The much important Union Budget for the fiscal year 2025-26 is slated to happen on February 1, 2025. This would Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s 8th budget.
With the advent and exponential rise of Artificial Intelligence and other technological evolutions and revolutions, the need to focus on the tech sector is crucial. What are the expectations and aspirations of this ever-growing industry?
Here is what some of the stake holders had to say.
AI, Machine Learning In Focus
Manish Tewari, Co-Founder, of Spydra Technologies said that, “One of the major requirements is a marked rise in budgetary allocation for Research and development (R&D), especially in cutting-edge areas such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, quantum computing, and blockchain.”
These technologies are set to disrupt industries and will help elevate the status of India to become a global tech powerhouse.
Focus On MSMEs & Teir 2-Tier 3 Cities
Enhancing the digital outreach in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities also needs to be one of the primary focus areas. Providing action for broadband expansion, affordable 5G networks and focusing on the ecosystem of local tech startups can be the missing pieces of the puzzle and unlock these regions economically.
In addition, tax benefits for technology-based startups and MSMEs can help them scale, raise capital and create jobs. With a greater thrust on sustainability, the budget should promote green tech through innovation subsidies and grants. Programs that promote building energy-efficient data centers, electric vehicle charging infrastructure, and renewable energy technologies can help create jobs and increase GDP while also achieving environmental targets.
According to Mr. Tewari, The government should also consider regulatory reforms to enhance the ease of operations in technology-heavy sectors of the economy. The country and its tech sector in particular, would benefit if there were more efficient mechanisms of compliance, clearer and more robust data protection regulations and incentives for foreign technology firms to establish research and development facilities in India.
Technology and the Rise of Mobile Advertising
“We are now in the middle of discussions leading into Union Budget 2025, there is growing focus on how technology will impact the Indian economy. It has been the year when the digital ecosystem has taken up the position of an important growth factor, having mobile advertising as the primary contributor to the technological economy.” added, Abhishek Tiwari, Global Business Head, NetSetGo Media.
Ad companies and other technology-related industries are eager to see the development that might alter their plans for the next fiscal year
It has surfaced as an inevitable and useful fragment in the digital economy, contributing a major part to advertising investment. Enterprises- small and new age to large global players use mobile advertising to communicate with a single point six billion users in India.
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Amendments that can be expected from the Union Budget 2025 are on Digital infrastructure particularly the 5G network for fast and effective delivery of ads, high quality and more personalised. Therefore, an improved and more efficient internet environment is important in the proper delivery of mobile advertising campaigns.
A second important expectation focuses on governmental policies in terms of funding of startup companies in the AdTech sector. With support for companies using artificial intelligence in their advertising tech solutions available, startups can expand the use of mobile advertising technologies.
According to Abhishek Tiwari, Union Budget 2025 has the ability to makeover prospects of technology as well as mobile advertising and its impact on the economy. Such policies could set the tone for a living digital economy in the possibility of creating employment, modernity and creating healthy growth especially in India.
Artificial Intelligence | DALL·E-generated
Artificial Intelligence-R&D-Investment
The AI sector is already fast growing in India and is expected to change the economic landscape with its impact on the healthcare, education, agricultural and manufacturing sectors.
The upcoming Union Budget 2025 has brought expectations among the AI stakeholders about development-oriented significant strategies and positive solutions to the existing problems.
LEDSAK.AI founder Saif Ahmad Khan shared his thoughts and said that the first expectation is a rise in the budget for funding Al initiatives and its research activities. Creating dedicated government-funded AI innovation centres like centres of excellence in different parts of the World could further help advance artificial intelligence and also foster multi-stakeholder collaborations of the academia, industries and new age start-ups.
Further, tax incentives for companies willing to invest in AI technologies would promote innovation while at the same time keeping domestic production of AI-specific hardware including GPUs and data processing units afloat by eliminating reliance on imports.
Integration of the Technology
The sections of a budget aimed at training and development which relate to areas such as machine learning, business analytics, and robotics could be used to enhance the capacity of educating professionals to meet emerging needs.
According to Saif Ahmad Khan, If the Indian government were to foster partnerships between universities and high-tech organizations with more lucrative deals, it would maintain competitiveness in international AI talent.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman | X
AI In Public Sector
New rules and data availability continue to be important issues. Some stakeholders remain optimistic on the guidelines because they wish the guidelines to allow them to deploy AI honestly, and to use public, anonymized data to train AI.
Getting even more stringent guidelines could not only help foster a more reasonable attitude to the usage of AI but also stimulate the interest of international companies in the Indian AI market.
Finally, the authorities should embrace the use of AI in the public sector, which means more investments in AI-based solutions in government, healthcare and farming. They could improve the productivity of the government and clarity of its processes as well as demonstrate how AI can improve the quality of the public services.
