Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is all set to present the Union Budget 2024, tomorrow, July 23, 2024. The entire marketing and advertising community is keeping a close eye on this much-awaited event, eager to witness what changes it can bring about to rejuvenate the advertising industry and its implications.
Industry experts are optimistic that the Union Budget 2024 would bring clarity and promote new data privacy laws, encourage growth in the media technology and content creation landscape, provide regulations for the retail media landscape, and alter taxes on digital advertising. They also shared that, they feel enhancing digital infrastructure, supporting SMEs and AdTech Startups, increasing funding for digital marketing activities, and rules for emerging technologies like AI would be the main areas of potential changes and improvements.
Adtech Today reached out to a few industry experts to find out their expectations from the upcoming Union Budget 2024; here’s what they said-
Prashanth Kumar, Chief Digital Officer, Infectious Advertising said,
“One expectation is the reduction of GST on digital advertising from 18 to 5% – in line with Print. Another is the introduction of new data privacy regulations which could impact how digital advertisements are targeted and delivered. This is especially required, now that the online world is on the threshold of going cookie-less.”
On his expectation from the upcoming budget, Harshil Karia, Founder & Managing Director, Schbang said,
“In response to the upcoming Union Budget, we hope for investments in corporate parks and zones designed for digital experts in Tier-2 and Tier-3 markets. This will enable digital agencies to serve the growing needs of local advertisers at reasonable rates and foster a robust talent ecosystem in these regions.”
Maulik Tolia, Managing Director, Bodhitree Multimedia Limited believed that the budget would bring in measures to boost global competitiveness.
”Our expectations would be to increase the subsidies on international productions to attract more business. Special tax SOPs to be given to the VFX and Animation industry on their international work orders. We expect the establishment of a dedicated fund by the government to boost content creation and the media technology space, with a special focus on investing in AI and content creation keeping the international markets as the target.”
Tapan Surana, VP – Management Office, Team Pumpkin said,
“We strongly advocate for a dedicated section addressing both digital advertising and promoting digitization in tier 1 and tier 2 cities. This would create a powerful push towards digital adoption by traditional businesses. Additionally, a rationalization of taxes on digital advertising services would be a game-changer. It would free up resources for innovation and help the whole sector flourish. We’re also hopeful for initiatives that support the development of a skilled digital advertising workforce and maybe even recognize the amazing work startups and small businesses are doing in the digital marketing space. By investing in these areas, this budget could really unlock the immense potential of digital advertising and propel India’s digital economy forward.”
Russhabh R Thakkar, Founder and CEO, Frodoh World added that they expect increased allocations for rural broadband and 5G rollout, which could expand their addressable market.
”We are anticipating a boost for digital advertising, given the government’s push for a digital economy. We expect increased allocations for rural broadband and 5G rollout, which could expand our addressable market. Compared to last few months, we might see more support for local content creation and AdTech startups. The upcoming Union Budget may introduce policies that indirectly bolster India’s retail media landscape. We could see funding allocations aimed at strengthening digital infrastructure and data security, which are crucial for the growth of e-commerce platforms and their advertising capabilities. The budget might also address regulations around data usage and privacy, potentially shaping how retail media networks operate and monetize their first-party data. Beyond just digital, we anticipate targeted measures to boost the entire media ecosystem. A key area to watch is any announcement on regulating emerging technologies like AI in advertising. This could have far-reaching implications for personalization and ad fraud prevention. Lastly, given the global economic headwinds, the budget might include measures to attract more foreign investment in our AdTech sector, potentially accelerating innovation and growth.”
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