Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the Budget 2020 on behalf of the Government. The focus is on skill development and efforts to boost entrepreneurship. Let’s find out the reactions of Industry leaders.

Vikas Garg, Deputy CFO, Paytm

“We see this budget as a good step in direction to become a $5 trillion dollars economy. As a technology player embedded in India’s technology ecosystem, we welcome the government’s vision to build Data Centre Parks in the country. The government’s focus on enhanced digital connectivity, and focus on emerging technologies such as machine learning and artificial intelligence, along with the allocation towards quantum computing are sure to provide a fillip to India’s economy.”

Robin Bhowmik, Chief Business Officer, Manipal Global Academy of BFSI

"An employer would love to see the energy and skill that an apprentice would bring to the business. Apprenticeship based diploma programs will play a key role in bridging the skill gap between education and employ ability. As India will have the largest working age population in the world by 2030, we as a nation not only need to reboot our not-so-happening apprenticeship ecosystem, but also drive inclusion while skilling and reskilling India’s workforce. Apprenticeship is a popular model in countries like US, UK, Germany, Japan etc. It’s young adults’ opportunity of transition from school to work and get into ‘learning by earning’ and ‘learning by doing’ mode. Let’s not forget how apprenticeship provided a crucial foundation to the rise of Europe during the industrial revolution in the middle of the 18th century.

We cannot expect to find that Indian education system is providing roughly the same standard of education to all, across cities, semi urban towns and villages. But the idea of sharing education available to everyone online through top 100 leading universities is what probably a socially just education looks like. Triumph for market economy as far concerns of employability goes."

Sanjay Goyal, Business Head, TimesJobs and TechGig

“I would term it as a ‘forward-thinking’ Budget. The announcement of Rs 6,000 Crore to boost internet connectivity is certainly a piece of big news for the internet and e-commerce industries. The announcement of a single investment clearance window for entrepreneurial projects will boost the ‘Startup India’ mission. There was also an announcement about opening internship opportunities with urban local bodies and Rs 1 lakh Crore push for education, which will directly impact jobs and skill development. And, for those seeking jobs with the government sector, there’s a plan for setting up a national recruitment agency for the hiring of non-gazetted jobs. These and other announcements of investments in the Healthcare and other sectors will give impetus to the recruitment scenario”.

Gaurav Singh, Founder and CEO, Verloop

" Central government has time and again showed their confidence in startups being an important pillar of 5T economy plans, current budget is an extension of the same. Focused effort in AI, Machine learning, digital platforms, Quantum technology and other cutting edge technology was critical to maintain India’s lead as IT stalwart of the world. The proposed budget is a step in the right direction.

In addition to this, deferred taxes on ESOPs is a big win and will help in employees reap the upsides of companies doing well in future. This will convince more people to join startups and accelerate the value creation within the country. "

Ravi Venkatesan, Founder, The Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship

"It is encouraging to see the emphasis on promoting grassroots entrepreneurship in the Economic Survey and the Budget. This is critical for economic development and job creation. The multiple measures announced are positive but we must go beyond vocation skilling to include entrepreneurship training in schools and colleges, massively improve ease of doing business on the ground (onerous inspections, registration, labour norms) and greatly enhance access to credit especially small-businesses with less than 5 employees."

Shubham Maheshwari, CEO and MD, Being Chef

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget 2020-2021 speech addressed the startup ecosystem as the "strength of India," and "job creators", and announced a bunch of measures to ensure ease of doing business for Indian startups. We are glad that this budget has included a seed fund to support early-stage startups and an investment clearance and advisory cell for entrepreneurs. ESOP tax relaxation will help a lot in team building. Allocation of Rs 6,000 crore under the Bharat Net Programme with a focus on digital connectivity across India is also an appreciable move. We hope that these steps will take Indian startup ecosystem to new heights.

Yogita Tulsiani, Co-founder, iXceed Solutions

"For the budget in 2020, it is a great achievement that India's economy is 5th largest economy now.  It's very promising and the avenues for recruitment in India are more now.Now local bodies will also offer an internship to fresh engineers. FM proposes a national recruitment agency to conduct an online common test for no gazetted posts which will speed up the things.The focus on AI, ML, IoT, Data Centre, etc  across India is the need of the hour in today’s fast-paced technological revolution."