Budget 2022: Reduction in GST slab, investment in digital learning, demands edtech sector

NEW DELHI: Private education technology leaders and entrepreneurs expect tax reliefs, initiatives for teacher training, job-guarantee, and investment in digital learning in Union Budget 2022. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Union Budget 2022 on February 1.

Nitin Potdar, Partner, J Sagar Associates said there should be a 10-year road map to pave the way for the implementation of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 with a good budget. He also said Indian universities and technical institutions should start collaborating with foreign universities not only to upskill students and employees but to create India as a destination for foreign students to come and learn because of the cost factor. “Education in Europe and USA is so expensive, so why could we not attract foreign students to come to India…That is where we would be able to bank upon the young population of the country,” he said.

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Surabhi Goel, CEO of Aditya Birla Education Academy said that the Government needs to set up programmes to bridge the learning gap. She suggested starting with a programme to train teachers. “In order to facilitate this, the Government must allow partnerships between private players to be a part of educational governing bodies to ensure a greater reach for upskilling programs in the government sector for teachers,” she said. She also said that the GST slab on teacher training should be cut.

Yajulu Medury, Vice-Chancellor of Mahindra University expects allocation of resources to make economy stable, greater allocation of budget to education, incentivisation of public and private sectors to improve their e-infrastructure, that is, optical fiber connectivity and sufficient transmission bandwidth to enable seamless delivery of education across the country.

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Support to start-ups, tax relief

Ajeenkya DY Patil, Chairman of the DY Patil Group said, “With the upcoming budget, this government has a unique opportunity to show that India, with its young workforce, is ready to lead the way into the future of education. I am going to keenly watch the Union Budget on February 1, 2022, and would welcome measures like tax relief, ease of raising capital for the edtech sector, and also as a country, how much we are going to invest in the internet connectivity and reach to enhance our digital infrastructure.”

Himanshu Gautam, Co-founder and CEO, Safalta Education Pvt Ltd said, “The pandemic has increased the reliance of students on secondary sources of education and with the education sector undergoing a massive transition, the government should increase the budget allocation by a significant margin. Affordable and reliable broadband connection, digital infrastructure and recommendations to reduce GST slab on edTech companies is something we are looking forward to. Additional support to start-ups and small-mid edTech companies would be appreciated.”

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Narayan Mahadevan, Founder, BridgeLabz expects the government “to recognize and encourage startups to not only focus on skill development but also to ensure the job is 100% guaranteed.” Also to recognize Skill-to-Job as a separate category and encourage start-up with some schemes or tax rebates.

Nikhil Barshikar, Founder and MD of Imarticus Learning expects a cut on taxes. “There is a huge surge in the number of students opting for e-learning courses, especially in tier-II cities, the challenge arises in creating a stable digital infrastructure for such cities. With emerging technologies and market trends, upskilling is the need of the hour and we hope that the budget focuses on the upskilling sector as well."