Sanjeev Dahiwadkar, Founder & CEO of ITShastra
“India has emerged as the powerhouse of software services globally. Union Budget 2022 has rightly emphasized on technology sector to push India’s future growth. Proposals like e-passports with embedded chips, digital currency, new legislation for Special Economic Zones (SEZ), tax incentives on startups are welcome moves. However, while under the ‘Make in India’ and PLI (Production Linked Incentive Scheme), the government is enhancing incentives to the manufacturing sector for promoting exports, such concessions are missing for the software services sector. Software is nothing more than a digital product that is manufactured through human skill. So, like the manufacturing sector, IT services sector should receive an enabling policy regime in the form of tax holidays, exports incentives and tax credit for making India the biggest exporter of such services in the world,”
Sameer L. Kanodia – Managing Director and CEO, Lumina Datamatics Limited
“This year, too, the Union Budget retained the trend of complementing the macro-factors while focusing on micro thematic reforms. While this year’s budget is big on infrastructure, MSME and rural development, it also has multiple contributing nodes that positively impact the IT-BPM sector.
The finance minister announced that the government is looking to replace the previous SEZ Act allowing states to participate in the development. Units within the existing SEZs may sell their products/services in the domestic market with lower custom duties and still operate globally. This change will promote the export units and make them sustainable. The Customs Administration of SEZs will be fully IT-driven and function on a Customs National Portal with updated technology. Overall, the IT/BPM industry stands to benefit.
Moreover, the move to boost employment by creating over 60 lakh jobs for the youth will directly benefit the IT industry. The government plans to launch a digital ecosystem for skilling and livelihood. Online training will aim to skill, reskill, and upskill citizens. Hence, majorly it is a win-win situation for the IT-BPM sector while working in sync with the other industries and is all set to gain from the Budget announcements.”
Srividya Kannan Founder, Director-Avaali Solutions Pvt Ltd.
“The second paperless budget at a time of India’s recovery from the pandemic is neither too populist nor a big bang. The budget focuses on infrastructure spending, thrust on investments, and Capex outlay. This is great because it could further fuel demand. The additional infusion of funds to CGTMSE and extension of ECLGS to March 2023 will be helpful for the MSME segment. It is encouraging to see the announcement on central bank digital currency using blockchain as it will further reduce dependency on cash and could potentially give significant impetus to the digital payments ecosystem. The announcements concerning the focus on digital banking are also encouraging. The tax topic has seen hardly any tinkering, other than the corporate surcharge reduction to 7%. While the devil is in the details, based on the announcement today, it appears overall a stable budget that is likely to give further impetus to demand.”
Dhruvil Sanghvi, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, LogiNext
“We welcome the move by the Government of India to boost logistics as a means towards ensuring economic growth. The proposal to set up a Unified Logistics Interface Platform is a welcome move. Leveraging technology to complement the development of infrastructure will help bring in better efficiency. Furthermore, with real-time tracking, and inventory management as a part of the platform, this will go a long way in bringing India at par with global supply chain networks. LogiNext has always been an advocate for digitisation of supply chains, and it is reassuring to see the Government work towards this. The decision taken to extend the tax incentives provided to startups till March 31, 2023 is a reflection of the Government’s commitment towards ease of doing business in India.”
Niraj Hutheesing, Founder and Managing Director, Cygnet Infotech
“The advancement in enhanced transparency of payments is a huge stride forward for India in terms of fintech innovation. The proposed end-to-end online e-Bill system will enable increased productivity for industries that go completely paperless. This will prove to be extremely fruitful for digitization. Furthermore, the acknowledgement that India’s GST collection stands at Rs.1.4 lakh crore for the month of January 2022, exemplifies the growing need for digital taxation solutions that promise to take the Indian economy to the next level.”
Bhavin Turakhia, Co-founder and CEO, Zeta and Founder and CEO, Nova (Flock and Titan)
“It is encouraging to see the government’s support for the startup sector in the Union Budget for 2022 through tax incentives and easing of regulatory frictions in venture capital investments. Additionally, the impetus towards the rollout of 5G and broadband services in 2022 will catalyze an entrepreneurial culture and expand India’s presence on the global map of technology innovation.”
