A Fertile Bed for Growth and Security - A Budget Outlook

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi gets ready for his second term in office, the country awaits the creation of favourable economic conditions that will not only allow new industries to grow, but also ensure energy and food security which are going to be the most important issues in the coming decades.

We look forward to the government laying the right foundations for both short- and long-term stability. The budget should take a two-pronged approach where on the one hand, it continues to encourage start-ups to form and grow and on the second, to boost the development of alternative energy industries.

The government has made advances in spurring start-ups on several fronts but has also adopted policies that make it harder for them to operate. There are fewer start-ups in India today than in even a small country like Israel. There have also been far fewer success stories to come from our country even though we have such a large talent pool. This can only mean that more efforts need to be made to make it easier for start-ups to establish themselves, raise funds, file taxes and hire and manage human resources while reducing the obstacles posed by licenses.

The government should also continue to incentivise the establishment and development of start-ups in tier-3 and -4 cities as well. The potential pay-off from helping to build such an ecosystem cannot be fathomed as it could possibly change industries completely or give birth to new ones that aren’t even on our horizon today.

The second important area of the budget that we are looking to see a focus on are initiatives by the government to encourage more players to get into alternative energy production, storage and distribution. Also, it needs to give companies entering these fields a shot in the arm to find markets for the consumption of this energy as well. To do this, the government should allocate more towards the electrification of vehicles involved in public and goods transportation as well as increase incentives to consumers who want to use electric cars and bikes for their personal transportation.

In addition, the government could establish an energy-trading platform where electricity produced from these alternative sources can be traded. This will allow consumers to switch to electricity produced from these new sources. People who wish to trade electricity produced from their own rooftops could also sell their power back through such an exchange at their own prices.

All this will increase jobs in the short-term and boost industries like solar power panels and battery production and will actually help us to produce energy for the desalination of sea water for a more resource-secure future.

Sharan Grandigae
Founder and CEO, Redd Experience Design