Budget to boost Digital India vision

The Union Budget 2016-17 has given a big boost to the Digital India vision of the Prime Minister. The announcements made by Finance Minister, which are expected to give a big boost to Digital India initiatives, Digital literacy, greater application of Cloud and above all big push to the Electronics Manufacturing are appreciable steps. The Finance Minister has also focused upon the larger involvement of post office platform for financial inclusion, including delivery of services.

Giving details of certain provisions made in the Budget relating to his ministry, the Minister for Communications and Information Technology Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad said that some profound changes, which happened in the last 20 months include:- .

1. IT / ITeS exports have crossed USD 100 billion.

2. India�s share in global IT services outsourcing presently is 56 %, is growing every year.

3. The total employment in IT / ITeS sector is 37 lakhs in this financial year, out of which the net addition is 2 lakhs.

4. Electronics Manufacturing has seen remarkable improvement, due to the initiatives of this government. When this government came to power, in June 2014, the proposals worth of only Rs. 11,800 crores were received. Now, it has risen to Rs.1,20,294 crores.

5. Due to the initiatives taken up in the last Budget, especially the duty rationalization, we have noticed remarkable acceleration in the field of Electronics manufacturing. In this connection, mobile manufacturing presents very encouraging area. In 2014-15, the mobile units manufactured in the country were Rs. 5.4 crores, which have more than doubled to Rs.11 crores in 2015-16. After the duty rationalization in the last Budget, 16 new mobile manufacturing units have been set up in this financial year.

FURTHER NEW INCENTIVES IN THIS BUDGET:

 

Electronics Manufacturing:

 

Efforts made   in the  previous Budgets  of this  government  for promoting electronic manufacturing   in India  has  also  got  encouraging  boost   during  this budget  by  further  rationalization   of  duty   structure.   As  a  result    of  this   the domestic  manufacturers     of  Routers,   Broadband   Modems,  Set-Top  Boxes, Digital Video Recorders,  Network Video Recorders,  CCTV Camera,  Lithium- Ion  Battery  would  enjoy   duty   advantage  of  8.5%   vis-a-vis  imported  goods. Domestic value    addition  in mobile  phone  phones,  battery,  wired headsets/speakers     would enjoy  a duty  advantage  of 10.5% vis-a-vis imported goods.  This   will   also   encourage   domestic   manufacturing of components. Domestic manufacturing   of routers   and broadband modems   will   further encourage manufacturing of telecom equipments.

 

In the   IT/ITeS (IT Enabled Services) sector, sunset   date   for Section 10AAof the Income Tax Act allowing tax benefits for IT units in SEZs has been extended from 2017   till 2020.   This will enable technology units   to set up and commence operations in SEZs.

 

A very   significant incentive is   the   extension   of  Section  80  JJAA   to Income Tax  Act  for  skill  development  to  services companies  as  well.  This will permit 30 % of additional wages paid to new workmen, deductible for 3 years. This  will  give  a  big  boost   to  the   BPO  operations,   which  this   government  is pushing-in  a big way.

 

Encouragement to Digital Literacy & Digital Lockers:

 

Shri Prasad said that he is   happy   to   note    that    the   Finance   Minister has    provided for creation of Digital depository of school leaving certificates, college degrees and mark-sheets. This   would enhance   the   footprint of cloud   technology in the Country.  The  IT department   has   already  laid  down the  framework  for  cloud technology and  will assist  in  the  expansion.

 

The Budget has given extraordinary   expansion  to Digital Literacy in  the   country,   consisting  of  imparting  digital  literacy  to  6  crore households  in  next   3 years. The IT department was keenly pushing for this expansion.  As of now, against the target of 52.5 lakhs, more than 40 lakhs have been trained.

 

Use of Aadhar   platform    for delivery    of services

 

The Finance Minister himself, has  announced in the   budget, that government will now  be  moving a  legislation  to  give  a  statutory   backing  to Aadhar,   for   delivery  of   services   /    subsidies   /   benefits,   corning  out    of Consolidated  Fund    of  India.  This   will prevent leakages by identifying the beneficiaries correctly and would encourage good governance.

 

The Minister is assured  to note  that  in the  budget speech, Finance Minister has  laid  great  stress  on the  use  of digital platform across various departments. This   will further encourage consolidation of seminal programmed of Digital India

 

Telecommunication:

 

FDI   equity inflow in telecom Sector has touched a new high during FY 2014-15,  which  is  $2895  million which  is  80%  more   than    the   FDI  equity  inflow received during  2012-13  ($304 million) and    FY 2013-14  ($ 1307  million) put together.