It is encouraging to see that the Budget is focused heavily on rural development. Clearly, financial inclusion is top priority for the government. The Finance Minister's proposal to complete Aadhar in 50 districts over the next six months will lead to availability of financial services to more people.
Penetration of banks and financial services in rural India presents larger scope for mobile banking and payment service providers. We believe this is a positive sign for Obopay as the budget will only encourage the adoption of mobile banking technologies.
The only road block that I see is the 2% increase in service tax. It will lead to higher tax attached to mobile phone bills and mobile transactions thereby affecting the usage of mobile services.
Overall the budget is growth-oriented with a huge impetus on rural areas and people residing therein.