On Wednesday, PM Narendra Modi Wednesday called the technology a medium for empowering people and said it is the mainstay of making India self-reliant. He said the same vision is reflected in this year’s Budget.

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Modi, who was addressing a webinar on “technology-enabled development”, cited the expanding global market for gaming and added the Budget has focussed on Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, and Comic (AVGC).

PM referred to an emphasis in the Budget on sunrise sectors such as artificial intelligence, geo-spatial systems, drones, semi-conductors, space technology, genomics, pharmaceuticals, and clean technologies. He added the Budget lays down a road map for the 5G spectrum auction. Modi said production-linked incentive schemes had been proposed for design-led manufacturing related to a robust 5G ecosystem. He asked the private sector to increase its efforts in this area.