Budget proposes Rs 8,000 crore boost for quantum tech

Feb 1, 2020
New Delhi: Giving a huge boost to adoption of emerging technologies, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday proposed to provide an outlay of Rs 8,000 crore for commercial application of quantum computing like in Blockchain over the next five years under the ‘National Mission on Quantum Technologies and Applications’.

“Proposed to provide outlay of Rs 8,000 crore for quantum computing over five years to break into this technology. India will be the third country in this area,” Sitharaman said in her second Union Budget presentation in Parliament.

Saying that quantum technology is opening up new opportunities, Sitharaman said that several commercial applications would emerge in the area.

“Whoa! USD 1 bn+ allocation for new mission on #quantum computing and applications #BUDGET2020 Will be crucial to ensure we focus the mission on priority areas which, will see the max benefit. This is another very progressive move,” Debjani Ghosh, President, Nasscom tweeted.

The Finance Minister also said that a policy will be set up to build data centre parks throughout the country.

She mentioned that technologies such as data analytics, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) and bioinformatics are proliferating fast in the country. IANS