Budget 2020 expectations: Digital India's wish list for FM Nirmala Sitharaman - what govt should do

Budget 2020 presentation is just two days away and India Inc is looking at Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman with the hope that there will be some fulfillment of their aspirations from the Modi 2.0 Government. As various sectors are ready with their wishlist from the Modi 2.0 Government, cyber India is also ready with its wish list from the Budget 2020. Their wish list includes thrust on cyber security, air intelligence (AI) and bolsters data analytics system. They also want ease in doing business for the IT startups as it would pump more job opportunities in the IT sector.

Speaking on how Digital India initiative can be taken to new levels, Rakesh Kharwal, Managing Director, India/South Asia & ASEAN chapter at Cyberbit said, "The Digital India initiative has done a remarkable job and as Digital India 2.0 gets contemplated, the focus of the government should be to build superior trust in technology. We hope that this Union Budget will focus more on cybersecurity measures to protect the integrity of critical infrastructure for financial systems, science, safety institutions, defense, aerospace, and intelligence agencies. We are anticipating additional budgetary allocation for the national cybersecurity programmers and at least 10 per cent of the technology budget for cybersecurity initiatives." 

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Kharwal added that the Modi 2.0 government must also add stimulus to the market segment and the economy at large. Perhaps, a good way of doing it can be to include simulation-based cybersecurity training solutions like Cyber Range in the Skill India campaign. It will help in addressing the gap of 1 million professionals in the Indian cybersecurity industry while also aptly positioning the segment for the ripe global market. Apart from that, we expect that the budget will lay down a few more reforms to boost the service provider ecosystem in India.

Suganthi Shivkumar, Managing Director — ASEAN, India & Korea chapter at Qlik said, "We hope that the upcoming budget will have provisions that can strengthen progressive initiatives such as ‘Make in India’, ‘Digital India’, and the ‘Smart Cities Mission’. Given how data and analytics is enabling organisations to bolster productivity through smarter, more effective work, the government must also look to incentivise data analytics and AI projects as well as introduce technology-friendly policies and better tax structures for the industry,” adding, “More importantly, it must look to increase the ease of starting up a company, as it will help in creating more job opportunities for the country’s youth. The IT sector will continue to drive success for businesses across industries with our innovations while also creating new high-value jobs with evolved skillsets, including data literacy. We are hopeful that the budget announcement will help companies in this sector recover from the recent slowdown and optimally realise its growth potential to drive a large-scale transformation within the economy."

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