Cover Story
MN Vidyashankar President , IESA
Will boost the Domestic Ecosystem
Start-up focus : Reaction to Government of India ’ s relief on tax benefit to start ups for the next seven years : Benefits to the start-ups will fillip in promoting the start-up ecosystem in India . With the Government ' s announcement to promote women entrepreneurship , Dalits and all the sections of the society , there will be an increased boost in independent business and entrepreneurship in the country with more focus on the garment , textile and food processing . We will have an immense role to play along with MSMEs in making the Start up India Scheme initiative successful as 96 % of the Indian companies will benefit from this .
Defence budget increased by about 5.8 % to Rs 2 , 74,000 crore : An increase in the allocation of the defence budget will focus on the country ’ s Strategic Electronics ecosystem for greater self-reliance . The defence and aerospace sector in the country has seen considerable growth in recent years . The shift from buyer to manufacturer has to be made and this step will further boost the domestic ecosystem .
Furthermore , with Web-based pension distribution system for defence and a central defence travel system , more strength will be given to the soldiers to book travel tickets online . A comprehensive web based defence pension distribution system for defence pensioners has also been developed which we think will go a long way .
Skill development focus : Reaction on Government ’ s Transform , Energies , Clean India ( TECIndia ): Government ’ s focus towards ‘ Transform & Energies ’ the youth through various program and incentives will give an impetus to entrepreneurial skills and move towards growing the ecosystem . The investments made by the Government in SWAYAM which will provide 350 online courses in IT and enable students to attend the courses virtually . This initiative will give impetus to implementation of national program like Digital India , Make in India , Smart Cities as skilled workforce is at the core of the programs ’ success , overall accelerating India ’ s economic development .
Amendment in GST : With GST implementation and finalising its recommendations on almost all the issues , we hope that both the industry and the public will be benefited . GST would help in creating a unified Indian market , improve tax compliance and governance and boost investment and growth . Moreover , it will also complement the demonetisation process .
K Krishna Moorthy Chairman , IESA
Budget reflects strong commitment to promote local value additions in electronics manufacture
Make in India and Manufacturing : Proposal on making India a global electronic manufacturing hub will boost manufacturing the electronic manufacturing market in the country . This in turn will focus on electronics manufacturing and plans to set up electronics clusters across various towns and cities . The huge investment in manufacturing will bring in more capacity creation within the country , though some amount of deterrence for blindly importing the products will happen simultaneously . Allocation and incentives of schemes like M-SIPS and EDF to Rs . 745 crore will reflect a strong commitment to promote local value additions in electronics manufacture . The overall tax reliefs given to start ups and MSME ’ s will boost sustainable employment and the quality of start-ups in the design led manufacturing sector
Incentivize digital payments : Glad to see the focus on digital payments picking up with the new proposal to mandate all Government receipts through digital means , beyond a prescribed limit . Moreover , it will encourage citizens , to go the cashless way for their personal spending . To promote a digital economy , the Government will launch two new schemes to promote the usage of BHIM : Referral Bonus Scheme for individuals and a Cashback Scheme for SME ’ s , MSME ’ s and entrepreneurs which will boost business transactions through e-payments . By revisiting corporate tax slabs , there is less incentive for tax evasion , and this will push the economy towards digital money .
The CBD exemption given for Micropos terminals will enable digital payments , though there might be some immediate import of micropos terminals to meet the demands . If Digital Payment needs to really happen in the grassroots level then the country needs at least 5 lakh terminals in a very short period of time . We think this is a temporary step just to tie over the immediate demands of the micropause system that is required . There is enough capacity to manufacture terminal blocks but not enough products to meet the immediate demand .
Senior citizens ; Adhaar & IT : The Government of India ’ s focus on introducing Aadhaar based smart cards containing the health information to be introduced for senior citizens would require immense technological support and we have the capabilities as well . The entire transformation of citizenship identity to a uniform platform has brought lots of cheer in the IT eco system .
ELE Times | 28 | March , 2017