Expectations from Union Budget 2022-23: “As India stands at the precipice of rapid growth post the pandemic with its green restart strategies, all eyes are set on the manufacturing sector to spearhead this growth and the move towards sustainability. The outlay from the 2022 budget, I believe, should set the pace of growth for this decade, and pave the way for India to reach its ambitious goal of becoming a $5 trillion economy by 2025.
The PLI scheme introduced in 2020 served as a game-changer for many industries that were hitherto hesitant to invest in new technologies due to the high cost of capital. Going from strength to strength should now be our focus, by way of addition of more sectors within the scheme to boost capital spending. This will invariably help build a resilient ecosystem for these sectors that will bolster our overall growth. A concerted effort on ensuring that these schemes subsidise the right benefactors, is also crucial in helping facilitate the ease of doing business in the country.
An increase in budgetary outlay towards healthcare, particularly in developing infrastructure surrounding the healthcare sector is a necessity evident from our pandemic learnings. Better indoor air quality, green comfort and energy efficiency in hospitals, smart precision cooling for pharma & lab facilities, fresh & safe food & drink etc. will be important as our growing population faces new challenges in coming years.
With the country’s fight against Climate Change including the recent ratification of Kigali agreement and our strong position on adopting sustainable solutions in the HVAC sector, it is crucial that the 2022 Union Budget provides the industry with increased budget allocation to develop sustainable cooling solutions and well-connected cold chain infrastructure across the country. The additional funds will also help create training programs for various industry stakeholders to promote the research, production and use of natural & low GWP refrigerants that can contribute to India’s self-sufficient green economic growth.
2022 budget must also look at incentivising recyclability of manufactured goods which helps promote circular thinking. Renewable energy and decarbonization incentives along with recyclability incentives can collectively help India get closer to its net-zero goals. Overall, India’s development proposals in all sectors should be planned with sustainability at its core, to ensure a better tomorrow for our future generations.”
