The Minister of State for Finance & Corporate Affairs, Shri Anurag Thakur held the Pre-Budget Consultation Meeting with the representatives of Digital Economy and Start-ups here today in connection with the forthcoming General Budget 2019-20.

The main areas of discussion during the aforesaid Meeting included Data Issues such as use of Big Data technology in improving the forecasting of Economic, Financial, climatic etc. phenomena by analysing large data sets, Use of Big Data Technology for SME Sector and unleashing the power of Big Data for Public Governance. Other issues which dominated the discussion included Digital Infrastructure &Role of Government, Regulation of Digital Economy especially in privacy, Consumer protection and Financial Regulation and Software as service among others.

Along with the Minister of State for Finance & Corporate Affairs, the aforesaid Meeting was attended by Shri Subhash C. Garg, Finance Secretary, Shri Girish Chandra Murmu, Expenditure Secretary, Shri Ajay Bhushan Pandey, Revenue Secretary, Shri Atanu Chakraborty, Secretary, DIPAM, Shri Ajay Prakash Sawhney, Secretary, Department of Electronics & Information technology, Smt. Aruna Sundarajan, Secretary, Department of Telecommunications, Shri Pramod Chandra Mody, Chairman, CBDT, Shri P.K. Das, Chairman, CBIC and Shri Sanjeev Sanyal, Principal Economic Adviser other senior officials of Ministry of Finance.

The representatives of Digital Economy and Start-ups shared their views and suggestions regarding Big Data, data mining, building of digital infrastructure as the big challenge before Indian economy besides scaling-up and incentivising Research & Development (R&D)within India. While the experts discussed the issues ailing their respective fields, they also suggested a variety of solutions to the sector specific problems. Development of Start-Ups and Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) eco-system in the country also featured in various suggestions.

Experts and representatives gave suggestions related to enhancement of public services through data analytics, development of efficient citizen-Government interaction by development of public services applications, building big data capacity for MSME sector, inter-linkages and data sharing within the Government and with private players, suggestions related to Angel Tax, need for assessment and dealing with digital frauds especially cross border digital frauds and deceptive practices and setting-up of an Agency to deal with them, incentivize Indian IP Products and Funding of Open Source Innovation, differential tax structure for assembled and manufactured goods, instituting advanced mobile communication, need for separate mobile and fixed landline bandwidth for business and entertainment, industry-friendly review of spectrum auction norms, reduction of dependence on international software service providers and increased support to domestic software service providers, continuation of existing tax benefits to digital companies, reduction in Corporate Tax, tapping into Artificial Intelligence for streamlining health services, development of legislation for data governance and incentivising Indian Intellectual Property professionals among others.

The participants included Shri Raj Nehru, Vice-Chancellor, Shri Vishwakarma Skill University; Shri H.A.C. Prasad, Secretary General, Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FKCCI); Shri Dheeraj Sharma, Director, IIM, Rohtak; Ms Debjani Ghosh, President, NASSCOM; Shri Ujjwal Mathur, Vice President and Country Head, TCS; Shri Rajiv Mehrotra, Chairman, Telecom Equipment Manufacturers Association of India (TEMA); Shri T.V. Ramachandran, president, Broadband India Forum; Shri Mandeep Singh Puri, Chairman, Electronic and Computer Software Export Promotion Council; Dr Subho Ray, president, Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) ; Shri Prateek Aggarwal, CFO, HCL Techonologies Ltd.; Shri Jatin Dalal, Chief Financial Officer, WIPRO; Ms Vishakha Saigal, Vice President Reliance JIO; Shri George Paul, CEO, Manufacturers Association for Information Technology (MAIT); Shri Amrit Manwani, President, ELCINA Electronic Industries Association of India; Shri Pankaj Mohindroo, Chairman, Indian Cellular & Electronics Association and Shri Suraj Sharan, COO, Delhivery among others.

Data governance reforms urged to regulate the digital economy and strengthen infrastructure, privacy, and start up incentives. Consultations recommended regulatory and policy interventions for the digital economy focusing on data governance, privacy, consumer protection, and financial regulation; leveraging Big Data and AI for public governance and service delivery; institutionalising inter governmental and public private data sharing; establishing mechanisms to counter cross border digital fraud; incentivising domestic R&D and IP; maintaining tax benefits for digital firms while addressing angel tax and tax treatment differences between assembled and manufactured goods; and reforming spectrum and telecom norms to bolster digital infrastructure and domestic software capacity.