Interim Budget and frontier technology: Sab ka Vikas, Sab ki Technology

Abstract

The world is at the cusp of a revolution based on Industry 4.0 and green technologies, including AI, big data, IoT, EVs, solar power, etc., which offer developing countries the opportunity to leapfrog into economic prosperity. However, India’s gross expenditure on R&D (GERD) still stands at a meagre 0.66% of GDP (Economic Survey 2022), with woefully low participation from the private sector. On the global level, the technological gap between developed and developing countries is widening, with the latter’s share of global exports falling from 48% to 33% over the past three years. The need of the hour is policy attention and investment targeted at building skills and capacities to capture value from frontier technology. To what extent did the Interim Budget 2024 rise to the occasion and adopt global best practices for technological readiness? This article explores the Budget’s successes and shortcomings in this regard.