Steps to boost sunrise sectors, ease of living in 100-day plan
Measures to boost sunrise sectors such as semiconductors and artificial intelligence, and ways of making life easier for citizens will get priority in the 100-day programme the government is currently working on for implementation after the national elections running from April to June, two persons aware of the discussions said.
The 100-day programme will have policy steps needed for short-term and long-term growth. Secretaries of different departments have been asked by ministers to consult stakeholders over the next month to come up with fresh ideas. The proposals will be taken up in the first cabinet meeting after the polls, one of the persons quoted above said.
Sunrise sectors are in focus as they see fast growth, innovation, and have the potential for creating well-paying jobs for the youth, while also helping the country turn self-sufficient. While presenting the interim budget for next fiscal, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced a ₹1-trillion corpus for financing private sector research and innovation in sunrise sectors. The government’s scheme for attracting investments into manufacturing through production-linked incentives, too, covers sectors like electronics, pharmaceuticals, telecom, medical devices and drones.
The measures being worked on broadly follow the NDA government’s approach of undertaking reforms that help the overall economy and strengthen the exchequer for social transfers rather than offering upfront tax cuts or subsidies. This approach was evident from the interim budget for FY25 presented on 1 February, which chose not to be populist despite the impending national polls. Besides, the initial months of the new government will be the opportune time to pursue reforms, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Experts said that one goal the government has to pull off would be to increase the tax-toGDP ratio for raising resources for its programmes. “Tax-toGDP ratio has to be raised from about 18% (Centre and states combined) to about 25%, which
will generate the necessary resources for the government to undertake both the physical and social infrastructure expansion projects. It is critical to chart out a path to reach that long term goal of tax-GDP ratio with medium term milestones,” said EY chief policy advisor D.K. Srivastava, stressing the need for a wider tax base.
Ease of living will be a key element of the 100-day agenda. Oneofthemeasuresthegovernment is working on is making it easierforcitizenstoengagewith various financial institutions as wellasotheragenciescateringto the public to avoid multiple knowyourcustomer(KYC)verifications. Towards that goal, the useofacentralKYC(CKC)registry by institutions like banks, insurers and other entities will be encouraged and streamlined.
This will improve customer experience while reducing the cost of KYC verification for the institutions, said the person, adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is taking special interest in measures to improve ease of living.
Emails sent on Friday to the finance ministry, Prime Minister’s
Office, Cabinet Secretariat and to NITI Aayog requesting comments for the story remained unanswered. CKC is maintained by the Central Registry of Securitisation Asset Reconstruction and Security Interest (CERSAI), to which entities coming under Sebi, RBI, IRDAI and PFRDA now report customer information. According to a note posted on the website of CERSAI, more than 820 million KYC records of individuals and about 10 million records of legal entities have been uploaded by institutions to CKC as of December 2023. The number of records in the registry as well as its downloads are growing by the day, but an analysis of its usage suggests that over 71% of the records being uploaded are of customers whose KYC identifier is already issued by the registry.
Those entities that have digitized their customer onboarding and have integrated their business processes with the registry have benefited from lower cost of KYC verification, the note said. A second person, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said that proposals will be finalized after the polls.
The 100-day programme will have policy steps needed for short-term and long-term growth