New Delhi, (2/2/2019): The Internet & Mobile Association of India [IAMAI] has welcomed the announcements made in the interim budget by Finance Minister, Piyush Goyal today. Reacting to the budget, Dr. Subho Ray, President, IAMAI said “The announcement of National Artificial Intelligence portal is expected to propel India on the path of leveraging advanced and disruptive technologies for growth and economic prosperity and growth.
In a statement, IAMAI said that the budget acknowledges the innovation taking place in the country, saying India was now the second-largest hub for startups in the world.
IAMAI has also welcomed the focus on clean energy and electric vehicles. According to IAMAI, Road transport significantly drives India’s climate change impact. It is a major fossil fuel consumer: consuming 70% of India’s diesel and 99.6% of India’s petrol in 2013. It is a significant GHG emitter: generating 8.7% of India’s total emissions – 64,317 gigagrams CO2e– in 2015. While India’s overall mitigation efforts are well underway, they would be undermined by inaction on transportation emissions, which estimates indicate would nearly quadruple between 2010 and the Paris Agreement’s 2030 deadline. This make India’s transportation sector a vital arena for climate change mitigation. Sri Goyal’s announcement is recognition of this and is in line with the plan of Hon’ble Minister for Power when he announced plans to shift India to an all-electric fleet by 2030.
According to IAMAI, the Government’s vision to make 1 lakh villages into Digital Villages over next five years with the help of Common Service Centres (CSCs) is ambitious and will usher in the much needed digital revolution under the Digital India initiative, and will help in the last mile connectivity. This will also bridge the Rural-Urban digital divide, and will open avenues to jobs and employment creation.
IAMAI congratulates the government for this forward-looking budget.
