The inaugural budget of the new NDA regime has been keenly awaited at a time when the country's economy needs a strong fillip to set the momentum for high-growth. Union budget for the year 2014-15 is a welcome move with a more strategic focus, concentrating on mid-long term implications towards sustainable growth. The commitment to achieve 7-8% economic growth in the next 3-4 years anchoring on the core sectors is much needed to revive the sluggish economy. The new government’s budget bodes well for Indian Industry as it encourages local manufacturing, entrepreneurship and transparent governance to create an investor friendly, stable tax regime with retrospective decisions scrutinized by a high level committee.
The government is committed to providing 24/7 power supply. It has also proposed and assigned crores for the development of small smart cities. Urbanization and development of urban infrastructure through smart cities has also found significant mention and over 7000 crore is being allocated for the development of 100 smart cities across the country - this is a huge opportunity for the Indian IT industry to partner with the government in this initiative. The 100 Crore INR provided to enable virtual classrooms through the CLICK initiative is a welcome gesture and the government’s move to establish more IITs and IIMs is great to strengthen the pool of quality technical talent that will enable India’s journey to be a scientific power.
