Media and sports kept out of the spotlight in Budget 2018

With the entertainment and media industry stepping up to support the government’s Digital India initiative, the industry expected policymakers to take measures to rationalise their transition to the digital ecosystem. However, with agriculture, healthcare, education and infrastructure taking centre stage in Budget 2018, other sectors receded into the background.

The move to increase customs duty on certain goods was in line with the government’s intent to promote Make in India. However, if the increase in cost due to the spike in the duty on mobile devices and television sets is not absorbed by manufactures or distributors, it can indirectly impact the consumption numbers for the industry, unless homegrown manufactures improve quality and reduce prices. Similarly, the increase in the duty on silica used for the manufacture of telecommunication grade optic fibre and fibre cables could increase the cost of data transmission and, therefore, pose a hurdle to the government’s Digital India initiative. The Digital India initiative itself has received a 100% increase in budgetary allocation and now stands at 3,000 crore INR for FY 2018–19. The relative increase might appear to be significant, but the absolute number doesn’t seem to take into consideration the overall need for funds.

In light of India’s performance at the Rio Olympics and with a sportsperson at the helm of the Sports Ministry for the first time, the focus was expected to be on improving sports infrastructure on a long-term basis through government funding and incentivisation of private investment into sports and related activities. However, Budget 2018 seems to ignore these areas in favour of other important priorities. An increase of 13% in the budget allocation to reach almost 2,200 crore INR is not enough to achieve the ambitious goal of making India a sporting nation. This further reaffirms the need for private sector spending on the development of sports infrastructure. However, no specific incentives have been proposed to promote private sector investment into sports infrastructure and related activities. With sports taking a back seat in government spending, Indian athletes and sportsmen continue to be on their own when it comes to winning medals for the county.