Govt raises outlay for digital India programme by 23% to Rs 3,958 crore

The government has increased the outlay for digital India programme by 23 per cent to Rs 3,958 crore for 2020-21 compared to the actual allocation in the current fiscal.

The increase has been mainly on account of incentives to be given for electronic manufacturing, research and development, development of manpower for the segment, cyber security and promotion of IT and IT enabled services.

The finance ministry had allocated Rs 3,750.76 crore in the previous budget but the same was revised downward to Rs 3,212.52 crore, according to the budget document released on Saturday.

"The Government has been taking several initiatives on continuous basis for promotion of electronics manufacturing in the country to provide an enabling environment for the industry to compete globally. Electronics manufacturing is one of the important pillars of the Digital India Programme and the target to achieve net zero imports is a striking demonstration of intent," the document said.

Government has increased provision for promotion of Electronics and IT hardware manufacturing through modified special incentive package scheme, electronics development fund and electronics manufacturing cluster to Rs 980 crore from Rs 690 crore in the current fiscal.

The research and development programme under the Ministry of Electronics and IT will get 75 per cent higher fund in 2020-21 compared to Rs 435 crore in the current fiscal.

The fund is envisaged to be spent on R&D activity in Electronics, nano and microelectronics including semiconductor integrated circuit layout design registry, medical electronics and health informatics, innovation promotion and start-ups, high performance computing including National Supercomputing Mission, open source etc.

The fund allocation for cyber security projects and promotion of IT and ITeS industries have been increased to Rs 170 crore each from Rs 102 crore and Rs 90 crore respectively.

The government has increased allocation for National Knowledge Network to Rs 400 crore from Rs 274 crore in the current fiscal.

Government has slashed funds for promotion of digital payment by more than half to Rs 220 crore for 2020-21 from the Rs 480 crore it allocated for the current fiscal.

The fund for Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan will remain unchanged at Rs 400 crore in the upcoming fiscal year, according to the budget document.