India Inc Reacts to Union Budget 2023-2024- Dr. Mukesh Gandhi, Founder and CEO, Creative Synergies Group

“India’s present economic growth is estimated at 7%, which is an optimistic projection for businesses across industries, despite predicted economic headwinds. As India treads on the path to becoming a global economy, the Union Budget 2023 placed a strong impetus on skill learning, job creation, technology-driven schemes and sustainability. On the skill training front, the Budget announced plans to set up over thirty Skill India Centers structured around industry 4.0 technologies such as IoT, AI, and robotics, and set forth the plans of launching three Centers of Excellence for Artificial Intelligence under “Make AI in India” and “Make AI Work for India” schemes. This has the potential to diminish concerns around the Indian IT sector’s 5 lakh talent gap in the coming years. Additionally, taking its green goals forward, the Finance Minister announced plans to replace state-owned old fuel vehicles. This, coupled with the push for India’s transition to reach 5 MMT of green hydrogen production by 2030 and outlay of Rs 35,000 crore for energy transition investment, the time is ripe for automotive OEMs to accelerate their EV production. Also, considering the extended infusion of Rs 9,000 Cr for MSMEs under Credit Guarantee scheme, small-scale businesses in the automotive industry have the opportunity to produce technologically advanced products and consider collaboration with next generation technology vendors.”