Union Budget: What’s in it for the Digital Economy & DPIs?

The Finance Minister emphasised the pivotal role of digital public infrastructure.

Union Financae Minister  Nirmala Sitharaman made several noteworthy announcements regarding the digital economy, digital public infrastructure and Artificial Intelligence development in her budget speech last year. However, in today's interim budget, primarily serving as a Vote on Account, there was NO disclosure on the progress of public investment in these digital economy projects. The budget speech did not shed light on the current status or advancements in the implementation of these initiatives.

The Finance Minister, in her budget speech today, emphasised the pivotal role of digital public infrastructure as a "new factor of production" that significantly contributes to the formalisation of the economy. Recognising the transformative impact of digital technologies, the government underscores the role of digital infrastructure in shaping economic activities.

Deep Tech Investments For Defence 

A groundbreaking initiative is on the horizon as the government unveils a new scheme focused on deep-tech investments within the defence sector. This strategic move underscores its commitment to fostering advancements in cutting-edge technologies that hold immense potential for enhancing the nation's defence capabilities. The scheme aims to catalyse investments in deep-tech innovations, including in areas such as artificial intelligence, advanced materials, and cyber technologies.

Aiding Bootstrapping Youngsters

The Finance Minister announced, “As innovation is the foundation of development, for our tech-savvy youth, this will be a golden era”. To empower tech-savvy youth to engage in innovative research, a corpus of Rs 1 lakh crore has been allocated for upto 50-year interest-free loans. This long-tenor financial support aims to provide low or nil-interest rates, facilitating financing or refinancing opportunities to upscale research initiatives, particularly in emerging and strategic sectors.

The budget speech, while it mentioned the role of youth and technology led businesses, it did not add any financial allocation to existing startup or digital-economy related initiatives. One assumes that with the importance of this sector, the Union budget presentation, after the national elections, will bring sectoral allocation of funds, and newer programs to propel investments into the digital economy, and to leverage the larger digital public infrastructure.

Srinath Sridharan is Author, Policy Researcher & Corporate Advisor, Twitter: @ssmumbai. Views are personal, and do not represent the stand of this publication.