Like every financial year, the Union Budget 2020 will be a time when the Government deep dives into priority areas for the country from policy and fund allocation standpoint. Given the intent and speed that the Government has shown for socio-economic reforms, we can certainly expect some crucial announcements in this Union Budget.
Some areas of continuous focus have been women education, employment and entrepreneurship. In the past couple of budgets, the Government earmarked a significant outlay towards these heads. As a result, we have started seeing a positive change in terms of women’s participation across various aspects of life. Here’s how the upcoming Union Budget could make further progress towards women empowerment and inclusion:
Go beyond literacy It is important to raise the expenditure on women education, at all levels including primary schools, colleges, and institutes of higher learning. The National Statistical Organization (NSO) recently released a report based on an all-India survey conducted in 2017-18. The survey shows that only 5.7 per cent women over the age of 15 years have successfully completed a graduate degree. Therefore, it is prudent to substantially increase the outlay towards schemes such as 'Beti Bacho, Beti Padhao', Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls – 'Sabla' and 'Digital Laado' to build awareness about the importance of educating the girl child. 'Beti Bachao Beti Padhao' in the 2019 Budget received Rs 280 crore compared to the Rs 200 crore in the previous Budget. My hope is that this remains a focus and more funds are allocated to empower our girls with the right education.
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Simplification of processes under various government schemes will be instrumental for women entrepreneurs in India. (Representative Image)
Make technical education more affordable The NSO report also suggests that the average annual expense on a graduate course was Rs 10,501 in a government institution, and almost double in an unaided private institution (Rs 19,972). The expenditure for a graduate degree in technical courses in a government college was Rs 36,180 as compared to Rs 72,712 in private unaided institutions. Unless this divide comes down, those at the bottom of the pyramid, may not be willing to invest in the higher education of their girl child. Allocating more resources towards providing scholarships for deserving girls who aspire pursue Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) streams can really enable them to continue with their education and eventually become a part of the technology workforce.
Encourage women in technology As per a McKinsey report titled ‘Skill shift automation and the future of the workforce’, the demand for tech skills in India is expected to rise by 55 per cent CAGR between 2018-2030. This demand will be spread across functional areas including programming, data science, machine learning and robotics. Businesses are now looking for subject matter experts who can work across diverse portfolios. This demand cannot be met unless we ensure an equitable participation from women in technology workforce. Public schemes to prepare women technology graduates for future roles through skill building and vocational training will prove to be the right dose of change that the country needs.
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Mastercard's Sukanyya Misra (in pic) hopes the Government comes up with crucial announcements in this Budget.
Support women entrepreneurship The Finance Minister in the previous budget speech highlighted that the government has supported and encouraged women entrepreneurship through various schemes such as 'MUDRA', 'Stand Up India' and the 'Self-Help Groups' (SHG) movement. Understanding the exclusion that women face in semi-urban and rural parts of the country, making credit easily available to them is key for their empowerment. In order to alleviate their problems, the Ministry of Small-Scale Industries (SSI) in the Government of India has launched a scheme, ‘Trade Related Entrepreneurship Assistance and Development’ (TREAD) for economic empowerment of women through the development of their entrepreneurial skills in non-farm activities. To further encourage women enterprise, the Budget had a proposal to expand the Women SHG interest subvention program to all districts in India. It will be encouraging to see more investment into these areas. Moreover, simplification of processes under various government schemes will be instrumental for women entrepreneurs in India.
(The author is Senior Vice President, India Technology Hub at Mastercard)
India Inc Gets Budget-Ready; Ronnie Screwvala, Cleartrip Boss, Spykar Lifestyle CEO Share W...
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The Countdown Begins
It's that time of the year when all eyes are on the Finance Minister. Dalal Street, India Inc, tax-paying individuals, consumers, traders - almost everyone is looking at Nirmala Sitharaman with hope. This Budget, that comes in the wake of a slowdown, and muted consumer spending, is the first one that's being presented by the Narendra Modi government after storming back to power in the Lok Sabha elections last year.
As the countdown begins, here's a look at what India Inc has on their wishlist from Ms Sitharaman this time.
Ronnie Screwvala, Chairman & Co-founder, upGrad
This Budget has to herald the clear road map towards $5 trillion & 3rd largest economy in the world or else we are out of time. The Budget in India always needs to have a strong balance of populist and development of rural India but this time it needs to focus on the other half that can propel India. It is going to be about taking very hard calls.
Three initiatives (amongst many others) in the Budget that can really move the needle are: First, a clear plan for the Government to be out of the business of things, privatisation of most sectors has to get to 10x of present plan. This would lead to massive monetisation for the exchequer but also bring about massive efficiency into large sectors. The Government needs to think big and therefore look to privatise and exit profit-making businesses too and not just the loss-making ones. A one-time movement on this can change the pace and scale of the economy and hurtle us towards $5 trillion goal.
Secondly, one sector that would move the needle for GDP amongst all others - it would be for us to make a blueprint to take tourism to 10x of its present levels in the next 5 years. It can be the largest employer for the country, bring in more foreign exchange than the 35 million migrant Indians repatriating money back home and can be a game changer for India’s perception in the world. The blueprint has to be a big one from infrastructure that allows private sector to create best places to stay and travel. We already have the best sites in the world but, alas, they are poorly maintained and even more poorly marketed.
Lastly, we need to be the entrepreneurial capital of the world in the 2020 decade: a clear goal where we need to simplify doing business, making, starting and running a corporate in India easier than anywhere in the world. We cannot celebrate improving 20 positions of ranking in the ease of doing business and get to 100th! Need to move straight to the top 10 nations where it’s easy to do business. Need to open up all sectors with a stop to the constant regulatory changes that makes it most difficult to build anything of scale in India for any entrepreneur. If we can create half a million entrepreneurs a year that creates 10 new jobs each, no one can stop India’s path to be in the top three economies of the world.
As I said, it’s time to take hard calls.
Indroneel Dutt, CFO, Cleartrip
Since the past decade, India has established itself as one of the fastest-growing travel markets across the globe. We, as a nation, are poised to become the third-largest market by 2025 given the secular growth trends. It is essential to ensure that infrastructural inadequacies do not fetter the growth of the industry. The government should make provisions for boosting the domestic infrastructure towards global benchmarks in the upcoming Budget.
We are also hopeful that the Government will take cognisance and resolve challenges for the aviation industry which has already seen a tough year in 2019. For one, out of all the stakeholders in the aviation ecosystem, airlines operate with the most paper-thin margins. This, coupled with TCS (Tax collection at source), ends up hampering the working capital of airlines, giving rise to numerous operational difficulties. These obstacles are not only affecting the stakeholders and service providers, but the consumers as well. We are optimistic that the Government will continue to be open-minded and maintain the impetus of its past initiatives while bringing necessary reformations to further enable the travel sector.
Sanjay Vakharia, CEO, Spykar Lifestyle
The clothing and lifestyle industry thrives on sentiments and the same are at its lowest as we speak. We expect in all earnest that the Government will make certain announcements in the Budget which can spur demand by placing more disposable income in the hands of the consumers. Our economy has a large consumer base and once the momentum is built, there should be no stopping us.
Rahul Agarwal, CEO, Organic Harvest
The current rate of 5% at which the Indian economy is reeling is a major concern. The two engines for growth of the economy are consumption and investment. I believe the thrust of the Government should be directed towards the revival of these two pillars - consumption and investment - in capital projects. Improvement in sentiments and kick-starting the private capex will help in making India a favourable investment destination.
(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this column are that of the writer. The facts and opinions expressed here do not reflect the views of www.economictimes.com.)
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