Budget 2020: Govt Focuses On More Data Center Parks & Develop AI Talent

Navin Bondade Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Deep Learning, Machine Learning

With the continuous fall in the economy, India has still managed to result out the world’s 5th-largest economy, but this is not enough for this hugely populated country and therefore with there 2020 yearly budget India is pumping most of its efforts to enhance the IT sector mainly those area whose works & goal are AI-oriented.

With the Union Budget for fiscal 2020-21, the IT sector aims to ensure greater use of artificial intelligence to spur a sluggish economy among other measures for the sector, industry experts said this week. The Budget 2020-21 is a promising budget in support of making India’s $5 trillion economy dream come true.

“This is a Union Budget to boost the income of people and enhance their purchasing power,” Sitharaman said and added that the proliferation of new technologies like AI is at the backdrop of Union Budget 2020-21.

Sitharaman added that the number of people in the productive age group is at its highest, and the digital revolution would see the next wave of growth, and see the delivery of services through e-Governance.

The budget has given a massive push to the digital economy recognizing how AI, IoT, 3D printing, drones, data storage, and quantum computing, etc., are all re-writing the world economic order. Overall, the budget is pro-startups and forward-looking in terms of growth across technology sectors.

This Union Budget for fiscal 2020-21 is also inspired by China, which has been consistently working on to build an ecosystem to fuel its aspiration to turn into a world leader in artificial intelligence by 2030.

As per a report of the China AI Development 2018, somewhere between 2013 and 2018, the investment and financing in the AI innovation area of China represent 60% on the planet. This valued at $27 billion (2017).

“The budget is more similar to Singapore’s Temasek that will invest only in early-stage Indian AI start-ups and lower long-term capital gain’s tax for investing in firms that are artificial intelligence centric,” digital intelligence firm Germin8 founder chief executive Ranjit Nair told.

With the US and China racing ahead of India in AI research, this budget will help India’s AI entrepreneurship and government investment in AI grow rapidly, he said the budget should make it easier for start-ups to access capital and also land acquisition, as they face an uphill task in early-stage funding.

“The government bring policies that encourage AI companies. Ease of doing business means less bureaucracy so that entrepreneurs can build solutions without distractions,” he further added.

In the year of 2019, the NITI Aayog recognized that India, being the fastest-growing economy with the second-biggest population on the planet, has a critical stake in the artificial intelligence revolution.

The Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed an outlay of ₹8,000 crores over the next five years on a national mission on quantum technologies, while emphasizing on the importance of leveraging artificial intelligence, data analytics, and internet of things for digital governance.

India is also planning to establish many data centers across the country, the data center parks will be set up in India with the help of the private sector, the Finance Minister further said.

Furthermore, the government’s initiative of allocating Rs 6000 crores to enable unabridged digital connectivity in over 100,000 Gram Panchayats through the Fiber to Home BharatNet scheme holds brilliant potential in securing India’s passage towards achieving tech-empowerment for the remote sector.

The government is also backing the research and development efforts in AI, while also helping private entities ramp up their efforts here. Coupling the private sector with central initiatives will be crucial, so the Union Budget 2020 may make major announcements and sanctions towards the National Centre for AI.

This may be further underlined by new announcements in fields such as digital learning and education, similar to what the government has already done with its Digital India and Skill India initiatives.

Maninder Bharadwaj, partner, Deloitte India said the emphasis of government on data and digitization is clearly highlighted in this budget. “Building of data centers, collection of nutritional information from 10 crore households and focus on fiber-optic networks are initiatives that will propel India towards a digital journey.”

Governments across the world have been laying emphasis on the use of AI for digital governance. As per reports, US government intends to spend almost $1 billion in AI-related research & development in 2020.

The artificial intelligence is expected to have a huge impact not only in commerce but also on many different sectors such as health, national security, cybersecurity, food security, education, and global warming.

“Policy on private sector building data center parks is an exciting opportunity for fintech companies. This is also in line with the government’s policy on retaining critical data within the country,” said Sanjay Khan.

“While the government had previously set up a national portal for AI research and development, in the latest announcement, the government has continued to offer its support for tech advancements. We appreciate the government’s emphasis on promoting cutting-edge technologies in India,” Atul Rai CEO of Staqu.

“India has received $284 billion worth FDI in 2014-19. Central debt reduced to 48.7 points of the GDP in March 2019, from 52.2 in March 2018,” she said while presenting the Union Budget 2020-21 in the Parliament.