Finance Minister, P Chidambaram has announced Union Budget 2013-14, which has received mixed reactions from industry and academia. Here are some highlights of what education received from the budget 2013-14…

SS Mantha, Chairman,AICTE on union Budget 2013-14 The budget is meant for ‘inclusive growth and sustainable development’ with a focus on social sectors-health and education. It is very pragmatic budget with feet on the ground.

Dilip Chenoy, CEO & MD, National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) The Finance Minister’s decision to set aside Rs 1,000 crore for a scheme to encourage youth to voluntarily enrol at skill development institutions and providing an incentive of `10,000 to every individual who undergoes training, coupled with the recognition given to industry-led assessment and certification, would create an aspiration value for skills and contribute significantly to ongoing efforts to ensure that India is in a position to leverage its demographic dividend. Including vocational institutes affiliated to the State Council of Vocational Training in the negative list of service tax would make skills training affordable and more accessible to people, particularly for those living at the bottom of the pyramid.

Riad Joseph, Tax Partner – Education practice, Ernst & Young While a 15 percent increase for RTE is positive, there appear to be no specific announcements on regulatory reform, PPP framework and incentives for private sector

Ashok Mittal, Chancellor, Lovely Professional University This year’s budget promises to bring in a lot of hope for the education sector. It was indeed heartening to see that equal importance has being given to all levels of education starting from primary to higher level. The Sarv Shiksha Abhiyaan and child care primary education deserves to be given more importance and I am glad that this year’s budget has taken cognizance of this fact. The government’s decision to allocate over 65 thousand crore to HRD Ministry and additional 1600 crores to institutions like AIMS sends a clear message that education sector is finally getting the importance it truly deserves. The 17 percent increase in the budget allocation to our sector is appreciated and well received by one and all. However, it was a bit of a disappointment to notice that this year’s budget completely overlooked the education loans aspect.

Deepak Kaistha Managing Partner, Planman Consulting With our finance minister pointing towards the imperative need of foreign investment in India, HR companies are likely to get an increment in terms of more hiring, more work. The budget also hints at increased focus on providing education and skills to youth for securing jobs in the 2013-14. Among this, the focuses will be on enhancing the ability of the undereducated and unskilled to become self-employed and find meaningful work. Furthermore, with a growth rate of 9 per cent and an outstanding growth in sectors like manufacturing, IT andITES, textile, agriculture, construction, and retail, there arise tremendous job opportunities. Manufacturing alone is expected to create 25 million jobs in next 10 years.

Pramod Sharma Principal, Genesis Global School I was hoping the focus to be more on teacher training so the students do not drop out and teachers are motivated to impart better education. The Government needs to introduce technology based learning in government schools.Since, private schools already have technology and the government schools cannot afford the same, this will increase the inequality in society.

Shantanu Prakash, CMD, Educomp Solutions The tonality of the budget as far as the education sector goes was highly positive. The thematic emphasis on employability and therefore on skill and vocational training led education is a trend shift for certain. In fact the unqualified acceptance by the Government of the criticality of job-led education and the emphasis on vocational training and skilling is the corner stone of this budget. We will look forward to the fine print matching the fine sentiments going ahead. The absence of any encouragement for much needed private investment in the education sector was a bit disappointing.

Ramana Akula, CFO, Pearson India It is overall a positive budget from the education sector standpoint – despite the expenditure management exercise the government has increased allocation to the education sector by 17 percent. The education cess of three percent has been retained for the financial year 2013-14; this move will continue to promote the public spending in various education schemes like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. However, some expectations such as extension of tax sops provided to ocational education in agri sector to other streams of vocational education have not been met but nevertheless the budget of 2013-14 should provide a boost to the education sector and the overall economy largely due to serious measures to promote saving and investments in the economy.

Prashant Bhalla, Senior Vice President, Manav Rachna International University Keeping the current fiscal deficit scenario in mind, the budget this year appears to be a move towards a focused economic growth, provided the elements are well implemented. It is good to see that education has retained its importance where the government plans to continue taking initiatives for education as well as imparting skills to the youth. Given the challenges we have, rise in expenditures at all levels is obvious but one should not divert from our focus and continue our efforts. Rise in allocations for HRD, SSA, RMSA seems to be a move that will bring benefits to the countrymen. Having said that, monitoring also needs equal attention to overcome obstacles and thereafter succeed in our missions.

Sanjaya Sharma, CEO, TATA Interactive Systems I reiterate that there is a need for a PPP model in the sector not just to execute the delivery but also deploy modern technology infrastructure across schools enabling rapid proliferation of world-class education. Another positive announcement was the `1000 crore allocation for the national skill development fund. Every sector in India is challenged with severe crunch of skilled workforce and such initiatives will help achieve its target of skilling 50 million people in the 12th Plan period, including nine million in 2013-14. But, the gap is also widening at the same time and there will be a need for around 50 crore skilled workers across sectors in India by 2022. The Government and NSDC in particular should look at employing technology as a strategic partner to fast track and bridge this gap.

Premlesh Machama,
Managing Director, CareerBuilder India
Allocation of `1,000 Crore allocation to develop joboriented skills among youth has also been promised and theNational Skill Development Corporation will train five crore people in current plan period.

Ambarish Gupta,
CEO, Knowlarity Communication Pvt Ltd
More funds are now available for startups under the initiative taken by the Finance Ministry to recognise certain funding to institutions like IIT as part of CSR activity. This is going to release more funds for startups. Overall this is a growth oriented budget. The finance minister has recognised the importance of creating quality jobs for the youth in India. It has pledged vast sums of money on skill enhancement schemes that will prepare the youth for the next generation of jobs.

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