With the Government set to present its fifth and the last comprehensive Budget in February 2018 before the polls of 2019, the industry, particularly the IT & Mobility industry has its hopes high. A common belief is that the Government is likely to come out with a populist budget that would tie all the loose ends and something that will provide relief to the “aam aadmi”. The budget is also going to be a significant one for the simple reason that, it will be the first budget after the revolutionary GST law was implemented last year. The Gujarat election results will also play a part in the formulation of this year’s Budget.

From the ‘Make in India’ perspective, the budget needs to make it easier for companies to shift their manufacturing into India. Right now neither the infrastructure is in place nor there is 100% clarity in the rules. There need to be some clarity in the taxes which can promote trust and allow people to invest into manufacturing. The same goes with the Digital India initiative that needs to have a continued focus on more technology adoption to encourage digitization and shaping the IT infrastructure and the Government needs to keep this in mind this while drafting its budget for the year. 

In terms of digital payment, the government must try to address demand-side concerns and continue to incentivise digital payments and their providers to help the ecosystem gain greater adoption and synergy through the budget. While digital payments are now projected to supersede cash by 2022 according to industry reports, this momentum in the digital payments ecosystem will be needing more policy support to be sustained.

What the industry expects?
 

Alok Dubey
CFO 
ACER
 
“With the introduction of GST, year 2017 has been an eventful year across economies and industries. For the year 2018, we are optimistic that the union budget will focus more on Digital India initiative in order to shape the IT infrastructure and increase adoption of technology to encourage digitization. We are also expecting that the government may slash corporate tax for the larger companies in the upcoming budget. It may/should help Indian companies to compete globally and attract more investments to the country. Besides this, we are also expecting that the budget will be centered around lowering personal income tax slabs, and tax savings schemes which would lead to higher disposable income and directly benefit the normal taxpayer.”

Sanjay Kumar Kalirona
CEO & Director, 
COMIO
 
“India is currently the fastest growing smartphone market in the world. The upcoming Union Budget should support the growth of this industry by smoothening GST (from 12% to 5%) and offering tax reductions, especially towards the budget category as it will make mobiles much more affordable for the consumers. There is an enormous scope for India to strengthen its manufacturing capabilities and create a self-sufficient eco-system for component manufacturing. The incentives provided by the government will help build India as a manufacturing hub, complete the mobile supply chain and further support the ‘Make in India’ vision.”

Vivek Agarwal
Co-founder
M-tech Informatics Ltd

“The upcoming Union Budget 2018 will be a significant one as it will be the first budget after a bold economic measure like GST has been implemented.  We are likely to witness a whole lot of business and economy friendly measures being announced. Thanks to the government’s Make in India initiative which encouraged local manufacturing and augmented production, India has emerged as the second largest mobile phone market in 2018. As the country eyes the top position, the mobile phone industry expects the government to maintain and introduce more favourable policies for domestic manufacturers.”

Rajan S. Mathews
Director-General 
COAI

“In the upcoming Union Budget, telecom sector is eagerly waiting for some breather. The telecom sector is the biggest supporter of indigenous manufacturing. However, till such time as quality products at a competitive price are available in the country, the government needs to rethink its stand regarding customs duty on equipment, to ensure timely roll-out of networks. The issue of tax withholding on discounts extended to pre-paid distributors needs immediate attention. It is important to understand and appreciate that the discount extended to pre-paid distributors is not a commission, as these distributors do not act as agents of telecom companies.”