The eagerly awaited Union Budget 2023-2024 strives to maintain the growth momentum ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The provision of 10 lakh crore as capital expenditure is targeted towards generating demand and sustaining economic growth even as the private sector continues to deal with multiple socio-economic challenges be it the pandemic or the rapid changes on the technological front.
In addition, the budget focuses on the creation of an empowered and inclusive economy with several initiatives towards education, skill development, women empowerment, urban infrastructure, and promoting ease of doing business. According to me, these 5 key aspects of the budget 2023-24 will promote the growth of business by facilitating the creation of a job-ready workforce and creating an environment conducive to investment and job creation.
Education: Highest-ever allocation of 1.12 lakh crore
The high allocation of funds for the education sector is a welcome step in the right direction as good education lays the foundation for upward mobility and thus promotes economic growth for all. Teacher training, the establishment of a national digital library, and the setting up of 100 labs in engineering institutes for developing apps using 5G services are all measures targeted toward expanding the reach and quality of education in our country.
Skill Development: Creating a job-ready workforce
The launch of PMKVY 4.0 will promote skilling in new-age courses such as coding, AI, Robotics, 3D Printing etc. will lead to the creation of a job-ready workforce which is essential from an employability perspective. The proposal to establish 30 Skill India International Centres across different States and the introduction of the Skill India Digital Platform will promote demand-based formal skilling, create a link with employers including MSMEs, and facilitate access to entrepreneurship schemes.
Keeping in view new employment/job creation opportunities, the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme offers to provide stipend support to 47 lakh youth in three years. The roll-out of this Direct Benefit Transfer under a pan-India National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme will encourage the hiring of more apprentices and the development of industry-specific skill sets.
Women empowerment: Formation of large producer collectives
India@100 strives for the economic empowerment of women. Taking forward the work carried out by the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana National Rural Livelihood Mission, the current budget proposes to encourage the formation of large producer enterprises or collectives that can scale up their operations to serve large consumer markets, growing into ‘Unicorns’. Such measures will not only bring more women into the formal workforce but also lead to the creation of more jobs.
Infrastructure Development: Enhance economic growth
The Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF), and Urban Infrastructure Development Fund will be set up for the use of priority sector lending shortfall. This fund which will be managed by the National Housing Bank (NHB), has provisions for Rs 10,00 crore per annum.
Investments in infrastructure development are instrumental in facilitating job creation and also promote business growth across several industry verticals. In the long run too, investments in infrastructure serve to stimulate the economy.
The promotion of green growth strategy/green programs and policies for efficient use of energy across economic sectors too is quite promising in terms of the creation of jobs as it encourages the adoption of sustainable practices across all sectors.
Promoting ease of doing business: Reductions in the compliance burden
In a bid to ease the compliance burden of businesses, the Permanent Account Number (PAN) is proposed to be the single business identifier for all digital systems of all specified departments of the government. It is planned that the unique identifier PAN will auto-fetch all the common information and documents. The creation of such an integrated system at the central and state level departments will provide relief to the user from repeated submission of documents, ensure the authenticity of the same and lead to quicker processing of requests.
Moreover, the Finance Minister also announced that over 39,000 compliances have been reduced and 3,400 plus legal proceedings have been decriminalised to enhance the ease of doing business.
The budget allocations for FY 2023-24 have thus been designed to facilitate economic growth and promote economic resilience at a time when the global community is anticipating recessionary pressures. A 33% increase in capital expenditure as compared to the last financial year will help to create a strong multiplier effect across the economy and boost investments from the private sector. The revisions in the income tax slabs along with support to MSMEs and startups will help to increase spending power and thus promote domestic consumption. This will help to offset the anticipated pull-back on exports arising from the recessionary impact on western economies.
budget FY 2023-24 is a well-planned proposal that will go a long way towards promoting employment and skill development and establishing India as the skill capital of the world!
—The author, Kartik Narayan, is Chief Executive Officer - Staffing, TeamLease Services Ltd. The views expressed are personal.
(Edited by : C H Unnikrishnan)
First Published: Feb 3, 2023 2:44 PM IST
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