Budget for innovation, job creation and skilling: COAI

We are hopeful that the industry’s suggestions to reduce regulatory levies like License Fee, deferring USOF contribution till the existing funds are exhausted, exemption of Basic Customs Duty (BCD) on Telecom equipment, waiving of GST on regulatory payments, refund of ITC, among others, will be considered and addressed by the Government during the course of the year.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2023 on February 1 in the Lok Sabha. The government on Wednesday announced allocation of Rs 1.23 lakh crore for postal and telecom projects including Rs 52,937 crore capital infusion in the telecom Public Sector Undertaking, BSNL.

 Lt. Gen. Dr. S.P. Kochhar, Director General, COAI (Cellular Operations Association of India) presented his views on the budget he said:

“The Union Budget 2023-24 has introduced some provisions which are expected to indirectly have a positive impact on the telecom sector. The budget lays emphasis on innovation, job creation and skilling, with continued push towards Digital India. The capital investment outlay has been increased by 33% to INR 10 lakh crore and we hope the same would include development of infrastructure for proliferation of telecom and digital services. We welcome the announcement on setting up of 3 centres of excellence for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and 100 labs in engineering colleges for development of 5G applications, which are progressive steps and would help fuel the proliferation of 5G and its ecosystem in the country. The revision of Income Tax slabs could also help increase disposable income for the people, leading to greater adoption and use of data connectivity services.

The industry had requested for some measures to be introduced in the Union Budget 2023-24, to ease the regulatory and financial burden on the sector. We are hopeful that the industry’s suggestions to reduce regulatory levies like License Fee, deferring USOF contribution till the existing funds are exhausted, exemption of Basic Customs Duty (BCD) on Telecom equipment, waiving of GST on regulatory payments, refund of ITC, among others, will be considered and addressed by the Government during the course of the year.

We feel that the Government’s support for this industry is crucial, especially when 5G is slated to be an enabler for several other verticals – for increasing efficiencies and output across various applications and use cases – whether for governance, businesses and public utilities, as well as in our pursuit of achieving Industry 4.0. Telecommunications is the backbone of India’s digital economy, as established by the success of the JAM trinity – Aadhar, Jan-Dhan Yojana and penetration of mobile telephony, which has propelled financial inclusion in recent years. The 200% increase in rural internet subscriptions between 2015 and 2021 in comparison to 158% in urban areas bears testimony to the efforts being made jointly by the Government and the industry for enhancing pan-India digital connectivity. We will continue to collaborate and actively contribute to catalyzing the government’s dedicated digitization efforts to enhance digital penetration and bridge the digital divide to help India achieve its vision of becoming a $5 trillion economy by 2024-25.”