Sumeet Doshi, Country Manager – India, UKG (Ultimate Kronos Group)
“As the world is struggling with high inflation and fears of global recession continue to persist, India is expected to deliver the best performance of any major economy in 2023. The world bank is estimating a growth of 6.6% for India as compared to 0.5% for the US. Hence, Union Budget 2023 is going to be crucial in determining what the country’s approach is going to be to deliver this growth and become a $10 Trillion economy by 2035.
This can’t happen without a strong focus on manufacturing. With global organisations looking at China and friendshoring strategies, the government should double down on the ‘Make in India’ campaign and revitalise the sector through adoption of new-age technologies. The budget should also allocate funds to help manufacturers at the domestic level adopt technologies to better manage their workforce, and increase productivity, thereby bettering overall outcomes. With boosting investments in latest workforce management technologies, the government can help create more stabilized jobs in a systemic manner for gig and contract workers.
India is poised to become a USD 10 trillion economy by 2035 and the greatest resource of this nation is its people, therefore, the focus of this budget should also be centered around creating better opportunities, revenues, and living conditions for the front-line workforce in manufacturing. For ensuring better working terms and conditions for employees across the nation, the union government needs to push the state governments into implementing the New Labour Codes. With automation on the rise, employment in the manufacturing sector is quite critical and the budget needs to focus on investing in upskilling and educating employees so as to redefine their roles into something that generates an overall value for the organizations that employ them.
While the government has done its part by introducing PLI schemes to encourage investments in the manufacturing sector, the focus should remain on ensuring more investments in businesses that require labour to improve employment. Cutting down on GST rates can also prove to be key in growing demand which would help businesses sustain themselves. Another way of ensuring more job creation is by increasing demand in the market for manufactured goods, and the budget could rationalize income-tax rates to achieve that.”
