Mr Hari Subramaniam, Founder & Director of LifeSigns
“The budget for 2023–24 is a significant step forward for the health-tech sector. With a focus on strengthening the research infrastructure and investment in digitalization through 5G, it sets a positive trajectory for companies like ours. Establishing new nursing colleges and allocating resources for medical research and pharmaceutical innovation demonstrate a commitment to improving healthcare access and outcomes.
At LifeSigns, we’re particularly encouraged by the dedicated multidisciplinary courses for medical devices and the support for medical research in select ICMR labs. These initiatives will foster a dynamic environment for collaboration and more access to new technology in healthcare, skilling the manpower and encouraging companies like ours to contribute to the growth of the sector and the improvement of healthcare for all citizens.”
Ms. Harini Ramachandran, Co-Creator of Excellence Installations Technology and Co-founder of Antano & Harini
“The Union Budget 2023 is positively addressing the rural & economically weaker sections and the aspirational businesses of India. Furthermore, empowering women entrepreneurs, especially through skill development and investments in branding & marketing, is a favourable move meant to promote niche and driven businesses in India.
As the government continues to invest in mental health and skill development, I believe it’s also time to prioritize Capability Building for India’s burgeoning entrepreneurs and workforce. Capabilities like being able to model and learn from the geniuses around, to disassociate and bring creative, out-of-the-box ideas, capabilities of emotional resilience and mastery. Because capabilities are for life and naturally grow and evolve, an individual’s current capacity to accelerate their success, launch a unique legacy and create B!G Impact in the world.
My hope after this year’s budget announcement is that the people will leverage the increased tax exemption and ease of compliance to invest in themselves, in building superior capabilities of world leaders that will enable them to create a big impact in the world.”
Dr. Tathagato Rai Dastidar, Founder & CEO of SigTuple
Addressing the health care announcements made by the honorable FM today, he stated, “The newly announced focus on screening and eradicating sickle cell anaemia in the country is a step in the right direction. Anaemias and other haematological disorders are endemic in tribal populations of the country. Advanced digital technologies can help vastly increase the scale of screening than what is possible today.”
He also added, “The proposed National Data Governance Policy, which provides access to anonymized data, will go a long way in supporting the stated mission of making AI work in India.” He addressed the AI focus stated in the budget.
Ms. Sujata Pawar, Co-Founder & CEO of Avni
“We applaud the initiatives declared in the Union Budget 2023-24 by Honorable Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The budget strikes an appropriate balance between confronting the key foundations of Health & Well-being, Inclusive Development, Human Capital, Innovation, and R&D and laying the groundwork for a prosperous economy by investing heavily in infrastructure. The government’s intention to empower women entrepreneurs through self-help clusters focused on raw material supply, product branding, and marketing is also a unique and sensible step, given that community, impact plays a major role with women in India. Furthermore, the announcement of 157 new nursing colleges will further aid strengthen India’s primary healthcare system.”
Mr. Krishna Veer Singh, Co-Founder & CEO of Lissun
It was evident during the lockdown that mental health has remained an ignored area and demands immediate attention. In the last budget, Hon’ble FM announced the launch of a Tele Mental Health service. This year, the budget has encompassed the needs of healthcare professionals by announcing 157 new nursing colleges. All this together will serve the purpose of adding fuel to the healthcare infrastructure, and it is the only way it will make complete sense. Also, there has been a significant increase in the budget allocation towards the Healthcare Ministry, which indicates the government’s attention toward health standards in the country.
Aman Puri, Founder of Steadfast Nutrition
“India, known as the world’s pharmacy, is known for its affordable generic drugs. However, research and development have always needed attention- the government has announced measures to promote research and innovation in pharmaceuticals in the 2023 budget. It will also encourage the industry to invest in research and development in specific priority areas. The boost to research and innovation in the pharmaceutical industry is commendable and will further strengthen India’s position as one of the world’s leading drug suppliers. However, the relaxation in importing Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) should have been allowed since the imports of these raw materials for medicines, also known as bulk drugs, are necessitated to control raw material costs due to the caps on drug prices.
The government has not paid attention to the nutraceutical industry despite the sector playing an increasing role in healthcare. The sector would have welcomed a relaxation in imports of nutraceutical raw materials and ingredients because quality remains a challenge. There is no reduction in tax on supplements to make them more affordable and accessible to everyone- currently, they are subject to 18% GST, which is the second-highest tax rate.
The allocation to healthcare is still low at 2.1% of the GDP despite recommendations by National Health Policy 2017, the Economic Survey 2021, and experts to increase it to 2.5-3%. The world average is 6%.”
Mugdha Pradhan, CEO and Founder of iThrive
“Popularising millets will make an already protein-deprived nation even more malnourished. Maybe next time, they can shift the focus to eggs, meat and ghee, as these are nutritious foods that bring health to human beings. That apart, we expect the Government to consider lowering taxes on the wellness industry to align with their new Agenda of Healthy India.”
Shabnum Khan, Founder of 750AD Healthcare Pvt. Ltd
“An increase in budget allocation for health infrastructure and digital transformation will enable a futuristic development of the country’s health bodies. Additionally, a special focus on green energy and sustainability are key takeaways that will help foster sustainable products in the country. Also, the budget declared that new pharmaceutical programs would be formulated and investment in research would be encouraged. With such a step, it will boost the infrastructure and the backbone of the healthcare sector with advanced research in medical sciences.”
Dr. Naoya Matsumi, Deputy Managing Director, Sakra World Hospital
The “Amrit Kaal” Union Budget 2023 has significantly prioritized improving our country’s healthcare sector infrastructure. The Government’s decision to set up 157 nursing colleges in addition to the existing 157 ones, ramp up facilities in select ICMR Labs for increased R&D, and promote new programs to encourage collaborative research and innovation in pharmaceuticals will benefit the overall growth of the industry. Launching a dedicated mission to eliminate Sickle Cell Anemia disease by 2047 through awareness creation and universal screening of seven crore people in 0-40 age group in the tribal areas is appreciated and will help tackle the endemic witnessed amongst the tribal population. However, the Govt. should have also focused on substantial budgetary allocation for preventive, mental health, and metabolic diseases that continue to grapple the younger population, making quality healthcare further accessible in the rural areas to bring down the modern-day healthcare risk factors.
Dr. BS Ajai Kumar, Executive Chairman, Healthcare Global Enterprises Limited.
The budget has again missed out on addressing Universal healthcare which is very disappointing. The increase in budgetary allocation to this sector is yet off the desired mark, given the severity of the issues and challenges on the ground, like high infant mortality rates, alarming out-of-pocket expenditures, and vulnerable public health infrastructure in rural areas and deprived regions. Given that the government has increased tax on certain forms of cigarettes by 16%, this extra tax collection must be earmarked for healthcare, particularly for cancer care, as the victims of tobacco use are cancer patients.
On the bright side, opening new nursing colleges is a laudable move given the critical importance of nursing professionals, but such announcements should precede a summary of the earlier budget announcements and respective implementations on the ground. This context will lend more clarity and transparency to the budget announcements.
The renewed focus on the genetic blood disorder of sickle cell anemia is a key step, but its implementation will hold the key to its sustainable success. It may be recalled that earlier budgets had focused on ‘anemia Mukt Bharat’ mission, pledging to treat anemia through testing, point of care, and supply of fortified foods. A preface on the outcome of that scheme would have been apt while announcing the new measure.
The impetus provided for public-private collaboration is welcome through the ICMR lab initiative and the Pharma centers of excellence. However, there is a pressing need to invest in tech-enabled systems using predictive genomics to strengthen India’s prevention, surveillance, and response capacities to pandemics and epidemics. I also expected a rationalization of tax and duty structures around life-saving drugs and emergency treatments, revision of GST slabs, and sops for healthcare equipment manufacturers. High time India makes Health a top priority and extends all key subsidies and benefits to the sector to make healthcare accessible and affordable to one and all.
Mr Amrit Singh, Co-founder & CRO of Loop
“The budget has focused on improving India’s R&D capability in pharma and medical devices while increasing vocational training in nursing. In their approach to sickle cell anaemia eradication, they have shown a preventive healthcare framework of health education, proactive testing and treatment that should be the cornerstone of all healthcare in India, which is currently only focused on last-mile sick care. We hope future Budgets will cater to preventive care.”
Mr.Rajat Goel Co-founder & CEO, Eye-Q Super speciality Eye Hospitals
“Many start-ups have been stepping into the healthcare sector to address different challenges attentively. However, catering to the world’s second-largest population demands skilled professionals. And we can never have enough when it comes to talent in the medical field. Therefore, we are glad that the government is focusing on better education by announcing 157 new nursing colleges. Additionally, pharma goes hand in hand with healthcare. It requires continues research and financing, and the new program to promote research and innovation in pharma will be taken up through Centres of Excellence can certainly serve the purpose”.
