Union Budget 2023-24: Achieving a Tech-Driven Economy with the Support of AI, 5G and Ease of Doing Business

Rajendra Chitale, CFO, Crayon Software Experts India

The first Union budget of Amrit Kaal holds true for the technology vertical too. The Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tabled her 5^th budget this year. This budget proves the government’s intent on spearheading the Indian economy and growth backed by technology. The FM said that the government’s vision for Amrit Kaal includes a technology-driven and knowledge-based economy. I believe that the budget has the right blend of initiatives with the inclusion of technology as the foundation of development. The government’s focus on integrating technology and aiding agriculture, healthcare and education verticals needs to be applauded. The focus given to agritech will now have a scope for tech companies in diversifying their portfolios. The efforts of enterprises in trying to bring 5G for every sector are enhanced with the setting up of 100 5G labs in engineering colleges. A big boost has been given to Artificial Intelligence with the setting up of 3 Centers of Excellence in top education institutes under the guidance of industry veterans. This will further our efforts in easing our lives and achieving better outcomes with the help of AI. We are certainly looking ahead to the government’s National Data Governance Policy which aims at anonymizing individual data. This is of much need when data is the main ingredient for 360-degree development. The announcement made under Ease of Doing Business is what most SMBs are looking forward to. The government has reduced more than 39 thousand compliances and decriminalized more than 3 thousand legal provisions. This will certainly boost the confidence of entrepreneurs and organizations to take up more risks in their initiatives and feel less persecuted. Overall, this budget has helped businesses and individuals by reassuring them that technology is the booster dose that a fast-growing nation like India needs and that we are on the right track.

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Union Budget 2023-24: Focus on AI, 5G & Enhancing Industry 4.0 Skills Among Youth a Boost to Tech Vertical

The Union Finance Minister Mrs Nirmala Sitharaman tabled the Union Budget 2023-24. She began by stating that the government sees the next 25 years as ‘Amrit Kaal’ marking the centenary of India’s independence. This is the first budget of this period and the government aims to achieve a technology-driven and knowledge-driven economy. The budget certainly reflected the FM’s statement and the plans being laid out to achieve this milestone. The budget has focused on youth, their skill enhancement and job creation, and the strengthening of the macroeconomy.

Prashanth GJ CEO, TechnoBind Solutions

Technology will be a driving force in achieving these goals. 5G has been the center of focus with enterprises diving to benefit the most by using it as an instrument for development. The government’s focus on setting up 100 5G labs in engineering colleges to develop 5G-based applications will further enhance the efforts being made by the private sector. The initiative of having an open-source standard for the agriculture sector will help technology firms and startups in helping the farmers, which is still one of the largest sectors in India. The focus given to youth through various announcements shows the government’s focus on the future of the country. Apart from the 5G labs set up in the colleges, the government’s recognition towards new-age skills will help SMEs with a competent workforce. The access to courses on coding, mechatronics, IoT, robotics, drones and 3D printing will help the youth enter the workforce. Make AI in India and Make AI Work for India – this slogan boosts the tech vertical’s efforts in including artificial intelligence in every aspect of our life as it betters the living and boosts development in every vertical. The government announcing the setting up of 3 Centres of Excellence for artificial intelligence has strengthened the efforts. Experts from the industry will be helping in the research and development of AI-based applications to help the agriculture, healthcare and sustainability sectors. These announcements in the budget will definitely have a positive outcome and help India’s tech vertical to achieve bigger milestones in the coming years.

TechnoBind Partners with Indusface to Bring forth SaaS Application Security for its Customers

BENGALURU, India – January 25, 2023 – TechnoBind, a specialist distributor for data and associated domains, today announced their collaboration with Indusface a leading application security SaaS company that secures critical Web, Mobile, and API applications. Indusface promises to be a Trusted Security Advisor helping organizations secure their Web and Mobile applications in a simple way. Indusface will update the team about their current and next phase of securing applications and will also manage it continuously on the organization’s behalf. “Any growing business needs 24*7*365 monitoring and that is what Indusface guarantees. Their security experts will proactively monitor an organization’s applications, mitigate risks and provide managed services helping in keeping the businesses secure. Understanding the need for security and mitigating risks in the changing times, we at TechnoBind believe that joining hands with one of the world’s leading application security SaaS companies is the right move for us. Indusface is known for its diverse security deliverables and hence has been the only vendor to be named Gartner Peer Insights Customers’ Choice in all the 7 segments of Voice of Customer WAAP 2022 Report,” said Harikrishna Prabhu, COO at TechnoBind Solutions. “Data is the new oil and we are excited to be partnering with TechnoBind that specializes as a distributor focusing on data solutions. Through TechnoBind’s PAN India network of channel partners, we now offer AppTrana the award-winning SaaS based WAF trusted by 5000+ global customers to scan, protect and monitor web, mobile and API applications,” said Jayesh Warier, VP – Sales at Indusface. Funded by Tata Capital Growth Fund II, Indusface helps in securing the applications integrating web application scanners, web application firewalls, DDoS & BOT Mitigation, CDN, and threat intelligence engine of more than 3,000 global customers worldwide. Indusface mainly provides – Application Protection, Application Scanning and SSL/VMC Certificates services. By securing the applications, Indusface helps businesses go digital in the current tech-savvy environment providing customers with more options to widen their horizons in the market without having to worry about their security. # # # About TechnoBind TechnoBind is the first Specialist Distributor in the Indian IT channels space, offering a hybrid distribution model placed synergistically between broad-based and niche distribution, to deliver high business value for its reseller partners. TechnoBind helps partners to implement solutions, which solve specific business pain points arising out of the rapidly changing facets of technology for businesses. The company’s sole focus has been on technologies that help the customer handle his Data and the associated challenges of Data Treatment. For more information, visit http://technobind.com/

Cybersecurity Policies, Infrastructure Development and More: Expectations of Tech Industry Veterans from Union Budget 2023-24

“The tech industry worldwide has seen many ups and downs in 2022 with a recession looming over the industry. Thankfully, India’s tech industry has not been significantly impacted by what is happening overseas. So right now, all the eyes are set on the upcoming Union Budget 2023-24 to be presented by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. We, on behalf of the tech industry, have our own expectations from this year’s budget. The growth of the IT and ITeS industry in India has been stupendous and we are happy with the Union government’s push in ensuring that the country is taking the digital leap. It is because of such a leap that since 2016, the number of startups in India has grown 90 times. From increased adoption of digital services and surging demand in new-age technologies like AI to the launch of 5G services, the Indian tech sector has been riding the wave. I believe that currently, the tech industry’s #1 struggle is a lack of skilled workforce, especially with emerging technologies. The government needs to focus on skill development at the school and university levels so that the new batch of students joining the workforce can be prepared and updated to the technologies and standards of the industry. While the government is focusing on empowering the country with digitalization it should also look into the security measures. The recent demonstration of a cyberattack against AIIMS Delhi and its struggle to come out of it is one example of where the cybersecurity measures stand, as we make digital progress. Therefore, the government should, in the budget not just announce schemes, policies and set aside an amount for digital development, but also for cybercrimes. The digital infrastructure, especially with 5G being made available for Enterprises and individuals in certain tier 1 cities is receiving the attention of everyone. But there is an utmost need to improve and even standardize the digital infrastructure that will help SMEs/SMBs. The infrastructure should now just be limited to tier 1 cities but must be expanded to tier 2 and tier 3 cities where there is a majority of the workforce available. These are currently the pain points that need to be addressed in the budget which will boost India’s tech vertical and those depending on it positively,” Rajendra Chitale, CFO, Crayon Software Experts India.

“The Union Budget presentation is the most anticipated activity to take place right before the end of the financial year. The tech vertical has been thriving in India, especially over the last three years. Digital transformation has been taking place at warp speed due to the circumstances that cropped up post-pandemic. We are looking forward to this year’s Union Budget being presented by Union Finance Minister Mrs Niramala Sitharaman on February 1, 2023. The government aims of achieving a $5 trillion GDP by 2025 considering that India is one of the world’s fastest-growing economies and I believe that the Indian tech sector will be a valuable contributor to this growth momentum. There are, naturally, expectations by the tech industry too from the budget. There is a dire need for the government to form the right industry-friendly policies concerning data sharing, privacy and security. Fighting cybercriminals and formulating the right law against them is of dire need today as there is a looming threat against data privacy and security. Apart from policies, there needs to be expertise and think tanks set up and funds dedicated for the training of the staff in every major government department from the union to the states, to strengthen the cyber cells. The 5G will advance technology by multifold and its tools by multifold, but unfortunately, our infrastructure is not capable of handling a full-fledged advancement including tier-1 cities. The government needs to ensure that the budget needs are set aside and estimated deadlines need to be set to ensure that the overall infrastructure matches the current tech advancement and the future. But a better focus needs to be given to ensure that Tier 2 & 3 cities, towns and even rural areas have better infrastructure that will support the tech advancement and help them match the growth as that of a Tier 1 city. Smart city projects need to be finished and newer cities need to be added to the list that will help us revolutionize the tech industry and the associated verticals. Hopefully, this budget will help us formulate and reach a new milestone,” Prashanth GJ, CEO at TechnoBind Solutions.

RAH Infotech Appoints Umashankar as Director – Alliances

NEW DELHI, India – January 23, 2023 – RAH Infotech, India’s Value Added Distributor and solutions provider in the Information Technology Industry with a special focus on Network and Security domain, today announced the appointment of Umashankar as Director – Alliances. Umashankar will be based out of the company’s Bengaluru office and is taking up the responsibility for accelerating business expansion and forming alliances. He brings depth to the management with his extensive experience in driving P&L, strategizing and scaling up the enterprise business like server, storage, security, software & Cloud Computing Services and the larger relationship in the Partner community.

“I am pleased to welcome Umashankar to the RAH Infotech’s leadership team. In his successful career spanning over two decades, Umashankar has fostered lasting relationships with vendors, customers and partners, helping companies to build sustainable businesses. With his diversified experience and understanding of the tech business with the backing of sales, marketing and people management skills, we are confident that we will be putting our best foot forward. The RAH family is looking forward to achieving a new milestone with Umashankar’s addition,” said Ashok Kumar, Founder & Managing Director at RAH Infotech. 

“I am excited to be a part of RAH Infotech, a leading value added distributor and solutions provider to a large number of enterprises in India and SAARC countries. With the need and dependency on technology increasing we have immense opportunity to forge new alliances and strengthen the existing ones. Many OEMs are teetering to enter the Indian market and the OEMs having their presence in the country are looking for Value Added Distributors to build their business so this is the right time and opportunity to associate with the right mix, I am happy to be a part of RAH Infotech’s team during this time and looking forward to working with the company’s leadership team,” said Umashankar, Director – Alliances at RAH Infotech.

Umashankar has had 25+ years of experience leading teams in different organizations in various capacities. Post his Engineering and PGDCA – SE at National Centre for Computing Technique, he worked in companies – Ramco Systems, TVSICS – TVS Group and Ingram Micro among others. In his last role, at Honeywell International as Head of Distribution and Channel for the APACI region Umashankar was leading the team in building channel capability and capacity across sub regions – Japan, Korea, ANZ, ASEAN & India and collaborated with Distributors, GSI, SI, ISV partners-consultants and reseller partners in these regions. His vast experience has helped him gain much deeper insights and dynamics in all these markets.

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About RAH Infotech

RAH Infotech is India’s leading value-added technology distributor and solutions provider. Headquartered in New Delhi, RAH Infotech has been providing world-class IT solutions since 2005 to a large number of channel partners and enterprises in India & SAARC regions. Our rich portfolio includes a wide range of best-of-breed solutions to address requirements across Security, Data, Network, Application, Storage, and beyond.

As a top-tier technology enabler, we manage the entire value chain of data management requirements of enterprises and protect their digital assets. We partner with the finest global technology firms to develop customized IT solutions in the area of cybersecurity, networking, cloud computing, data management and application management for various industry verticals.

Please visit our official website: http://www.rahinfotech.com/