Close on the heels of coming to power at the center, the Modi government seems to have hit the right chord with the IT industry as well as the common man. Here are some reactions coming from the IT in players in India.
Subir Mahapatra, Vice President, Savera Marketing
“We warmly welcome the Jaitely Budget. It is recognized that middle class is the backbone of consumer economy. As we all know that boom in IT Industry with advanced technology decide the growth of country. For same Modi Sarkar is going to take good initiative in Technology space and announcement of 7,060 crore for smart cities will help to create new job opportunities especially in rural areas. We can say that, this budget is very pragmatic and realistic which support the growth of country.”
Kiran Bhagwanani, CEO, Dimension Data India
“Growth is the fundamental issue and the budget had enough ingredients to stimulate growth in certain sectors of the economy. Increased focus on leveraging IT for public services will definitely help the domestic IT market in a big way. The major initiatives in this regard are Digital India, one hundred smart cities, national internet and the inter-ministerial e-governance initiative. Focus on reforms to boost investment in infrastructure will definitely have a huge positive impact on the overall market. Another key point in the budget is about skill development that should help us reap the widely anticipated demographic dividend. Within the given constraints I believe this is a very prudent, balanced and progressive budget.”
S. Sriram, CEO, iValue InfoSolutions
“Given the constraints it’s a good budget with better priorities. It is also great to see the intent to move from government to governance. We are also pleased to see that the government is sticking to fiscal deficit target of 4.1% set by previous government does send a positive signal to the world on policy continuity. Good to see importance given to health, affordable home and education. Lower middle class have been bearing the brunt of sustained inflation effect on essential commodities. Tinkering of IT would help in making ends meet. And most importantly, Rs 10,000 cr for start-up promotion is a very good move since we need them to ensure enough employment opportunity to the largest working population of the world. Details awaited eagerly on this front. Angle/PE investment for start-up could have been simplified to promote this key segment.
Subhasish Gupta, Country Manager-India & SAARC, Allied Telesis
“Union 2014 budget is very encouraging as it focuses on infrastructure; IT sectors and hopes to see increase in FDI limit as it would strengthen the Indian rupee. Modi government has outlaid a clear roadmap by allotting Rs 7060 to develop smart cities across India. This would be challenging for the ministers because this is vast, as they have to leverage technology in every part of the cities from core operations to applications. Willing to see new job opportunities in the market and new business in rural areas and hope the government will support Indian economy.”
Shibu Paul, Regional Sales Director – India, ME and SEA at Array Networks
“We welcome the union budget announcement from Modi government. We appreciate the current developments and congratulate the government’s decision to support and allocate funds for Internet connectivity in villages, for development of smart cities across India. The focus on tax rebates for low and middle income bracket and on infrastructure development will boost the growth. This is not sufficient as there is no specific allocation for promoting and implementing eGov projects on a timely manner. Government should concentrate on promoting local manufacturing of IT products and provide specific incentives for IT products and industry.”
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