Futurex, South Asia-Vice President, Ruchin Kumar said it is important to increase funding for cybersecurity training programs to address the workforce skill gap.

"To achieve this, collaborations with educational institutions to develop specialized cybersecurity courses and certifications must be fostered. We strongly recommend fund allocation specifically for protecting critical infrastructure, such as power grids, transportation networks, and healthcare systems, from cyber threats," he told PTI.

He said that the government should also mandate and fund regular security audits and vulnerability assessments for critical infrastructure sectors.

Zeron, Founder, Sanket Sarkar said the government has consistently demonstrated its commitment to this critical industry through strategic investments and supportive policies.

"Reflecting on the past years, it's clear that our digital defenses have been significantly strengthened. I am optimistic that this year's budget will further amplify this focus, with substantial allocations to enhance our cybersecurity infrastructure," he said, while speaking to PTI.

Sarkar said continued prioritisation of cyber resilience and innovation is crucial for defending against evolving threats and driving economic growth. "This budget will not be merely a financial planning; it'll be a bold declaration of India's intent to become a global cybersecurity leader," he added.

IIT Kanpur's Artificial Intelligence and Innovation-Driven Entrepreneurship Centre of Excellence (AIIDE-CoE) incubated Future Crime Research Foundation (FCRF), co-founder Shashank Shekhar said investment on cybersecurity is similar to insurance for digital economies.

"While the government is making an effort to digitally empower every citizen of the country, it becomes imperative to secure them as well. We request the government to consider building Indian champions in the cybersecurity space to meet the aspiration of Viksit Bharat by 2047," Shekhar said.

With India looking to embrace artificial intelligence rapidly, cybersecurity players expect that the upcoming Union Budget will include measures to boost safety of the country's digital space through further allocation of funds and incentives.

Innefu Labs, CEO and Co-founder Tarun Wig said the global focus on AI presents a critical juncture for India. "The AI and ML (machine learning) models can be trained to identify and prevent 'zero-day' attacks. But this will require support from the government (in) nurturing and retaining top cyber talent, and empowering companies to invest in training AI models for cybersecurity," Wig told news agency PTI.

Ashwin Jacob, Partner, Industry Leader - Energy, Resources & Industrials at Deloitte said the government is also expected to provide concessional tax rate on sale of all carbon credits and Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) and, not limited to carbon credits validated by the UN Framework on Climate Change (UNFCC), along with clarification on set-off of losses and unabsorbed depreciation thereof, news agency PTI reported.

There is a slow progress being witnessed in pumped storage projects (PSP) space. Some policy bridges need to be announced to expedite the implementation of these projects as these are going to be very systemically important assets for India as far as energy transition is concerned, Girishkumar Kadam, Senior Vice President & Group Head - Corporate Ratings, ICRA Ltd said.

A VGF scheme can be thought of which has been announced for the battery storage products. The Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme is also being proposed but its framework is yet to be finalized. So that needs to be expedited by the government, Kadam told PTI.

The government is expected to announce a slew of measures in the full Budget for fiscal year 2024-25 to promote investments in the renewable energy space, experts say.

"We expect the focus of the budget to remain green growth based... We expect the budget to focus more on renewables, storage, transmission and distribution network strengthening schemes," news agency PTI quoted Girishkumar Kadam, Senior Vice President & Group Head - Corporate Ratings, ICRA Ltd said. "We expect policy measures to incentivise, and to encourage investments in (battery) storage groups," he added.