2024 Technology Budget
The Union Budget for 2024-25 holds great importance as India strives to establish itself as a leading force in artificial intelligence (AI). Building upon the progress made in the previous fiscal year, the budget will prioritize ethical measures, initiatives to enhance skills, and favorable policies for startups. Its primary objective will be to strengthen the country’s AI industry for long-term expansion.
Ethical AI practices: Governance and regulation
The budget can emphasize the necessity of regulations when the possible misleading factors that artificial intelligence systems can inherit from inconsistent information distribution are recognized. Administrative regulations to create ethical standards for AI developers and companies. Drawing on the inspiration of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDP), the government is likely to set clear guidelines for the appropriate use of personal data and protection against malicious algorithms and deep fakes, Financial Express reported.
The inclusion of management tools such as template cards is likely recommended to prevent abuse of AI solutions. These short documents would contain important information about the use, purpose and performance of the model, ensuring transparency and ethical use. In addition, it is likely to propose the creation of a regulatory body utilizing experts in the field to address inconsistent use of AI and ethical violations.
India’s Global AI Position Strategy
With an estimated annual growth rate of 30 percent, the AI industry will play a key role in taking India towards its ambitious $5 trillion economic goal. The use of artificial intelligence in various fields promises significant improvements, from reducing the backlog of legal cases and improving tax compliance to predicting disease risks and detecting fraud in government systems.
Budget has a unique opportunity to adopt public-private partnership (PPP) models, optimize infrastructure and focus on centralized data repositories, promoting completeness, trust and controlled access.
Anticipating AI training and skill development
Based on the momentum created in the 2023 budget, the government can allocate resources to educational institutions’ artificial intelligence centers of excellence (CoE). Founded with a significant contribution, these centers of excellence foster partnerships between industry and academia and promote interdisciplinary research and solutions in key areas such as healthcare, agriculture, education and sustainable infrastructure.
Knowing that education spending needs to be increased, the budget can boost AI-based vocational training. This will enable a larger workforce, including employees of Tier-2 and 3 institutes, to meaningfully contribute to citizen services through the application of AI.
Supporting AI companies: financial incentives and tax deductions
The National DeepTech Start-up Policy (NDTSP), drawn up in 2023, is still a key tool for stimulating innovation and economic growth in the artificial intelligence startup landscape. Despite the challenges of the global macroeconomic environment, AI startups have shown resilience.
Expectations for the 2024-25 budget include financial incentives and tax breaks for AI startups. The positive impact of the Startup India initiative is recognized and further support is sought through measures relating to taxes, losses, investments and employee stock options. Encouraging adoption of AI across sectors and funding mechanisms such as the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS) are expected to boost the growth of AI startups, especially those operating in tier 2 and 3 cities.
