Union Budget 2022: Industry Leaders Reactions to FM Sitharaman Announcements

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget for the fiscal year 2022-23 on February 1, which significantly received a positive response from the business sector.

This is how the corporate players from various sectors reacted to the announcements made by the finance minister.

Zafar Imam, CEO, FinShell

In order to promote digital footprints We appreciate the intiatives announced in the budget by the honorable FM. 75 digital banking units by scheduled commercial bank in different districts will enhance banking penetration to the last mile. E passports using embedded chips, futuristic technology is another digital initiative which Govt plans to complete by 2023. Allocation of 48000 cr to PMAY scheme to complete 80 lakh homes will boost the affordable housing sector. Govt also proposed to expand E vidya to 400 channels and establish digital universities. Credit linked guarantee scheme extended till March 2023 will support the MSME sector during these pandemic time. Overall seems to be a futuristic budget where a lot of thrust is given to more digital expansion and to promote start ups and fintech.

Dhruv Sawhney, Business Head and COO, nurture.farm

As a part of the agri-tech industry, I firmly believe that the budget should not only focus on economic but also enable sustainable development to secure future generations. Putting climate action as one of the focus areas of the budget is a mega move from the government. The AgTech sector plays an important role in educating farmers on sustainable modes of agriculture, scaling the operations, and reducing the carbon footprint that are an outcome of the agricultural practices. The announcement towards launch of sovereign green bonds for projects signals India's strong commitment towards a low carbon economy. It will help to bring down the cost of capital for green projects by attracting new investors and mobilising private capital towards sustainable development. This will further boost our efforts to make agriculture sustainable by helping farmers earn more through adopting sustainable agricultural practices.

Another key point is the adoption of technology-enabled models of agriculture. The need of the hour is to make the sector more efficient, sustainable, profitable, and the farmers more resilient. Revision of agriculture syllabus to include modern agricultural methods; use of Kisan drones for crop assessment, digitisation of land records and spraying of insect pesticides; boosting financial inclusion of farmers through digital modes of payments - all these steps taken by the government will go a long way in agriculture sector achieving its maximum potential while encouraging Indian AgTech startups to strengthen the agri ecosystem from the grassroots level.

Greg Moran, CEO & Co-Founder, Zoomcar

In this year's budget, the Finance Minister made a couple of announcements around the auto industry that will boost the industry overall, and will also enable us to deliver better. With the reforms coming in play in the automobile industry in India the Battery Swapping Policy on being implemented efficiently will benefit the entire EV ecosystem including manufacturers and charging infrastructure players. As a result of this policy and its appropriate execution, the adoption of EV will see a significant boost in India. The government will also encourage private players to become a part of this new development and its process in setting up adequate infrastructure. While this policy will enable wide-scale adoption of electric vehicles, it will also contribute to achieving net-zero goals of the country.

Karan Shaha, Co-Founder and CEO,Vahak India's largest online transport marketplace

''It is very encouraging seeing the Finance Minister focus on the Gati Shakti masterplan. Infrastructure is one of the key components in the Indian logistics industry. By increasing infrastructural investments, the logistics and transport sector will see drastic growth, allowing for everything from intercity to intracity goods transport to become seamless. The mention of focus on productivity enhancement and investment suggests that there will be a greater allocation for technology integration in this sector, and that has been one of the main demands from the stakeholders of this industry. Another key area that has been mentioned is energy transition and climate action. This along with the plethora of upcoming development opportunities indicate a greater focus ahead on electric mobility in the logistics sector. Overall, the emphasis of the budget seems to be on the right areas. As expected by us prior to the budget reveal, the focus on infrastructure development, energy transition, EVs and technology-based logistics operations has been there in the Union Budget 2022, and that is quite encouraging for us. This emphasis on inclusive development will not only augur well for the logistics sector, but for the overall growth of the Indian startup economy''.

Ankit Ahuja, Founder, Red Comet Films

It is great to see some focus on animation and video ecosystem as an important aspect of digital education and learning in the current budget. This will give the right impetus to India's video production industry that services every business sector of the country. Digital education is the need of the hour and this budget will help take modern education into the rural hinterland and provide top quality education to students in tier 4, tier 5 cities as well as villages that have been already touched by the digital revolution.

Nilesh Aggarwal, CEO, IJCP Group, founder Medtalks and eMedinexus

The focus on e-learning and exploring digital mediums for continued education is a welcome step for all sections of the society. The finance minister announced opening platforms for the National Digital Health ecosystem that will consist of digital registries of health providers and health facilities, unique health identity and universal access to health facilities. This will be important towards building a more independent health ecosystem and provide equitable access to health facilities and better accountability of the health service providers. We are ready to support the Government on digital upskilling with our large bank of upskilling and CME courses The national tele mental health is an important step, especially in view of the mental issues caused by the pandemic. We at MEDtalks have several mental health courses for healthcare professionals and other digital support tools to empower public about their mental health. We had however hoped for a much bigger focus on healthcare given the Covid pandemic so that we can attract more investment in the sector.

Aditya Sanghi, Co-Founder, Hotelogix

"The Indian hotel industry has taken a hit of over ₹1.30 lakh crore in revenue during the fiscal year 2020-21. The hospitality industry generates employment for close to 4.5 crore people in India and so we welcome the decision taken by the government to extend the ECGL service towards the Hospitality industry but this may not be enough. We are looking forward to seeing some GST relief in the budget for the sector. Being a hospitality startup we also welcome the tax incentives for Startups until March 31, 2023. Startups are the backbone of a thriving economy and we are glad that the government is focused towards prioritising this sector."

Tags: Budget 2022, Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Budget 2022