Khwaja Saifuddin, Sr.Sales Director – South Asia, Middle East and Africa, WD,
As the Budget for 2014-15 is getting ready to be placed in the parliament this month, IT vendors are hoping to see an IT industry friendly budget. Especially since the central government had made interesting announcements last year, the current government seems to be looking at technology proliferation as an important agenda in the growth of our economy.
For example, the Digital India with a budget allocation of Rs. one lakh crore last year, earmarking Rs. 7,060 crores for the 100 proposed smart cities, and a vision of creating an IoT industry in India of $15 billion by 2020, means that the IT fraternity is keenly awaiting the Budget presentation.
In order to have a truly digital future, we need various root-level reforms. We not only need the physical infrastructure that catalyses the digital transformation, but also increase the digital literacy level of our people. And that must begin from an early age. The government can look at ways to incentivize schools to impart basic technical knowledge at the primary level, so that we have a more technologically-empowered future generation.
Another thing we can look at is increasing the computing devices’ penetration in the country. Personal computer (PC) penetration in the country is yet to attain a double-digit mark and that is something which needs to be addressed.
While the government offers tax rebate after accounting for the 60% y-o-y depreciation on the IT-setup for offices and businesses, it can consider offering such incentives at an individual level. Every citizen in the country could be incentivized for owning a PC or a computing device by offering some relief in personal tax for furnishing the purchase bill. This can enthuse more people to adopt technology for an advanced future and a better lifestyle.
Another recently announced campaign that we are very upbeat about is ‘Beti bachao, beti padhao.’ It’s time we cared more about our women, their education, their safety, and their empowerment. An increasing number of private institutions across the country have installed surveillance systems to ensure the safety of students and teachers.
However, the upcoming budget could make provisions to equip government schools across India with surveillance infrastructure. We also need to increase the participation of working women in the overall workforce of the country and have a greater number of exemplary women leaders in business, in politics, in sports and in other arenas as well.
A measure towards empowering women with effective IP-based surveillance systems at home so they can keep a vigil on what’s happening at home. In order to spread awareness about technologically-enabled support systems and motivate more women to own them, the government could look at offering some relief on the IT-return of the women who procure them. This could be a small step to foster the intent for ‘beti padhao.’
We are hopeful that the upcoming budget will further ease the process of conducting business and enrich citizens, industries and sectors, providing clear guidelines and the necessary aids to work towards achieving the goal of overall development.