Budget will propel manufacturing capacity creation: K Krishna Moorthy, IESA

On Make in India & 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

I am 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 SMEs, MSMEs 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, Aadhar & IT:

The Government of India’s focus on introducing Aadhar-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 ecosystem.

K Krishna Moorthy, Chairman, IESA

Also Read: Budget 2017- More Reactions