Union Budget 2021 Reaction By MAIT
The Finance Minister Smt Nirmala Sitharaman read out the Union Budget 2021-22 on February 1, 2021, as pandemic-hit India hopes for economic revival.
Mr. Nitin Kunkolienker, President MAIT said, “MAIT welcomes the continued focus of the Government on PLI and it is very encouraging. PLI will help achieve scale, and job creation for the youth of India. We look forward to the upcoming PLI including the electronics industry sub-sectors PCs, Datacom, Servers, Wearables, Telecom products, Smart meters and components”.
Global research and development investment across all industrial sectors for 2020, is estimated to be in the order of USD 2.4 trillion with an estimated increase of 2.7 per cent, or about USD 64 billion, over what was invested in 2019. Of this, about 24 per cent is into electronics hardware and deep technology. Innovation & R&D, which is one of the focus areas out of the 6 pillars for this budget shows that the government has its heart in the right place. It is for the players to hear the ringing bells. Investment in R&D is the need of the hour.
The fund allocation of Rs 3 lakh crore which will focus on upgrading the infrastructure and technology of the Discoms will help realize the country’s vision to have 100% Smart Meters in 3 years. This opportunity should be utilized by India to bring out Indian design-led and manufactured smart meters and the components that go into the manufacturing of smart meters, that will contain 80%+ value addition of Indian origin.
Mr. Nitin Kunkolieker, President MAIT said, “We are happy to see the continued emphasis on the adoption of technology into economic activities. The National Language Translation Mission, earlier proposed by MEITY, will enable Bharat on the digital highway allowing the masses to take ride on the digitization of the economy.”
The allocation of R&D funds for development of digital payments technology and tools, the setting up of National Digital Educational Architecture to bring about a digital-first mindset in the activities of Centre and State/ Union Territories are positive steps in this direction.
