Industrialists & Business Leaders Openly Welcome the Union Budget 2023

Union Finance Minister, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2023 in the Parliament today. Many industrialists and businessmen came forward to offer their post-budget reactions. Their analytical opinion will help us learn about the pros and cons of the budget.

ForPressRelease.com team brings you a few post-budget quotes from the noted business leaders:

?Huge surge in capital outlay by 33% will be a great push to infrastructure and job creation. Continuation of 50 year interest free loan scheme for capital expenditure would enhance infrastructure development towards last mile connectivity. The government had announced Rs 1 trillion, 50-year, interest-free capex loans to states in the last Union Budget, the extension for another year was much needed to boost infrastructure spending. However, it is important to nudge states to increase their capital spending.?
--Dr. Arun Singh, Global Chief Economist, Dun and Bradstreet

The most outstanding feature of the budget is the announcement of the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana 4.0 which will be focused on skill development of youth in not just the conventional domains, but also new-age disciplines like Artificial Intelligence, robotics, the internet of things and 3D printing. The Yojana will be an excellent catalyst for bringing skill development on par with academic excellence in the Indian education system by setting up 30 Skill India International Centres. It will also help to bring 20 million out-of-school children back into mainstream education. At the same time, the proposal of setting up three centres of excellence for Artificial Intelligence in educational institutions is a welcome move towards creating human resources with competencies to leverage new technologies for innovations in different sectors. Additionally, the decision to extend stipend to 47 lakh youth under the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme through direct transfer benefit will help to boost employability and practical application of skills.
--Shishir Jaipuria, Chairman, Seth Anandram Jaipuria Group of Educational Institutions

The focus remained on a people-centric world order combined with sustainable development. To facilitate ample opportunities for citizens to fulfill their aspiration, a strong impetus to growth and job creation was a core focus of the budget. Additionally, the government's fiscal discipline and sticking to deficit targets is commendable and puts India on a path of strong macroeconomic stability. While the reaction to the last 15 minutes and changes to the personal tax under the new regime were palpable and expected, I strongly believe that there were a few foundational pieces that have been set in motion in this budget which will have a multiplier effect in the coming years.
--Nikhil Kurhe, Co-founder & CEO, Finarkein Analytics

"Considering the significant technological progress that agritech startups have brought to farming in India, it is encouraging to see the Union Budget 2023 be a pro-farmer budget, placing focus on technology's role in farming. The newly announced 'Agriculture Accelerator Fund' will further encourage the rise of agritech startups to find innovative solutions to the farmer challenges, as well as nurture entrepreneurial spirit among rural Indians. We welcome the introduction of the 'Digital Public Infrastructure for Agriculture' as it empowers and democratises the Indian agri ecosystem (startups, businesses, farmers, etc) to work more collaboratively and find farmer-centric solutions together. We are excited about the government's 'Aatmanirbhar Clean Plant' Programme which can help boost the production of horticulture crops. The push to set up labs to develop apps using 5G for precision farming and other applications can help bring predictability to farming operations. We are confident that this Union Budget 2023 lends an impetus for a greater adoption of technology & data in Indian farming."
- -Shailendra Tiwari, Founder, Fasal

"The budget was progressive and beneficial to the energy sector. The statement on Green Growth is highly comprehensive, with a vision for the green hydrogen mission costing Rs 19,700 crores, which would undoubtedly accelerate the energy transformation. The promotion of Ladakh green energy corridor is a welcome step. We appreciate the Rs. 35,000 crore capital investment for reaching the net zero goal, however, we look forward to receiving the policy structured in a detailed manner. With this budget announcement, we are encouraged to keep up the rapid expansion in energy production, manufacturing required equipment, and construction of energy storage capacity. We will need to continue having a closer industry-government collaboration to reach the net-zero aim by 2070.
-- Srinivasan Viswanathan, Chief Executive Officer of Vibrant Energy

"The budget has taken into account the need for infrastructure development and increased connectivity in India. Investments in infrastructure in productive capacity have a large impact on growth and employment. The budget takes the lead in ramping up the virtuous cycle of investment and job creation. The Capital investment outlay is being increased to 10 lakh crores which would be 3.3% of GDP. One of the major highlights is the extended support to state governments for capital investment. The 50 years interest-free loan to the state governments will be extended for 1 more year to spur investment in infrastructure and incentivize them for complementary policies and actions with a significantly enhanced outlay of 1.3 lakh crore. The newly established infrastructure finance secretariat will assist all stakeholders in investment in railways, roads, urban infrastructure, etc which are predominantly dependent on public resources. This will ensure increased intra-city connectivity, thus paving the way for better logistics. A capital outlay of 2.40 lakh crores has been provided for the railways which will ultimately aid in connectivity even to remote areas. 100 critical transport infrastructure project for last and first-mile connectivity for food grains sectors, steel, fertilizer, etc has been identified. 50 additional airports, heliports, and advanced landing grounds will be revived for improving regional air connectivity. So this investment towards transit-oriented development will help the logistics sector as well."
--Shailesh Kumar, Founder of CABT Logistics

"The mission mode programme to eradicate sickle cell anemia can be tremendously impactful. Such programmes are a marathon and not a sprint yet can create a fantastic template for programmes for other diseases like curable blindness in subsequent years. Also glad to see the focus on research and development in the pharma sector which is a much needed push to ensure a local ecosystem of innovation is created in India to make us self-reliant. One of the centres of excellence we would certainly like to see is plug and play GMP manufacturing infrastructure for startups in the biotech space. Overall, very pleased to see a deliberate method to nudge the Indian private and public ecosystem towards innovation and partnership."
-- Dr Jogin Desai, CEO & Co-Founder, Eyestem

Travel and tourism is one of the most crucial sectors that contributes to the GDP of our country. The budget will recognize 50 tourist destinations through challenge mode to be developed as a whole package for domestic and international tourism. That will ensure the true potential of tourism for both overseas and domestic tourists can be tapped. All relevant aspects such as high standards for food streets, physical connectivity, virtual connectivity, tourist guides, and tourist security, would be made available on an app to enhance the tourist experience. Every destination will be developed as a complete package. This will not only support the tourism industry but also offer huge opportunities for jobs and entrepreneurship for youth in particular.
--Karan Rathore, Vice Chairman, Services Export Promotion Council

"New-age technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) have been playing a critical role in helping India and its businesses across different sectors leapfrog to global standards in innovation. The Budget prioritizes upskilling the country's youth in courses like AI, robotics, etc., ensuring that the country is able to transition smoothly and quickly into Industry 4.0 in the next three years. As a company making AI and its applications work for India and across the world, we are excited to see the Union Budget 2023's focus on skill development and setting up of Centres of Excellence for AI in the country to foster research & development, innovations and the overall growth of the ecosystem."
--Pramod Ghadge, Co-Founder & CEO, Unbox Robotics

Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) applauds the pro-reform and export growth-oriented budget by Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman under the visionary leadership of Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. GJEPC thanks the Government for accepting its recommendation to promote indigenous manufacturing in the emerging Lab-Grown Diamond (LGD) sector by providing Research Grants to IIT for 5 years. GJEPC welcomes the reduction of Customs Duty on LGD seeds to zero from 5%. It will ensure India's end-to-end world leadership in rough to finished lab-grown diamond and jewellery manufacturing. In addition to that Govt. has also accepted to have clear segregation Customs (IT HS) codes for Silver and Platinum studded Lab grown jewellery for better differentiation and identification at consumer level.
--Vipul Shah, Chairman, Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC)

"We thank Honourable FM Shri Nirmala Sitharaman ji for presenting a well-balanced Union Budget 2023-24, focused on the spirit of Amrit Kaal. Key announcements such as Income tax- rebate extended on income up to Rs 7 lakhs in new tax regime, increase in outlay of PM Awaas Yojana is a big relief for the middle-income group. However, the Gems & Jewellery Industry's critical concerns are not addressed in the Union Budget 2023-24. While the Research and Development grant will be provided to one of the IITs for the development of Lab Grown Diamond seeds and machines, the other sectors of the industry have been ignored. The reduction in Gold Custom Duty in this Budget was our big expectation, which has severely hampered the industry and encouraged smuggling and grey market. GJC has been actively representing the reduction in customs duty of Gold over past many years. However, the Silver Dore Bars Custom Duty has been brought at par with Gold and platinum in this budget. This move will adversely affect the masses. GJC will continue to represent this important issue of the Industry. We are having a meeting with Honourable FM on 4th February at Mumbai, in which we shall once again stress upon the important concerns such as reduction in custom duty, EMI on Jewellery, Relief in Capital Gain tax and Gold Monetisation Scheme etc."
--Saiyam Mehra, Chairman, All India Gem and Jewellery Domestic Council (GJC)

"In terms of accelerating the growth of healthcare, the announcement of setting up 157 new nursing colleges in co-locations with the existing 157 medical colleges already established since 2014 will truly help garner better facilities for medical value tourism. This investment in creating a skilled medical support staff will ensure that overseas patients also get the best care possible. Besides this, facilities in select ICMR labs which will be made available for research by public and private medical college faculty and private sector R&D teams will encourage collaborative research and innovation to help bring in state-of-the-art medical facilities to the country. Dedicated multidisciplinary courses for medical devices will be supported in existing institutes to will ensure the availability of skilled manpower for futuristic medical technologies, high-end manufacturing, and research which will propel Medical value tourism to new heights ensuring facilities that are at par with international standards."
--Rajeev Taneja, Founder, and CEO of Global Care

"The government's forward looking vision in promoting environment and sustainability in the recent Union Budget 2023, will prove to be an accelerator for the EV Industry. Extension of customs duty exemption for the manufacture of lithium-ion batteries and removal of customs duty on imported machinery used for manufacturing Li-ion batteries are welcome initiatives as these will help in boosting the demand for EV's. The policy on the replacement of old polluting vehicles should accelerate the transition towards electric vehicles. Overall, we are happy with the budget as it is inclusive and progressive and will encourage investments in the EV sector in a big way."
--Uday Narang, Founder and Chairman, Omega Seiki Mobility

"The Agriculture Accelerator Fund setup is a huge and important setup in helping the agricultural sector grow. This is a huge incentive for agro startups to work towards crafting solutions for the existing problems of our agriculture sector. This will also attempt in implementing cost-effective solutions to problems encountered by farmers by introducing innovative technologies and ultimately boosting output. The digital public infrastructure that has been proposed will also help in developing solutions that are farmer-centric to our geographies for crop planning and most importantly storage so that the farmers even at grassroots levels are not forced into panic selling. Introducing technology into agriculture is crucial for long-term growth. The implementation now will be key, especially in bringing together farmers, agri-tech start-ups, and research institutes."
--Pushkar Limaye, Co-Founder and CTO, Carnot Technologies

The government's continued push for infrastructure development is gratifying. The government aims to establish an Urban Infrastructure Development Fund (UIDF) with an expected budget allocation of ₹10,000 crore per annum to create urban infrastructure in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. They also plan to incentivize private investment in infrastructure development. These are welcome moves that should prove to be a huge boost to the real estate and construction sectors and will massively aid job creation.
-- Satya Vyas, Founder & CEO, projecthero

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