Dilip Sawhney, Managing Director, Rockwell Automation India Pvt. Ltd.

“Rockwell Automation India welcomes the Union Budget for FY23-24 proposed by Hon’ble Finance Minister, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman.We are delighted to note that government is steadfast on its agenda for creating enabling environment to achieve an all-encompassing, equitable and sustainable growth path for every individual and enterprise, through the prudent use of various fiscal measures as provided under the Budget. While the overall spending thrust of the government across critical areas of education, healthcare, infrastructure, defence, and industries (particularly MSMEs and Startups) will energize the entire economic engine of the country, a conscious effort to interlace low-carbon/ green growth strategies for all sectors of the economy will create new-age green jobs for a large number of youths. This will not only help the country to progress towards its carbon-neutrality target of 2070 but also propel the nation to access emerging global opportunities in clean technologies. For a technology company like us, which specialises in areas of industrial automation and smart manufacturing, it is most heartening to know that government plans to set up 30 Skill India Centres for implementation of Industry 4.0 in areas of 3D Printing, AI, IoT and Drones. This will create an immense opportunity to enhance such advanced technical skills among people working for manufacturers and automation industry players. In addition, the creation of 3 CoEs for Artificial Intelligence will boost the futuristic vision of the government to ‘Make AI in India & Make AI Work for India’. Similarly, the government’s plan to leverage 5G technology in telecom; the creation of a National Data Governance Policy; the establishment of Central Data Processing Centres; and the creation of innovation centres for the Pharma and Medical Devices sector will go a long way. To further boost the thriving EV ecosystem in the country and make domestic manufacturing of advanced chemistry battery cells more cost-effective, the exemption of customs duties on capital goods and equipment necessary for such production lines is a welcome step forward. This will make locally manufactured EVs more affordable for end-users, as the majority of EV cost is contributed by batteries. All of this holds great promise to catapult the country into technology-driven industrial growth over coming years.”