National Finalist

Kritika Maini

Bachelors of Commerce (H), 2020-23 (3rd Year)

The Union Budget 2023 was announcedon1stFebruary2023by MinisterofFinanceofIndia,Nirmala Sitharamanat11:00AM.TheUnion budget of 2023, presented by FinanceMinisterfocusesondriving growth and employment through investment in infrastructure, healthcare, education, and technology.Thebudgetannounced this year has been the last budget undertheModiGovernment.Amrit Kaalis defined as the 25 years between the 75th and 100th anniversaries of India's independence therefore this year’s budgetwasalsoknownasAmritKal Budget.FinanceMinisterstatedthat unleashing the youth power is one among the seven priorities of the UnionBudget2023,whichwillactas Saptarishi ( 7 guiding principles ) guiding the nation through the AmritKal.

To begin with, Human Resource Communityhasgivenathumbsup totheUnionBudget2023.

Some key highlights before we diveintothemainagendaofthe topicareStabilityisoneofthekey aspects of HR budget planning. HumanResourceBudgetdepends ontheindustry,thenatureofthe business, its size as well as the growthstage.Amixofzero-based and incremental budgeting provides flexibility to be independentofearliertargetsand plan major events for the next financialyear.

Ifwespecificallytalkdeeplyabout thebudgetwithrespecttothe

HumanResourceDomain,thenHR leaders have summarised it as a “smart” and “professionally balanced” budget. It is because thereisnottoomuchfocusgivento thepoliticalagenda.TheHRbudget under Amrit Kal Budget 2023 will include funds allocated to hiring, salaries, benefits, talent management, training, succession planning, workforce engagement, andemployeewellnessplanning.

Human Resource budgets use financial information, performance results and historical data from everydepartment.Therearealotof HumanResourcerelatedtopicsthat are taken into consideration. The Union Budget 2023 has ample opportunities from the HR perspective in terms of growth, empowerment, skill development and ultimately tackling unemployment which eventually marks JobCreation.

Secondly, Upskilling and reskilling of government employees under the government’s ‘Karm Yogi’ initiative. There will be plenty of opportunitiesforHRprofessionalsin theprivatesectortoESU,whichis onemajorboost.Theincreaseinthe incometaxrebatelimitwasalsoa remarkable change not only for citizens but for HR professionals too.Theattentionandfocusonskill development, job creation, and upskillingyouthtobecomeleaders oftomorrowareprogressivemoves by the government in this year’s UnionBudget.

With the growing need of Technology and Innovation, Indian Government emphasised on the establishment of three artificial intelligence (AI) centres of excellence in prestigious educational institutions, training in fieldssuchasmachinelearning(ML) androbotics.

Also,onemajorpointthathasbeen taken into consideration in this year’sbudgetwasDevelopmentand Stability. With the rise in development, a country becomes more stable similarly a stable government and good governance leadtoastableeconomy.Whenthe economyofacountrydoeswell,the countryasawholedoeswell.With this,thereareincentivesforstartups in terms of tax exemption and much more emphasis on research and digitization. Hence, overall, when we say Human Resources is always focused on people working invarioussetups.

All the initiatives proposed in the budget would help enhance the overallqualityoflifeforemployees, help them in salary savings and contribute to the growth and developmentofthecountry.

The Union Budget also mentions the launch of a new National RecruitmentAgencytostreamline the recruitment process for governmentjobsandanationalskill mission to provide training and employment opportunities to the youth.Inaddition,theUnionBudget 2023 aims to improve the ease of living for the common person and ensureaself-reliantIndia.

The Union Budget 2023 also highlights the government’s commitment to expediting the resolution of contractual disputes, which will positively impact the manufacturingsector,whereHRis responsible for managing contract labour.Moreover,itisareliefforthe SME and MSME sectors, as the government has announced measures to boost domestic production and support these sectors.

The Amrit Kal Budget willhelpto createabetterenvironmentforjob seekers,employees,andbusinesses.

Amustnotepoint-Asmoneyisno longer the only key motivator for talent, HR budgets over the years have extended their projections to covertheemployeecentricaspects like employee engagement, learning and development and employee wellbeing etc. Therefore, one can conclude by mentioning thattheoverallUnionBudget2023 orAmritKalBudget2023hasbeen takenwellbythecommonpeople, businessleadersandstockmarket.