Sriram S, Co-Founder, iValue InfoSolutions
IT will continue to drive success of all types of business with innovations around AI, ML, social media, Cloud, IoT, Cybersecurity, Blockchain etc. Success of IT innovation will determine overall success of other industries including government’s digital drive and hence IT industry, as the enabler for success of all other government and private business, should be accorded special status. Policy and framework to promote home grown IT innovations is the urgent need of the hour to promote growth and provide large scale employment opportunities. Local manufacturing needs special promotion to reduce dependence on imports of basic electronic goods such as mobile and other house hold items there by promoting employment and reducing dollar outflow for low tech mass volume goods.
Prashanth G J, CEO, TechnoBind
Budget 2019 would be a crucial session for the Indian government to push their initiatives stronger. We expect the budget to address the dip in GDP growth rates and take constructive steps to boost the economy. 2019 Budgetary support should take the Farm sector crisis on priority which is the backbone of Indian system and would clearly impact on overall country. It should also focus on fixing the financial sector issues and help in bringing back the cash liquidity on track. Special funds and innovative programs should be allotted to fix the unemployment issues which would help in designing the future of India.
As an entrepreneur, I would also expect support for bringing back the credit availability and liquidity back on track which is critical to boost growth. Steps towards widening the tax base are absolute must. I would personally like the agricultural income to come under the tax bracket. Both governmental as well as private investments should be supported to see traction in all the verticals. Reviving private investments will be a good expectation from this budget as this will spend government spend which is only limited given the fiscal prudence that the current government wants to maintain. Overall, a clear roadmap for tax reforms, especially corporate tax must be planned which will help enterprises plan their investments. Well planned strategies must be laid out and executed to bring back stuck capital to the banks will again uplift Indian banking sector.
Shibu Paul, Vice President – International Sales, Array Networks
Reduce Custom Duties for Advanced Networking and Security Products from 20% to 5%, Roll Out 5G in line with Global Markets
From this budget, we would require government to create policy frameworks that will incentivise investments from big players in manufacturing locally in India. Creating transparency in governance and reducing regulatory compliances should be taken into the consideration with special focus on reduction of customs duties for advanced networking and security products which is currently at 20% to 5%. We expect the import/export process to be made digital and transparent so as to have an efficient RMA system for customers. There should be clear actions, policy and reforms to promote latest technologies like AI, IoT, Zero Trust, Machine learning, 3D printing, blockchain and simultaneously ensuring training facilities for all the mentioned technologies as part of skill development. Declare IT as a special focus sector for the country and roll out 5G in line with global markets.
If we look beyond IT, we would want this year’s budget to focus more on energy and water conservation with greater importance to sustainable development and pollution control. India is facing a critical water shortage and therefore we would require the government to take serious actions including penalties for wastage and incentives for water conservation. This can include water conservation strategies like reviving lost lakes, rivers ponds as well as maintaining optimal availability of water in all regions. Energy conservation can be taken one step further by mandated phasing out of fossil fuel driven vehicles and promoting electric, gas based lower pollution vehicles. Demarking areas in public places for charging can promote the use of electric vehicles in cities. Improving quality of the government medical facilities to prevent deaths of infants and less privileged people as well as significantly improving the quality of government schools and providing them quality education are few other expectations we have from this year’s budget.