"Technology plays a big role."

- FM Nirmala Sitharaman

Introduction

Importance of Union budget

The Union Budget is India's annual financial plan outlining government spending and revenue policies for the coming fiscal year. It serves as a roadmap for the government's priorities and policies and has a significant impact on various sectors of the economy, businesses, and citizens. The budget sets the tone for the country's economic growth and provides clarity on tax policies, government initiatives and reforms. The budget focuses on three questions, which are

1. How much money the country will earn?

2. How much money the country will spend?

3. And what will be our focus till the March of the upcoming year?

Understanding the Union budget not only gives us an idea of the country's financial plan but also gives us the confidence to question the government and answer the vague questions that we tend to gossip about without any knowledge.

Overview of the budget and its significance for the tech industry

The Union Budget has significant implications for the tech industry in India. The budget outlines the government's allocation of resources and its priorities for the sector, providing a sense of the government's stance on technological development and innovation. In recent years, the budget has announced various initiatives aimed at boosting the growth of the tech sector, such as investment in digital infrastructure, tax incentives for startups, and funding for AI/ML research. The budget can shape the future of the tech industry and impact the country's overall economic growth. Now, let's understand new policies one by one.

Emphasis on Digital Infrastructure

The emphasis on digital infrastructure is one of the key highlights of the Union Budget. The government has announced several initiatives aimed at expanding the country's digital infrastructure, which includes National Digital Library and National Data Governance policy.

1. National Digital Library for Children and Adolescents

   • "A National Digital Library for children and adolescents will be set up for facilitating the availability of quality books across geographies, languages, genres and levels, and device-agnostic accessibility. States will be encouraged to set up physical libraries for them at panchayat and ward levels and provide infrastructure for accessing the National Digital Library resources.

   • Additionally, to build a culture of reading, and to make up for pandemic-time learning loss, the National Book Trust, the Children's Book Trust and other sources will be encouraged to provide and replenish non-curricular titles in regional languages and English to these physical libraries. Collaboration with NGOs that work in literacy will also be a part of this initiative. To inculcate financial literacy, financial sector regulators and organizations will be encouraged to provide age-appropriate reading material to these libraries." says FM Nirmala Sitharaman.

To access the National Digital Library, click on the link below.

NATIONAL DIGITAL LIBRARY (LINK)

1. National Data Governance Policy

"To unleash innovation and research by startups and academia, a National Data Governance Policy will be brought out. This will enable access to anonymized data." states the Budget speech by FM Nirmala Sitharaman.

• Here anonymized data means data that is not clear or in other words data that does not disclose the total identity of the owner.

• But the question/confusion that arises here is, which data will be provided, the data that is with the Government of India or the data which is with the private companies?

• Another aspect of this is, for example, they are saying that the data will be based on agriculture information like a weather report, crop pattern and soil testing and globally this data by a private party comes under 'Proprietary data' which means that this data is unavailable to the public and the government without restriction from another source. So, will this data become public? We don't know!

• The third aspect is that globally it has been observed that anonymized data can be covered at the top of private data which can give more information about the individual. So the anonymized data should still deserve privacy protection.

Boost for the Startup Ecosystem

The Union Budget has shown a strong commitment to promoting the startup ecosystem in India. The government has announced several initiatives aimed at supporting and encouraging entrepreneurship in the country. These initiatives include tax incentives, funding support, and simplification of the regulatory framework. This time government has introduced Agriculture Accelerator Fund.

1. Agriculture Accelerator Fund

• "This fund will be set up to encourage agriculture startups in the country by young entrepreneurs from rural areas. The fund will aim at bringing innovative and affordable solutions for the problems faced by farmers. It will also bring in modern technologies to transform agricultural practices and increase productivity and profitability." says FM Nirmala Sitharaman.

Focus on Artificial Intelligence

The Union Budget has demonstrated a strong focus on the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in India. The government has recognized the potential of these technologies to transform the country and has allocated resources for their development.

Centers of Excellence for Artificial Intelligence

1. • "For realizing the vision of "Make Al in India and Make Al work for India", three centers of excellence for Artificial Intelligence will be set up in top educational institutions. Leading industry players will partner in conducting interdisciplinary research, and develop cutting-edge applications and scalable problem solutions in the areas of agriculture, health, and sustainable cities. This will galvanize an effective Al ecosystem and nurture quality human resources in the field." says FM Nirmala Sitharaman.

Promoting Electronic Manufacturing

The Union Budget has placed a strong emphasis on promoting electronic manufacturing in India. The government has recognized the importance of developing a domestic manufacturing sector in this area to reduce the country's dependence on imports and create job opportunities.

1. Electronics

• "As a result of various initiatives of the Government, including the Phased Manufacturing program, mobile phone production in India has increased from 5.8 crore units valued at about 18,900 crores in 2014-15 to 31 crore units valued at over 2,75,000 crores in the last financial year. To further deepen domestic value addition in the manufacture of mobile phones, I propose to provide relief in customs duty on import of certain parts and inputs like a camera lens and continue the concessional duty on lithium-ion cells for batteries for another year," says FM Nirmala Sitharaman.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Union Budget highlights the government's commitment to promoting the development of the technology sector in India. In last year's union budget, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology received 2,250 Crores more this year. The emphasis on digital infrastructure, support for the startup ecosystem, focus on AI and ML, and promotion of electronic manufacturing demonstrate the government's recognition of the critical role of technology in driving economic growth and competitiveness. The budget's provisions for the tech industry will provide a foundation for the sector's continued growth and impact the country's overall economic development.

Recap of the major tech highlights from the budget

1. National Digital Library will be set up for the learners to get knowledge of any domain from geography to physics to agriculture and many more.

2. National Data Governance will be brought out to help startups and academia to enhance research and for this anonymized data will be provided to them.

3. Agriculture Accelerator Fund is introduced to promote innovation in technology to make solutions faced by farmers. This also supports young entrepreneurs from the rural part of the country

4. Three Centers of Excellence for Artificial Intelligence will be setup up all over India to promote the vision of "Make Al in India and Make Al work for India".

5. Relief in customs duty in the import of certain parts and inputs like camera lens which will further deepen domestic value addition in the manufacturing of mobile phones.

Resources

Here I am giving you some official free resources provided by the Government of India to enhance your knowledge on the topics covered in this blog post.

• UNION BUDGET OFFICIAL WEBSITE

• NATIONAL DIGITAL LIBRARY

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Thank you so much for reading so far! Signing off.