Industry Experts Spell Out Expectations From Union Budget 2023

The Union Budget 2023–2024 will be presented in Parliament on February 1, 2023, by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Every year the budget provides some relief and benefits to different sectors. Here are expectations of different industry players from the upcoming budget.

Transit App: By - Hiranmay Mallick, CEO & Co-Founder at Tummoc – A public transit app

"2022 was a year of tremendous progress in transit and mobility. There was a significant spike in digital adoption, and a number of new MaaS players entered the market, a large portion of which were EV players.

In 2023, transit in India is going to significantly level up, with seamless solutions transforming the way our daily commuters get around. I can say with confidence that in 2023, a number of Indian metropolitans will get access to a seamless solution to inaccessibility to information, first and last-mile connectivity and the need for digital ticketing. Without getting into too much detail, a revolutionary solution is being built at the moment and will transform mobility in India very soon.

To facilitate this progress, there are certain expectations and hopes from the coming year's budget such as incentivizing initiatives that promote last-mile connectivity, recognition programs for sustainable/public transport startups to encourage better relationships, carbon trading programs/funds to promote shared and sustainable mobility, incentives for retrofitting conventional vehicles to electric vehicles, etc."

Mobility & Transportation Company: By - Sravan Appana, CEO at iGowise Mobility - Mobility & Transportation Company

"The union government has been consistently proactive in creating policies for rapid adoption & indigenization of sustainable mobility alternatives for urban air-quality and climate resistance. These new-age sustainable vehicles come with smart connected features that provide us the opportunity to combat a couple of more crucial sticky problems. Road accidents & Traffic decongestion!

Following the national road safety awareness week in January, it is time for sweeping reforms for safer mobility especially for two-wheeler users who are 30 times more prone to road related fatality. 2W are not just a medium of transport, but also a medium of livelihood for 90% of the Indian households. Vehicle telematics, 5G communication, crowd-sourcing data, AI powered analytics etc. provide opportunities to encourage better ride behavior and to identify infrastructure fault lines.

Advanced drive assistance systems provide help in predicting & preempting accidents. Promoting state-of-the-art automobile engineering technologies can help in safer & more stable bikes & scooters. Size & occupancy based congestion road tax models encourage lighter, slimmer & low footprint vehicles for urban commute. Self-driving auto-summon technologies help enable shared mobility for optimal vehicle utilization & traffic decongestion.

India can quickly transform itself from having the most deaths on roads to one of the safest by implementing few simple low-hanging yet path-breaking reforms."

Mr. Vikram Thaploo, CEO, Apollo Telehealth

"The government's efforts in rolling out an open platform for the National Digital Health Ecosystem (also known as Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission or ABDM) and launching the National Tele Mental Health Program are genuinely noteworthy. However, additional funding allocations are required to further accelerate the expansion of the healthcare sector, particularly telemedicine.

The 15th Finance Commission recommended the Centre increase healthcare spending and indicated that public health spending in India should account for 2.5% of GDP by 2025. The Center is expected to spend around Rs 86,000 crore in FY23, somewhat higher than the Rs 84,000 crore authorised in FY22. The Indian health tech market had a $1.9 billion market value in 2020. With a 39% CAGR, it is projected to reach $5 billion by 2023. From 2019 to 2024, the digital healthcare market in India, which was valued at INR 116.61 billion in 2018, is expected to grow at a CAGR of 27.41%, reaching INR 485.43 billion. The industry is growing at a spectacular rate as a result of its expanding coverage, services, and rising investment by both public and private participants.

With more technological innovations expected to revolutionise the healthcare industry in the years to come, it is imperative that the budget must be well allocated to initiate new innovations. This is especially important in a country like India where digital technology can help bridge the gap in healthcare. Increased allocation of funds for home-based care, promotion of telemedicine services, and national digital health mission implementation will further help build a strong healthcare ecosystem in India. There should also be a renewed focus on R&D in different medical fields to strengthen the present standing. Overall, we are anticipating a rise in fund allocation of 2.5-3 percent of the GDP with regards to the healthcare sector".

Dr. Gayatri Devi Kamineni, COO – Kamineni Hospitals

The Union Budget 2022-23 presented by Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has made India a G20 leader in healthcare. It is expected that the healthcare sector will have a huge impact on this budget, as the government has emphasised digital health innovation and healthcare infrastructure. The Government of India is investing significantly in strengthening the existing framework of the healthcare federation and providing universal health coverage to all citizens.

The healthcare sector is looking forward to the upcoming budget as a fruitful one where the government will announce new initiatives and projects that can help promote better quality healthcare. The private healthcare industry is also expecting lower cost financing options and more incentives for life sciences projects. The union budget for 2023-24 should be strategically planned with a focus on providing affordable medical care solutions to citizens of India so that everyone has access to quality medical services. In addition, the government should look into providing tax benefits to those who are investing in life sciences in order to boost research and development in this sector. Furthermore, it is essential that there be more investments in public health infrastructure so as to reduce the overall cost of medical care while simultaneously improving its quality.

Additionally, investments should be made into new medical technologies like telemedicine which would help bridge gaps between patients and doctors while ensuring safety guidelines are met during this time.

We expect that in Budget 2023-24, the Government will devote as much funding as possible to medical infrastructure and to overall health care delivery developments.

Mihir V. Shah, Executive Director, Vipul Organics Limited

“The Budget will be a growth oriented budget since the focus of the Government has been on it for some time now. We hope that the industry benefits from the policies laid out in the budget.

The Chemicals industry in India that contributes around 10% to the GDP needs to be given prominence in the budget. The Indian manufacturers have been asking for stringent anti-dumping duty protocols to ensure that the industry continues to be a growth driver in the India story.

Production Linked Incentives that are available to several industries should also be made available to the Chemical Industry in this Budget. This should be applicable to existing as well as greenfield projects.

To achieve economies of scale in chemical production to compete with the global manufacturers, the Government should, in this budget, earmark grants for providing infrastructure such as land banks, common effluent treatment plants, etc. Only then can the industry focus on innovation and technology and not worry about cutting corners to meet global demand and global prices,” Shah said.

Travel Company: By- Nitin Raj, CEO and Co-Founder at Riverum

 "As someone in a leadership position I always like to keep my outlooks positive no matter the situation and so let me begin by saying that we can expect a lot from the upcoming budget in 2023. Looking through the prism of the past you could say the world is still a little hazy, steadily reeling back to a stable foot. The covid pandemic had our economy in dire straits, it was quite a tough time for every industry out there and Indian tourism industry is no exception. In fact, tourism was one of the worse  pandemic affected sectors and we’re bending over backwards to get back in shape but that’s not enough.There needs to be an overall conducive environment in the country where not just the travel industry but every other industry could thrive again and reaching that kind of a favorable point would need not just the industry people but also the government to step in with some proactive measures to help the industry recover. Surely the government is doing something or the other but I believe that they can do a lot better. How about providing tax breaks, slash GST rates, and offer incentives to make the industry more competitive? These aren’t out-of -reach solutions, are they? Tax reductions would facilitate Indian travel companies to invest in their businesses and compete with their global peers. This in turn is bound to reflect in the GDP anyway; and let’s not forget the opportunities for job creation and making travel more affordable for tourists. So, you see, the whole cycle will help not just the industry per se but also the government in terms of increased tax revenue and reduced unemployment. I’d also like to turn the industry’s attention to sustainability. It is high time the government along with the industry seriously consider and act on  the environmental impact of the travel sector.

We need to move towards more sustainable forms of travel, while ensuring that the industry remains profitable. Introducing green tax incentives for instance or providing subsidies to travel companies that are investing in green technologies would be great steps towards a green sustainable yet still profitable future. While all that is covered for consideration, we must remember that we are an ever evolving world and that is true for the industry as well. There’s always a need to constantly change and evolve for the better -  here, the Indian Government could take on a big role in investing in research and development of new technologies that could boost the travel industry.  As a leader in the travel sector I would like to put this hope out that the government will provide grants and incentives to tech companies and scientists to come up with innovative solutions to elevate the travel sector."

Pre-Budget Expectations for women in the sustainability business by Ms Neelam Chibber, Co-founder and Managing Trustee of Industree Foundation

"Climate' action could be integrated from a perspective of 'Gender' and 'Equity' lens. Their intersectionality will lay a foundation towards socio-economic resilience, especially for rural women. A strong emphasis could be laid on sustainable value chain job creation for rural women,  bringing economic livelihood opportunities closer to their homes."

FinTech has now evolved into one of the fastest-growing segments of technology, transforming the way financial services are developed and the FinTech market is expected to reach Rs 9.2 billion at a CAGR of 24.96% between 2022 and 2027. Hence, there are high hopes for the government to unveil policies and initiatives that will further support and encourage the growth of this sector.

The Union Budget 2023-24 has assumed critical importance because it comes at a time when India needs to cement its place as an outlier in the global economy. One way to achieve that is to promote digital payments and encourage companies to adopt digital transactions across the economic diaspora. The adaptation of technology integrated services in B2B transactions will not only bring ease in doing business but will also reduce costs and increase financial independency. The government must encourage investments in automation in spend management to enable cross audits and ensure suitable and high compliance with corporate spend regulations.

Data breaches, malware injection, account hacking, data loss, and cloud service misuse are just a few of the significant security threats. Indian consumers need to be educated to utilize digital payments securely. A large section of Indian companies does not have a system to detect frauds as expenses are mapped manually. We expect the emphasis on data security to increase in the upcoming Budget, and the government should announce measures to increase digital vigilance and safety.

Nishant Pitti, CEO and Co-founder, EaseMyTrip

There are several tenets of the industry which are expected to benefit from the upcoming budget session. The entire travel and tourism industry is still in the process of recuperating from the major blow that it faced when Covid-19 struck. As the pandemic becomes endemic, it is important for both the central and state governments to work in tandem to facilitate this sector and support it. For starters, the government could include travel and tourism in the concurrent list to provide it with industry status, which will help in making it more structured.

A greater focus on the industry’s revival is required, which can be done by implementing an e-visa fee waiver for tourist visas, and domestic income tax travel credit for Indian citizens and Indian companies. The Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) should also be extended to tourism and hospitality. In addition to this, we are also hoping that with the upcoming budget, the government will strive to increase the disposable income of the middle classes to aid the rise of discretionary spending. This can be done by taking concrete steps should be taken to improve the cash flows, enable access to easy credit, and reduce the income tax rates and GST tax rates. 

Sunil Gupta, MD & CEO, Avis India
Travel and tourism have always been important contributors to the country’s GDP. During Covid, this sector was among the worst affected and is still far from pre-Covid levels. It is also a big generator of employment and in the current context of high unemployment, supporting this sector will pay rich dividends to the economy. It, therefore, behooves the government to give a special thrust to this sector. The upcoming Union Budget offers the government the perfect opportunity to do so by formulating provisions that aid the sector to recover from the losses it has borne during the last couple of years. As a travel-oriented business, we expect higher budgetary allocation to infrastructure to promote travel.

We are also looking forward to the government granting industry status to the travel and tourism sector, which will help in the regularization of policies and processes and better access to finance. Measures like rationalization of taxes, reduction in indirect taxes and related exemptions could also benefit the sector to a great extent by creating a favorable environment for people to spend their disposable income on travel. The introduction of soft loans with lucrative terms can also act as a stimulant for the sector, which is still on its journey to post-pandemic revival. We expect that the upcoming budget announcement will lead the sector towards a period of prosperity.

Suresh Rajagopalan, CEO, Wibmo - A PayU Company
“In the last few years, we have seen a significant increase in the adoption of digital payments. We expect further digital infrastructure push from the government to make India a cash-free economy. The budget should provide incentives for MSMEs for the adoption of digital payments in tier 3 towns and beyond.  The government should give further push for the adoption of prepaid instruments for reaching out to the financially underserved and the underbanked. We also expect the government to actively promote Digital banks and build a digital banking regime, helping fintech players offer their tech platforms to build optimal credit products and offer best-in-class customer experience. With the rise in digital payments, payment fraud has also expanded at a rapid pace. The budget should include regulations that would curb the menace of digital frauds, including mandatory adoption of Fraud Management solutions. Furthermore, banks should be incentivized to share anonymized fraud markings data that would help develop robust, cross-banking data models to prevent payment fraud. These initiatives would further drive digital adoption and truly deliver the benefits of a digital economy.” 

Dr. Deepak Birewar, Chairman & MD, Inventys Research Company
"The approaching Budget 2023 marks the arrival of the last full-year budget from the union government, which is expected to usher in favourable legislative policies to help grow the sixth-largest chemical-producing country in the world. This year, we expect positive momentum towards formulation of the PLI scheme for the chemical sector to encourage domestic manufacturing. With exports of chemical and petroleum products to more than 175 countries standing at a staggering $8.24 billion, we expect the government to implement export benefits for specialty chemicals to aid the overall economy. Manufacturing business tax exemptions provided by DSIR, under section 35 (2AB) of the IT Act 1961, stands at 100%, compared to the 150% prior to March, 2020. A revision in this tax structure could empower firms to increase R&D expenditure, helping them produce new products and technologies. Additionally, the government can create a Models Specialty Chemical Manufacturing Region in Vidarbha, which could give rise to 3000 MSMEs in the region, with a petrochemical complex acting as a catalyst for industrial growth. Further, the chemical sector is highly capital intensive with long pay back periods. Capital expansion of the chemical sector could be enabled if the government provides subsidies of 10%-20% for investment projects beyond Rs. 100 crore. In the past months, the shift of global supply from China has increased outsourcing opportunities and domestic demand. It has given India more expansion opportunities. By 2025, the Indian chemical industry is expected to reach $300 billion, and focused assistance in export benefits, tax advantages, and capital subsidies will further add thrust to the ongoing growth". 

SILICA Institute pre-budget quote, ChiranjeetRege -Chief Executive Officer

The current government is focused on educational reform (through the NEP 2020) and has increased its expenditure on education (6% of budgetary allocation in Budget 2022). The government should continue the reform and investment in education. 

As an educator, here are 3 areas I wish the Government allocates funds towards in the budget 2023:

- push agenda of NEP 2020 in schools and colleges; to make Indian students and professionals globally competitive.

- promote digital education; to make education accessible to all & remove barrier of heavy infrastructure investment

- promote vocational training, especially in technology space; so India can become the services outsourcing hub for the world