Budget 2025: Tech Leaders Share Expectations On Smartphones, Broadband, Data Centres, AI, More

Even as technology sector leaders wait to see how the Union Budget 2025 will affect the direction of the sector, they are anticipating changes and modifications in government policies. 

Here are some expectations of the 2025 Budget from tech leaders based on pre-budget discussions, industry reports, and expert evaluations.

Ravi Kunwar, Vice President, India & APAC, HMD Global: 

“As we anticipate the Interim Union Budget 2024, HMD Global holds optimistic expectations for the Indian smartphone market. Foreseeing an extension or enhancement to the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) policy, we aim to fortify local production and encourage an indigenous components supply chain. The budget's positive impact on operations, particularly in local manufacturing, is anticipated. Our wish-list emphasises more incentives for local production, encouragement for components manufacturing within India, and support for exports.”

T V Ramachandran, President Of BIF:

“At Broadband India Forum, we would like to see the Union Budget 2024-25 focus on three important aspects: Facilitate affordable Broadband through Satcom through reasonably modest spectrum fees; budgetary support for the growth of Public Wi-Fi through waiver of duties & levies on equipment and on revenues; and budgetary support to incentivize Fiber to the Building +Wi-Fi to enable rapid growth in Fixed Broadband, by way of reduction in statutory fees and levies and exemption of GST on service revenues.”

Manoj Nair, Head of Global Delivery Centres, Fujitsu: 

“With GCCs being a major engine for economic growth, Budget 2024 can play a key role in facilitating growth and sustainable development. GCCs require support and investment for infrastructure and growth environment. The Budget 2024 can help GCCs further scale and accelerate innovation at a faster rate as India emerges as the world's technology and services hub.”

Sayandeb Banerjee, CEO And Co-Founder At MathCo: 

“India has the ideal foundation to establish itself as a global leader in AI-driven innovation. With a deep talent pool spanning not only Tier 1 cities but also Tier 2 and Tier 3 hubs, along with improving infrastructure and increasing government support, we are well-positioned to take the lead in the AI revolution. We are optimistic about policies in the upcoming budget that will further accelerate AI talent development across the country, tapping into the potential of this rich ecosystem. With a focused collaboration between the government, industry, and academia, India is poised to become a global powerhouse in AI innovation.”

Bimal Khandelwal, Chief Financial Officer, STT GDC India: 

“As India charges ahead on its digital transformation journey, the upcoming budget offers a timely window to cultivate a world-class data centre ecosystem that steers this advancement. We are hopeful of incentives to spur domestic manufacturing and infrastructure builds specially tailored for data centres' massive scale and seamless connectivity needs. We also envision provisions that encourage the adoption of renewable energy to meet data centres' clean power appetites. Additionally, preferential procurement directives favouring home-grown data centres will provide an upside.” 

Tech Entrepreneurs Association of Mumbai (TEAM):

“The Rs. 10,300 crore allocation for the India AI Mission in March 2024 signalled India's commitment to AI at a crucial time. With AI projected to contribute $15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030, the upcoming Union Budget 2025-26 must prioritise key areas to maximise Maharashtra’s potential. We believe this budget should focus on four pillars: first, bolstering R&D to drive innovation; second, providing financial support to empower startups and emerging businesses; third, advancing training and skill development to create a future-ready workforce; and fourth, enhancing digital infrastructure, including focused tech parks in strategic locations to attract and retain talent, while ensuring data privacy and extending digital outreach to Tier 2 and 3 cities for inclusive growth."

Pankaj Jha, Managing Director of MAXHUB:

“MAXHUB eagerly anticipates the upcoming budget's focus on bolstering digital education. We hope to see robust allocations for EdTech infrastructure, comprehensive tax reforms benefiting electronics manufacturing, and initiatives fostering R&D and skill development. These measures not only enhance educational outcomes but also strengthen India's position in the global digital economy.”

Prasanna Sarambale, CEO, Data Center Business, Sterling and Wilson:

“Overall, the budget should prioritise strategic alignment with government initiatives, prudent management of CapEx amidst industry norms, and leveraging favourable financial conditions to optimise funding for sustained growth and operational excellence in the dynamic data centre sector.”

Hrishikesh Raj Pathak, Co-Founder And CTO, nRoad:

“The recent advancements in technologies like AI and robotics etc. have opened big opportunities for innovation and new areas for employment. To augment these opportunities further, we are looking forward to increased funding allocation for R&D of new AI-driven technologies and incentives for private sector firms undertaking efforts to research and build such tech that can solve existing and future challenges. 

We also need to introduce a clear regulatory framework with guidelines on issues like data privacy, ethical AI and sustainable practices which will be critical for enhanced trust by users and encourage the responsible use of data, crucial for the success of AI.” 

Manoj Nair, Head Of Applications, Global Delivery Unit, And Head of India GDC, Fujitsu India Consulting:

“I remain optimistic that the government will introduce more ground-breaking and transformative initiatives, thus elevating AI use cases and intellectual property creation.”

In addition to AI, we must also elevate the country’s technology development ecosystem by strengthening the semiconductor space, which can provide a greater boost to sectors including healthcare and consumer electronics among others.

As we focus on advancing technology, sustainability should always remain top of mind. The need of the hour is to focus on sustainability and energy efficiency solutions to reduce carbon emissions.”

Gaurav Sahay, Practice Head (Technology & General Corporate), Fox Mandal & Associates LLP:

"The government must introduce incentives for AI research and development, establish AI-focused hubs and partnerships between academia, startups, and industries, launch initiatives to develop explainable AI and ensure ethical AI deployment and promulgate specific regulations on the subject matter that gives direction to the growth and development of the sector.

India must focus on to increase funding under the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for semiconductors, foster collaborations with global semiconductor giants, invest in skill development for VLSI design and manufacturing and harness public private partnership to boost robust development and research with guided implementation in required areas such as defence, computer and peripheral equipment, consumer & industrial electronics and telecommunication equipment. 

Government must allocate funds for quantum research and build state-of-the-art quantum labs, partner with global leaders to accelerate research and workforce training and launch a "National Quantum Mission" with clear deliverables. The Government must provide a clear regulatory framework for blockchain and cryptocurrencies, encourage blockchain adoption in land records, supply chain management, and public services and set up Web3 incubators for startups."