Reacting to the announced India’s Union Budget 2018 – Wipro and TCS have applauded the Digital Skilling and Jobs Creation initiatives announced by the Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley.
Giving his reaction to the budget announcements – V Ramakrishnan, CFO, TCS, commented, “This is a forward looking, growth-oriented budget with a focus on the rural economy, healthcare for the poor, investments in infrastructure, Digital skilling, education and jobs creation. Several programs announced in the budget represent big strides in building a Digital India: the outlay for the smart cities program; the plans to explore blockchain technology; the national program for adoption of artificial intelligence and for research, training and skilling in cyber-physical systems; the innovative use of technology to digitally reimagine agricultural markets to empower small and marginal farmers; and the extending of broadband access to 5 crore rural citizens to bridge the digital divide. Lastly, having partnered the State Bank of India in their highly successful and seamless merger with six associate banks, we are excited about the planned merger of the three public sector insurance companies. I would rate this budget a score of 8 out of 10.”
Jatin Dalal, Chief Financial Officer, Wipro Limited on the budget said, “The Budget has largely delivered on the socio-economic agenda of strengthening the agricultural and rural economy, health care, infrastructure and education in the country. On the tax front, while reduction in the corporate tax rate for companies with turnover less than Rs. 250 crores is a step in the right direction, it would need to be followed up with further rationalization in the form of broad based reduction of MAT and corporate tax rate. We welcome the greater push for digitization and increased transparency in administration. The introduction of new scheme for e-assessments across the country would lead to reduced tax administration cost and increased tax payer satisfaction.”
