhance startup and academic research and innovation. Thus, we are indeed on a highway to building an open, digital, and inclusive India in the coming years.”

Kuldeep Malhotra, Dy. Managing Director, Konica Minolta Business Solutions India Pvt Ltd

“We are delighted to have a Union Budget that focuses on introducing new technologies on a wide scale. Since our youth is the backbone of our economy, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman talked about training millions of youth within a period of the next three years under the government's Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana 4.0. The scheme will also cover new-age courses for Industry 4.0, like coding, AI, robotics, mechatronics, IOT, 3D printing, drones, and soft skills. These are the technologies that will assist businesses across multiple fields to function smoothly. Additionally, the decision to set up 30 Skill India International Centres will open the doors of international markets to Indian youth.

Furthermore, with Budget 2023, the government is taking its sustainability initiatives to new heights. Programs that promote green fuel, green energy, green farming, green mobility, green buildings, and green equipment, are the need of the hour. These green growth efforts help cut down the carbon intensity of the economy and provide large-scale green job opportunities.”

Parag Khurana, Country Manager, Barracuda Networks India

“Cybersecurity has for long been a critical matter of concern, especially in light of rapid digitization. With the rollout of 5G and cloud migration, there has been a significant uptick in cyberattacks across the country. In 2022, we have seen the rise of ransomware against critical infrastructure, with education (15%), municipalities (12%), healthcare (12%), infrastructure (8%), and financial (6%) being the five key targeted industries according to research. The Union Budget announcement today paints a favourable picture for the sector with the introduction of the National Data Governance policy will help academia and start-ups gain access to anonymised data by the government.

Provisions like the establishment of three centers of excellence for Artificial Intelligence in top educational institutions noting that 'Make AI in India' and to 'Make AI work for India' will support the creation of a stronger technology infrastructure in the country. This will further boost the government’s vision of ‘Digital India’ and ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’. That being said, Budget 2023 amply highlights the greater focus that the government has placed on string digital infrastructure and technology at large. And, we are hopeful that today’s announcement will have an inherently positive effect on the sector.”

Pramod Sharda, CEO, IceWarp, India and Middle East

“The Union Budget 2023-24 by FM today has announced attractive incentives and rebates. The Income limit for rebate of Income Tax increased from 5 Lakhs to 7 Lakhs is a welcome note for the employee base. The budget includes renovations in the digital framework of the nation focusing on increasing the accessibility of these services for rural and tribal areas. We highly support the government’s initiatives to create jobs, and are keen on contributing towards the projected employment generation initiatives.

We are excited to witness the development of a tech-driven economy while contributing towards the same and enabling the growth-bound MSMEs sector, which will be infused with Rs 9,000 crore in revamped credit guarantee scheme, with our affordable, seamlessly integrated, secure Email & Collaboration solutions to effectively communicate and collaborate towards the growth path.

It certainly boosts our morale when we noticed that investment and job creation continue to be the government's top priority as they announce capital investment outlay being increased by 33 per cent to Rs 10 lakh crore, which would be 3.3 per cent of GDP. Announcement of National Data Governance policy is also a positive move to protect the data privacy.”

Prashanth GJ, CEO, TechnoBind Solutions

“The Union Finance Minister Mrs Nirmala Sitharaman tabled the Union Budget 2023-24. She began by stating that the government sees the next 25 years as ‘Amrit Kaal’ marking the centenary of India’s independence. This is the first budget of this period and the government aims to achieve a technology-driven and knowledge-driven economy. The budget certainly reflected the FM’s statement and the plans being laid out to achieve this milestone. The budget has focused on youth, their skill enhancement and job creation, and the strengthening of the macroeconomy.

Technology will be a driving force in achieving these goals. 5G has been the center of focus with enterprises diving to benefit the most by using it as an instrument for development. The government’s focus on setting up 100 5G labs in engineering colleges to develop 5G-based applications will further enhance the efforts being made by the private sector. The initiative of having an open-source standard for the agriculture sector will help technology firms and startups in helping the farmers, which is still one of the largest sectors in India. The focus given to youth through various announcements shows the government’s focus on the future of the country. Apart from the 5G labs set up in the colleges, the government’s recognition towards new-age skills will help SMEs with a competent workforce. The access to courses on coding, mechatronics, IoT, robotics, drones and 3D printing will help the youth enter the workforce. Make AI in India and Make AI Work for India – this slogan boosts the tech vertical’s efforts in including artificial intelligence in every aspect of our life as it betters the living and boosts development in every vertical. The government announcing the setting up of 3 Centres of Excellence for artificial intelligence has strengthened the efforts. Experts from the industry will be helping in the research and development of AI-based applications to help the agriculture, healthcare and sustainability sectors. These announcements in the budget will definitely have a positive outcome and help India’s tech vertical to achieve bigger milestones in the coming years.”

Piyush Somani, Managing Director and Chairman, ESDS Software Solution Ltd.

"The Union Budget 2023-24 has put a lot of emphasis on Agritech, fintech, Co-operatives and future technologies like AI, ML, IoT and etc., signaling a positive push towards technologically advanced Digital India & a greener India. The government's emphasis on digital infrastructure through 100 labs to facilitate apps employing 5G services will aid technology adoption that will help the country advance towards more digital applications like smart classrooms, precision farming, intelligent transport systems, and healthcare in order to realize new range of options, business models, and job potential. The emphasis on the co-operative sector, Millets, agriculture sector by facilitating Agri-based rural startups certainly will improve the livelihoods of farmers, increase food security and boost exports through open-source digital public infrastructure. The national data governance policy to be released to encourage innovation and research by startups and academic institutions and will make it possible to obtain anonymous data. Overall, this budget focuses more on Capex spending from the government, while most of the technology related announcements had no budget allocated at the moment. We need to wait for next couple of months to see some budget getting allocated to the technology related initiatives."

S Durgaprasad, Co-Founder, Director, and Group CEO, Bahwan CyberTek

“The political will to invest in people and research for technology-driven growth is clear. The announcement of three centers of Artificial Intelligence and 100 labs for 5G apps to nurture R&D in India with the vision to Make AI in India and Make AI work for India will further strengthen India’s position vis-à-vis global counterparts. The 30 Skill India international centers focused on emerging technologies, with a strong focus on, on-the-job training, will contribute to the country’s expanding knowledge capital, positioning India as a strong digital contender.

The reduction of compliances to improve ease of doing business, the 33% hike in capital expenditure, along with the continuation of interest-free loans to state government will catalyse economic growth providing job opportunities. Budget 2023 is a progressive step towards building a stronger digital and green India.”

Sachit Nayak, Country Controller & Finance Director, Eaton, India

“Pathbreaking budget that would drive Indian economy and deliver on Amrit Kal goals. FMs seven saptarishi is a step in the right direction and aptly will catapult Indian economy to newer heights. FM has touched major segments wherein significant investment outlay has been budgeted that are growth drivers i.e. Infrastructure, Railways, agriculture, MSMEs, cooperatives, etc. another notable thing is the discipline to get fiscal deficit to under 4.50% progressively in the next 3 fiscal years. Middle class income tax payers would be in happy camp with 5 key measures. This should help drive consumption thereby fueling growth in economy. Reducing basic customs duty structure, simplified tax structure and several sops for agriculture & cooperatives are positives. Overall, I will classify this as growth budget, will lead to ease of doing business and attract investments.”

Dr. Rishi Bhatnagar, President at Aeris Communications

“The forward looking of budget 2023-2024 and its seven priorities or the “Saptarishi” will complement each other in India's growth during Amrit Kaal. The budget ticks all the boxes in terms of use of AI, emerging technology, social entrepreneurship, employment generation, push for manufacturing, infrastructure development, skilling and R&D to help India march towards inclusive and sustainable development. I personally admire the attention given to future technology with the proposal of setting up centres of excellence for Artificial Intelligence in top educational institutions of the country and prompting 5G labs. Budget 2023 is futuristic and encourages avenues of growth in future tech, healthcare, smart cities, digital communications, agriculture and multiple other sectors. I believe that new technologies drive innovation across business models and demands supportive policies and skills which have been managed well in this budget.”

Sudhindra Holla, Director, India & SAARC, Axis Communications

“The Union Budget for this year focuses on inclusive economic growth in order to strengthen India's status as a global digital powerhouse. We are optimistic about the government's saptarishi, or seven pillars, with a renewed emphasis on green growth. We are delighted with the Centre's focus on tourism and investment in transportation infrastructure projects as this indicates an increase in demand for safety and surveillance solutions. We are aligned to further action India's vision to transform our cities into ‘sustainable cities of tomorrow’. This will serve as a stepping stone in revitalising Smart Cities planning and urban development. The budget 2023 has a future-ready outlook and compliments the nation’s unmatched growth for digital economy, innovation, and inclusive development.”

Javed Tapia, Founder & Managing Director, Clover Infotech

“The measures introduced in the Union Budget 2023 in terms of ease of doing business such as reducing compliance requirements and legal provisions will play a key role in attracting global investments into India. By relaxing contract execution policies, facilitating availability of credit, and extending tax benefits to start-ups and MSMEs, the FM has taken progressive steps to build a favourable support ecosystem for start-ups and MSMEs. The training and skilling initiatives under the ‘Make AI in India’ and ‘Unified Skill India Digital Platform’, will create a highly skilled workforce that can significantly accelerate our economic growth.”

Hitesh Garg, India Country Manager, NXP Semiconductors

“The government has brought a progressive budget that will support green mobility and innovation in the automobile sector. Major steps like National Green Hydrogen Mission and extending the subsidy on EV batteries will help the country to have a seamless transition towards a low carbon intensive and fossil fuel dependent economy, empowering the country to achieve its net zero goals.

The three centers of excellence for artificial intelligence to enable 'Make AI for India' and 'Make AI work for India' will stimulate an effective AI ecosystem and nurture quality human resources in the field of technology. It will also boost the Public-private partnership in conducting research and developing cutting-edge applications and scalable solutions across industries.

In line with the government’s vision of digital India, all these initiatives will help us transform into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy.”

Sanjeev Singh CEO & MD - CMS IT Services

“The infra and capex push of the budget combined with a focus on creating a tech and knowledge-driven ecosystem will accelerate India’s journey to becoming a $ 5 trillion economy. This will also generate tremendous opportunities for the tech industry in multiple advanced domains like 5G, AI, digital, agri-tech & fintech.”

Arun Balasubramanian, Vice President & Managing Director, India & South Asia, UiPath

“We are glad that in this year’s budget, a greater focus has been given to Digital India where

Vishak Raman, Vice President of Sales, India, SAARC and Southeast Asia at Fortinet

“A steep increase of 33% in capital investments to 10 Lakh Crore almost three times the outlay made in 2019 shows why India is one of the most buoyant economies in the world. While Investments and development programs are all tech-driven the budget realises the potential of 5G by setting up 100 labs in engineering institutions to develop Apps to assist in all verticals including smart classroom, precision farming, smart transport systems and healthcare.

The capital flowing into AI-Startups last year was $2.7 billion globally. The race in AI is heating up after the success of ChatGPT and the budget has realised this potential with the vision of Make AI in India and Make AI Work for India. The setting up of 3 centers of excellence for artificial intelligence in top educational institutions will combine tech and computing power with some of the best engineering brain power in our country.

A robust financial sector, expanding the scope of Digilocker to allow more documents to be made available and setting up of e-courts will all go hand in hand with maintaining data privacy. There simply cannot be any data privacy without data protection and cybersecurity will requireanentire system of people and technology working together to protect data and networks.”

Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairperson & CEO Salesforce India

“The 2023 budget is a growth-oriented and inclusive one that lays a solid foundation and strengthens the economic outlook for India. We have a unique opportunity of being a demand-driven economy with a rapidly digitising population. The increased capital investment outlay has a multiplier effect on generation of employment opportunities and thereby better standard of living for citizens. India is the talent basket of the world and has one of the youngest populations globally; we have a tremendous opportunity to unlock the potential of the country’s young workforce. The unified Skill India Digital Platform, addresses the imperative of businesses and Government to do more to address the skills gap enabling inclusive development of talent. Promoting sustainable growth is an opportunity for India to lead and has been essential and top of mind for all leaders; the focus on ‘green growth’ across sectors can unlock new economic opportunities for India. We are proud of the progress we have made over the last few years on Digital Public Infrastructure and a significant driver to this has been the innovation in Fintech, this budget is an impetus to further accelerate this growth with investments in AI, 5G, startups and more, accelerating demand and innovation at scale. Continued emphasis on Trust-based Governance and Ease of Doing Business, especially in a growth economy, has the potential to attract investments. The budget gives businesses India an opportunity to shine bright - domestically and internationally - ensuring they act, and fast.”

Hemant Tiwari, Managing Director, India, Hitachi Vantara

“This year's budget spells growth and inclusion overall. The government's initiative around Fintech services, enhancing the usage of the national level cloud platform DigiLocker, will further boost technology adoption among individuals and MSMEs. The introduction of the National Data Governance Policy will enable safe access to anonymized data and increase transparency. Moreover, with the AI revolution happening globally, the AI centres of excellence will provide exciting opportunities for cutting-edge innovations to be deployed across important sectors such as healthcare and sustainable cities, while providing new employment opportunities. Additionally, ‘The Green Credit programme’ as well as the initiatives towards building ‘Sustainable cities of tomorrow’ are strong leaps forward in building India’s green future. These are indicators of our nation’s commitment to climate action and efficient use of resources.”

Amit Chadha, CEO & MD, L&T Technology Services

"The Union Budget 2023 has shown a strong focus on boosting digital infrastructure and adoption, which is a positive sign for the technology industry. It was also encouraging to see Hon'ble Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman share her vision of "making AI in India and making AI work for India”, further highlighting the importance of building a strong AI ecosystem in India. We welcome the government’s move towards developing three AI excellence centres and 100 5G labs, as well as introducing the National Data Governance Bill, which will open up a wide range of opportunities for business growth and employment generation. As a pure-play ER&D services provider, our belief is that such a mass scale enablement of digital transformation and innovation will unlock the full potential of the Indian engineering and technology sector. It will also result in complementing uptake of digital engineering capabilities resulting in the country maintaining its strong hold as a global preferred destination for engineering services.”

Venkatraman Narayanan, MD & CFO, Happiest Minds Technologies

“Digital has emerged as the hallmark of Union Budget announced today. Be it setting up of AI-focused CoEs, or Unified Digital Skilling platform, the role of digital technologies is empathetically at the forefront of India's economic rise. It will be interesting to see how the paperless digital locker based documentation storage and management for citizens shapes up, as accordingly it promises to open up a wave of opportunities in the domestic market related to cyber security, cloud, AI and ML. While tax exceptions on exports are a welcome step, certain breather on corporate tax would have complemented it well. Overall, it is a sound and holistic budget devised to ensure upliftment, empowerment and inclusivity to all.”

Manpreet Singh Ahuja, Partner & Leader TMT, PwC India

“India continues its journey of taking a digital leapfrog by following a bold,

futuristic approach in the Union Budget 2023 with a focus on CapEx led growth and sustained development, along with embracing emerging technologies. By promoting an AI ecosystem, 5G labs and setting-up skill centres for emerging technologies, India will get the interdisciplinary R&D boost.

Push for green growth will create the much-needed ESG driven innovation ecosystem. The boost for MSMEs and startups through credit support and tax incentives will help in strengthening India’s core. With custom duty reliefs on machinery and critical components, along with fiscal support for digital infrastructure and access to anonymised data, India is all set for its journey to become a strong manufacturing alternative for the world.”

Ankit Agarwal, Managing Director, STL

‘Today’s budget was a much-awaited one as we were looking forward to growth-inducing changes. It is heartening to see that the Government is well-aligned with the needs of the country. I have three key takeaways from the budget 2023 which are: Capital investment in infrastructure, Empowering Rural India, and an impetus on Skilling. All three hinge on a robust digital economy as it is at the heart of all infrastructure and people-related interventions in the country and the world over.

The increase in the capital expenditure outlay by 33% to INR 10L Cr, which is 3.3% of the GDP is expected to give a major push to infrastructure and job creation. It will help the Government's CAPEX get aligned with the OECD average of 3.5% of nominal GDP. Additionally, the Government's announcement to put INR 10,000 crore per year for urban infra development will further stimulate overall economic development. For both of these, there would be an additional push towards digital infrastructure to create smart cities, impart education, and so on and so forth.

One of the most meaningful features of this budget is the Hon'ble Finance Minister. Smt Nirmala Sitharaman and the Government’s impetus on growing the agri tech industry. Almost 85% of farmers operate less than 5 acres of land. Around 36 mn hectares of agri-land have been affected by natural calamities over 6 yrs (the size of one Himachal Pradesh each year). Imagine a world where companies are able to integrate IoT sensors and analytics to improve the lives of farmers! It is an indication of a truly inclusive country in the making. Fiber technology will be one of the key steps toward digital transformation for the agriculture sector in India.

Last but not least, the pandemic has intensified the need for a tech-enabled skilled workforce. Government, training institutes, and corporates must ensure that they have a good grasp of the changing dynamics. Budget 2023 has put an important focus on skilling and training youth for the future of India and for the world. The announcement of setting up 100 labs for 5G services-based application development will tap employment potential and business opportunities in the country.

We also wholeheartedly welcome the government's decision to move in favor of the telecom Optic Fibre industry by maintaining the customs duty rate on its raw material which we believe will help the domestic industry to strengthen its position in the global arena and transform the country into a global manufacturing hub.

Post-pandemic, the approach to welfare and growth has naturally been influenced by technology and the power of digital and it is this power that we will harness to become one of the top 3 economies in the coming years.’

Vijendra Katiyar, Country Manager, India & SAARC, Trend Micro

“The latest Union Budget for FY 2023-24, presented by Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman places a strong emphasis on talent development, digital skills training, and upskilling. This is in response to India's current situation where only 48.7% of the country's youth are considered employable and many companies report a skill gap. The budget includes the launch of PMKVY 4.0, which is aimed at training a large number of youth in emerging technologies such as AI, robotics, mechatronics, and IOT. This investment in technology and skill development is expected to bridge the talent gap, create job opportunities, and empower the current workforce to remain competitive, positioning India as an important digital talent hub for the world.

The adoption of AI, ML and cloud computing is rapidly increasing across various sectors, which necessitates the adoption of cybersecurity not only after, but during the build process as well. The strengthening of skilling infrastructure announced in the budget is a timely response to this development. The Data Governance policy, which will enable access to anonymized data, is also a crucial initiative that provides hope in the face of the growing threat of cyber-attacks.”