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The Union Budget 2025 has drawn significant attention for its emphasis on building a resilient and future-ready workforce, fostering innovation, and promoting inclusive growth, according to experts from PwC India.
Sanjeev Krishan, Chairperson of PwC India, praised the budget's focus on the people of India, stating, "With a strong focus on skilling, employment, establishing training institutes and Centres of Excellence - India is on a mission to build a future-ready workforce and cultivate a new generation of AI innovators." He highlighted the government's focus on skilling, employment, and the establishment of training institutes and Centres of Excellence (CoEs) to prepare the workforce for the future. These measures, he noted, will cultivate a new generation of AI innovators and create opportunities for balanced and equitable growth, benefiting both urban and rural areas. He said, "The announcements also highlighted the push towards balanced and equitable growth - right from relief for the middle class to generating opportunities in rural areas. These steps could reduce the burden on several of our cities and also drive consumption." He added, "Manufacturing remains a priority with incentivisation for MSMEs and an aim to position India as a unique and sustainable global hub. However, bringing all of these aspirations to life calls for deeper collaboration - this could be between states on promoting GCCs, or between the government and industries to develop the right infrastructure and build self-sufficiency - and the Government has laid out a structured plan towards these are many other areas in establishing a Viksit Bharat." Pratik Jain, Partner at PwC India, discussed the budget's alignment with the government's Make in India initiative. He identified three key themes: incentivizing manufacturing through customs duty reductions on inputs and capital goods in critical sectors, simplifying the tariff structure by reducing customs rates from more than a dozen to just seven, and increasing certainty through procedural ease, such as defined timelines for provisional assessments. He said, "While the demand for a customs amnesty scheme to settle past disputes has not been met, the industry would welcome the customs and trade-related proposals in the budget. Importantly, from policy direction perspective, the Government has clearly chosen not to use tariffs as a protectionist tool despite the increasing geopolitical headwinds to this effect. India thus remains keen to be a more integral part of global supply chains, as highlighted in the budget speech." Rajnil Mallik, Partner and Gen AI GTM Leader at PwC India, applauded the government's commitment to AI and innovation-led growth, with significant provisions for the technology ecosystem. He said, "The Government has reinforced its commitment to AI and innovation-led growth with significant outlays in the Union Budget. With the aim of making technology the center of India's economic transformation, it is heartening to see that the Budget has made significant provisions in the entire technology ecosystem." (ANI)
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