India has developed a world-class IT industry that has contributed significantly to its economic growth, technology exports and employment generation. The Modi government is doing a great job in projecting India as a capital investment hub and business-friendly destination and the focus on bringing back investor confidence has worked well for the IT/BPO industry since the last budget announcement. We expect this to have a cascading effect in terms of continued business growth when the new budget is announced.
New initiatives announced in the budget to further complement previous initiatives are eagerly awaited. Continued measures and policies to support and enhance India’s competitiveness for Make in India will be a huge enabler for the manufacturing sector. Greater support for Digital India initiatives and enhancing access to internet connectivity in rural India should be a priority to boost economic growth and income-generating activities which in turn will boost domestic spending.
The government should also consider reducing excise duty on hardware so that better technology becomes more accessible to a wider market. This would be a huge enabler to the IT industry including us and help provide superior technology to a wider audience at more competitive rates.
By Sunil Jose, Managing Director, Teradata India