The Budget has retained its focus on seven broad areas of inclusive development, last mile connectivity, infrastructure development, employment generation, unleashing potential innovation, green growth and financial sector which mirrors the broad strategy of the last year(s) but with wider scope and additional objectives, emanating in a new world order while making bold, pragmatic announcements to incubate innovation sans boundaries.
Continuity and incremental changes have become the hallmarks of the Union Budget. Further, since the Budget in previous year had set the strategic direction for Amrit Kaal, hence large-scale changes in economic strategy was not expected this year, said a recent report by the State Bank of India.
The report highlighted that the the current budget has expanded the scope of capital expenditure/ infusion in this all encompassing sector, capitalizing on India’s advantageous position, bridging the gaps between capital, credit, infrastructure and collectivization across agri and allied niche areas, with incremental agri credit target of ₹20 lakh crore destined to bring transformative changes in Bharat.
Among other notable initiatives in the budget, is the creation of a digital public infrastructure for agriculture to be built as an open source, open standard and inter operable public good.
This will enable 6 inclusive, farmer-centric solutions through relevant information services for crop planning and health, improved access to farm inputs, credit, and insurance, help for crop estimation, market intelligence, and support for growth of agri-tech industry and start-ups.
This initiative will help the Banks / Financial Institutions in rolling out end-to-end digital solutions using analytical models. This will substantially reduce cost of operations and the savings can be passed on to farmers by lowering lending rates, said the SBI report.
Union budget 2023-24 has achieved a balanced demand stimulus to correct the output gap. The measures for ease of doing business, energy transition and infrastructure development have only gathered pace. The budget is sensitive to the immediate concerns of the economy. It is a very well-crafted statement of intent, drawing from the experience and enhances India’s growth prospects in a post COVID world, said Dinesh Khara, Chairman, State Bank of India.
Need of Antifragile Mindset
At times of crises, policies and policy makers need to embrace an antifragile mindset, stated the report by the State Bank of India.
Antifragility is beyond resilience or robustness. The nuanced approach, adopted by the budget with an overarching 360 degree perspective to reinvigorate growth of India in days ahead bodes well to label it close to the theory of antifragility, the report further added.
World Bank estimates that India will need to invest $840 billion over the next 15 years—or an average of $55 billion per annum—into urban infrastructure if it is to effectively meet the needs of its fast-growing urban population, emphasizing urgent need to leverage more private and commercial investments to meet emerging financial gaps.
Estimates put 600 million people will be living in urban cities in India by 2036, representing approximately 40% of the population. This would put additional
pressure on the already stretched urban infrastructure and services of Indian cities, with more demand for clean drinking water, reliable power supply, efficient and safe road transport amongst others.
Currently, the central and state Governments finance over 75% of city infrastructure, while urban local bodies (ULBs) finance approximately 15% through their own surplus revenues. The salient announcements in budget on infrastructure should bridge the viability gap in this regard, highlighted the SBI report.
“We expect the enabling architecture embracing Antifragile should be able to endure the shocks and headwinds with minimum turbulence,” stated the report.
