Budget 2019: Digital to Incentivize the Ease of LivingIn Union Budget 2019, Nirmala Sithraman paves the road for India towards 5 trillion economy

Nirmala Sitharaman presented the budget 2019 today and here are some key takeaways on the technology and IT. Finance minister also spoke about how they plan to make India 5 trillion economy in the next 5 years. They have also emphasized on the high growth areas of startups and SMEs. Technology and infrastructure are still integral for government to push for the growth of various sectors.

Technology and Infrastructure

Under Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyaan 2 crore rural Indian have become digitally literate. To bridge the rural-urban gap government has taken help of Bharat net which is targeting local bodies in every panchayat to ensure the same. Cities and villages are adopting technologically enabled infrastructure. Under Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana there has been large scale adaptation of new technologies in the construction of houses. Kartik Walia of Amlify.ai says "the government has put the great impetus on digital adoption and infrastructure enhancement that looks promising towards technologies including Artificial Intelligence and Big Data".

Digital Payments

Finance minister equalized digital payments to "ease of living". The technology is an effective way to make digital payments easier and make the transition towards a cashless economy. For the promotion of digital payments, a slew of measures has been taken like no MDR for businesses above 50 crores turnover and TDS deduction of 2 per cent on cash withdrawal exceeding 1 crore per annum from bank accounts. These measures will further discourage cash payments and incentivize the move towards low-cost digital payments. Anand Premchandran, CFO of Ingenico Epayments India Private Limited appreciates the budget by saying "it is a good synthesis of continuing the digital India mission with improving efficiency". He goes on to say that the proposal to set up a payment platform for MSMEs for online presentation and payment of invoices will not only help cash flow but also give a huge boost to digital payments.

Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana

Under this scheme, youth will be encouraged to take skill training which is the need for skilled manpower and abroad as well. The government wants to impart new-age skills like artificial intelligence (AI), internet of things (IoT), big data, virtual reality, 3D printing, robotics which offer high remuneration. Technology is needed to make youth prepared for jobs of the future and further help the innovation in science and technology. Ambarish Ghosh of Hillcart Tales says "this emphasis on skill development by imparting training in advanced tech like AI, Big Data, VR, Robotics, etc. will make our workforce competent at a global level".