Here's what the Industry Corporates Expect for Budget 2023


Here's what the Industry Corporates Expect for Budget 2023

The countdown has began. from corporate to the common man, everyone is looking forward to the much-awaited Union Budget 2023-2024. The budget would be the most challenging one that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman would be tabling in Parliament on February 1, 2023. The announcement will not only have to lay the roadmap for India’s growth momentum while the world is dealing with ongoing inflationary pressure, global recession, and monetary tightening. It is also crucial because it would be Centre’s last full year Budget ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in 2024. Hence, it keeps the government at the steering wheel to push economic growth to a new level.

Like every year, the budget this year will also see important announcements of new PM schemes being launched with new budgetary allocations. While the government decisions at the end would be only public on February 1, but there are a host of things that this budget is expected to address. So, here are some of the expectations by the Industry experts regarding Union Budget 2023-2024.

Deena Jacob, CFO, OPEN, said, "Financial inclusion would be a key driver in the acceleration of economic development, especially for the masses and micro SMEs. Fintechs play a crucial role in distribution and innovation of financial services. Hence, one of the expectations is removing the existing gray areas when it comes to operations of fintechs and creating a formal clause with regard to their relationship with regulated entities. This would be a key for digital banking as a whole to verticals like lending where fintechs role can be effectively used to broaden the base coming under formal credit including tax credits and holidays for investments in newer technologies.

From a broader startup perspective, while the matters like ESOP taxation and taxation pertaining to liquidity for investors still remain the matters to be solved for, ease of doing business, tax relaxations and foreign investment ease would be the key areas to boost the funding environment for startups."

Sanjay Sharma, MD & CEO, Aye Finance, “The year ahead could well be the point of inflexion for India. As the world veers precariously on the border of a depression and China's global growth engine takes a breather, Indian growth rate seems relatively less affected. This can indeed give us the momentum to pull ahead in the world stakes. The budget should hence focus on supporting growth and stability, instead of conservative incrementalism. As we pull ahead and reach for the 10 trillion dollar GDP, there is no time to loose in addressing the social inequalities. Support for the 70 MN micro scale enterprises is the need of the hour and this budget could make a start on the following ideas:

  • Lending to micro enterprises by NBFCs and Banks should be encouraged. Just as Bank's have to meet a specific priority lending quota for agri, there should now be a specified quota for micro enterprises in the priority lending.
  • Allocation for initiatives that help improve the quality of the produce of micro enterprises. Here Govt should allow subsidies for private sector programs that can deliver technology and product improvement by such micro enterprises at scale.
  • Health and critical illness covers at affordable premiums for micro enterprise owners and their family- so that their businesses may be protected from these adverse events.
  • Continued Credit Guarantee support through CGTMSE and simplification of the legal recovery requirements for very small loans below Rs 2 lacs. These bold steps will enable improvement in flow of funds to the financially excluded micro scale enterprises. This segment provides 95 percent of non-farm employment and we can no longer turns out heads away from their needs

I believe that the Budget 2023 will bring in a period of progress and prosperity for all sectors – NBFCs and beyond – and catalyse policies and regulations that support holistic growth of the economy”

Soham Chokshi, CEO and Co-founder, Shipsy, said, “National Logistics Policy has been a landmark development in mobilizing the power of digitization to improve the state of logistics in the country. The budget will most likely be aligned to augment it through concerted efforts. This entails more investments in connectivity projects and building logistics infrastructure in various economic zones, especially under the PPP model, to expedite the execution of these. In addition, India's last-mile emissions per delivery being higher than the global average is an area that needs immediate attention. Reducing miles travelled per package and ensuring that the distance is covered through eco-friendly modes can help lower carbon emissions. So generous incentives for the deployment of EVs in deliveries backed with stringent policies can prove critical to addressing climate change concerns.”

Anil Jayaprakash, Founder and CEO of Assertify Technologies, said, "As the Indian government prepares to present its annual budget, the gig economy is definitely set to continue to benefit. Driven by the increasing convenience of digital platforms for job seekers and employers alike,the gig economy is expected to be the primary driver of job creation in the coming year.

Post-pandemic, there is a lot of focus on providing flexible and remote positions in technology and other sectors. Many firms are changing their hiring strategies owing to the Great Resignation, quiet quitting, and the impending recession. The current hiring trends tend to favour a more skills-based strategy that emphasises transferrable abilities and competencies rather than emphasising degree requirements.
With the advent of skill-based assessment and hiring, It is likely that the government will also focus on job training and skills development, to ensure that workers are equipped to take on new roles. This will lead to the growth of innovative skill demonstration platforms.The budget could also bring some relief to workers in the form of tax cuts and other incentives, which would make it easier for employers to hire more workers.
The government should also provide incentives for employers to hire more women, and focus on tier II and Tier III areas. The Indian job market looks likely to remain dynamic and fluid in the coming year, as the government seeks to encourage job creation and provide incentives to employers and employees alike."
Suresh Narasimha, Managing Partner CoCreate Ventures, said on stage venture capital fund, “We anticipate the budget will fuel startup landscape, providing crucial encouragement through tax reforms, funding access expansion, & other initiatives. We hope with the government's continued support, this budget brings tax respite by eliminating the Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) for startups & enabling Goods & Services Tax credits (GST). GST should be eliminated for procuring services from priority startups. The government should introduce impact-based & Intellectual Property (IP)-based incentives and resolve long-standing problems with ESOP taxation.
By categorising startups on priorities like innovation, global opportunity, & national importance, such as path-breaking technology & defense, we can increase GDP expectations by 4X in 10 years by setting up a separate ministry with a tax regime for startups, encouraging ethical reporting & corporate governance.
To attract & incentivise investors, capital gains tax rules for equity in startups & AIF investments should be standardized to public markets. Simplified pooled investment structures intended for seed & early-stage investments, offering tax deductions or exemptions for "priority investments" should be included.
Edtech purchases under a tax savings scheme. Users can claim tax redemptions & eliminate GST for procuring services from "Priority startups." will incentivise revenues. Revenue generation beyond India should be promoted with special incentives for business development activities, foreign subsidiaries, trade registrations, certifications, & audits.”
Hemant Tiwari, Managing Director, India, Hitachi Vantara, said, “The Indian economy is amongst the best performing economies in the world, we see huge potential for the technology sector in India to exhibit continuous growth. This is an opportunity for the government to incentivize the adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Cloud Computing across industries which will aid technological development at scale along with providing increased employment opportunities.
According to Mordor Intelligence, the Indian data center market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8% over the period 2021 to 2026. A revived focus on the Make in India and Digital India movements will accelerate the investments towards data centers in India. In the Union Budget 2023, we expect to see strong steps being taken to boost the digitalisation of infrastructure in industries such as the BFSI and manufacturing sectors.
Apart from economic and technological growth, sustainability is critical to the country’s long-term development. The Budget should create a roadmap for the country’s greener future. Automated solutions and data-driven processes will play a prime role in achieving sustainability goals. Hitachi Vantara offers digital solutions, eco-friendly data infrastructure and sustainable smart city solutions to reduce carbon footprint.”

Anitha S. George, the Vice President and India Head, Celonis, said, “A robust IT infrastructure is the foundation of a successful business - and data privacy relies on that as well. The hardware and software components - facilities, data centers, servers, routers, CMS, CRM, ERP,- serve as the foundation upon which defenses and protections can be put in place to protect data and help a company comply with various, ever-changing data protection laws. Organizations must realize that security and privacy aren’t just a priority - they are a necessity. Security and privacy needs to be built into everything the organization does: ensuring privacy by design across the entire organization and its products; ensuring access controls are advanced and up to date; taking precautions to always reduce the risk of improper access; making sure all sensitive data is encrypted, whether at rest or in transit. Additionally, organizations should take care to continuously educate themselves and every single employee - for instance, how to properly handle data both business information about Celonis as well as our customer’s data that we are responsible for - to be certain everyone is part of privacy and security efforts, and sees themselves as stewards to help protect the company and customers. At Celonis, we have mandatory privacy training courses every employee must do. A dedicated internal Data Privacy Team maintains and further develops the Celonis Privacy Program. How the privacy program will be managed in the long term as well as who will manage it, are questions that should be considered from the very beginning.” 

Anil Kommineni, CTO, Infinity Learn by Sri Chaitanya, said, “Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the edtech industry has seen massive growth across all levels of education. While the transition to digital applications ensured that students suffered the least, the shift came with its own set of challenges. While, on the one hand, data privacy becomes a crucial challenge for everyone, it is amplified with respect to the data of children. Phishing, improper digital socialization, and a lack of digital parenting are the riskiest factors threatening data privacy. Therefore, it is imperative for the entire edtech ecosystem to identify the problem at its root to eliminate it entirely. To safeguard the digital interests of their learners, parents, and teachers, and protect their curriculum data, industry players can begin by obtaining consent from the learners' guardians and complying with legal obligations. Learner delight must include conforming to the security and privacy of Learner Data along with guardian and teacher, with end-to-end experiences in perspective; and must protect the Parent/Teacher preferences allowed as appropriate.” 

Vindhya Vishwanath Kudva, Data Protection, and Information Security Officer, Bosch Global Software Technologies (BGSW), said, “Data, both business specific, as well as personal data of stakeholders, is the backbone of any organization. Safeguarding the privacy of our stakeholders by safeguarding their personal data is a key focus area and is achieved by a data privacy strategy that is holistic, proactive and risk-based. Risk management measures are built not by retro-fitting, but proactively, into the design of processes and technology throughout the end-to-end lifecycle of the data flow.
At BGSW, we follow a holistic approach to safeguarding the data of the stakeholders. Our people sensitization measures, business processes, and technological systems are designed around internationally accepted standards and principles of data protection and information security. Every element of the IT infrastructure, right from the perimeter to the core database, plays a pivotal role. Designing each element carefully and keeping each element updated in terms of vulnerability management, plays a key role in the overall scheme of things.”
Sandip Chhettri, CEO, TradeIndia.com, said, "India's economy has consistently been regarded as one of the most resilient economies when compared to other nations; this is mostly because the Indian government has implemented effective economic policies. Due to its robust MSME sector, which is less vulnerable to global trade flows than other economies, India is somewhat insulated from global spillovers. Prudent regulatory measures and policy reforms have played a crucial role in developing resilience in the economy. From the Union budget 2023, we expect the government to announce a better implementation plan  the policies, which shall aid  India in navigating the current Macro Economic crisis.
India aims to have a $5 trillion economy, be a developed nation by 2047, and be the third-largest economy in the world (currently we are the 5th largest). To achieve all this, India would need its MSME sector to be globally competitive. For this reason, we believe that easy credit and technological adoption should be the keys to making MSME robust. The government of India is striving hard to boost the MSME sector in India with the various schemes and policies it has announced in the recent past. It’s now important for the industry and its players to effectively implement these schemes and leverage their benefits."

Sumit Sabharwal, CEO, TeamLease HRtech, said, "Thanks to India’s economic policies, India has been in a fairly better place compared to western economies which are experiencing slowdown. However, currently, in India, we are seeing companies affected due to external factors. Such timeframes are opportunities for businesses to introspect and shift their focus on R&D and upskilling to build innovative solutions. For which, companies need capital. So, the budget should facilitate capital availability by implementing pro-investment policies.

The budget may help in making markets more investor-friendly by modifying taxes on Private Equity, VC, FII, FDI, and even retail investments. The availability of capital will help businesses to stay on stable path and sustain until consumer demand rebounds.

Taxation is a very powerful lever to control liquidity in the market. The government should gauge the required level of capital availability in the economy, and take decisions accordingly to support ease of doing business over other priorities."

Vineet Agarwal, MD, Transport Corporation of India, Ex-President at ASSOCHAM, said, "We expect the forthcoming budget to provide a balance between the economic growth priorities and inflation concerns, in an all-encompassing manner. The momentum of growth that India has come up with post the pandemic cannot be weakened. We believe that the budget 2022 will be very carefully structured to sustain the growth momentum and continued infrastructure development, irrespective of the ups and downs. As the government’s vision to ease supply chain bottlenecks is quite evident in the scale of decisions and initiatives which have been undertaken in the recent past. The continued focus on the execution of specific strategies will improve global competitiveness. Reducing logistics cost and creating a technology-enabled structure will help to achieve the target of positioning India among the top 25 countries in the Logistics Performance Index. In addition, emphasis on upskilling programs like Gati Shakti Vishwavidalya will help the logistics sector contribute its best in India leading the Industrial Revolution 4.0 & 5G era."

Zaiba Sarang, Co-founder, iThink Logistics, said, "Logistics is one of the most competitive industries in the world, to the point where it is regarded as the foundation upon which all other businesses are built. As a result, when discussing budget allocation, we must recognize how critical it is to not only invest in this sector but also to ensure that our investments are directed toward areas that truly matter. Logistics is one of the unorganized industries, so we should anticipate investments in activities that will make it more organized. PM Gati Shakti, for example, has focused on seamless multimodal connectivity to enable smooth operations. We can anticipate the implementation of the National Logistics Policy, which will reduce the cost of GDP from 14% to single digits. As we all know, logistics is one of the world's largest carbon-emitting sectors; there has been discussion about investing in making this sector carbon-neutral by using less carbon-emitting fuels, electric scooters, and other similar technologies. On top of that, we can expect Rs 2 lakh crore in investments in port infrastructure to alleviate logistics inefficiencies. Overall, we can predict that 2023 will be the year when the logistics industry reaches its full potential."

Mohan Lakhamraju, Founder & CEO, Great Learning, said, "Equipping a large part of our youth with industry-relevant skills is a sure-shot way to propel India's economic growth further.  I believe the need of the hour is to expand avenues for India's youth to have easy access to affordable higher education, providing multiple opportunities for them to develop cutting-edge skills. In this regard, a couple of initiatives can be taken by the Indian government in the upcoming fiscal budget - 1. Allow edtech companies to formally partner with universities to offer online and hybrid degree programs in order to achieve the Gross Enrolment Ratio targets set by the government and 2. Remove GST on upskilling programs to make them more affordable for people. Apart from improving the overall employability of the workforce, these measures will lead to more innovation and technological advancement in our country."

Jagdish Mitra, Chief Strategy Officer & Head of Growth, Tech Mahindra, said, “The year 2022 has been a transformational year for India and for the world. We witnessed disruptions in India followed by recovery and revival. India also emerged as a fast-emerging developing country and a ‘bright spot’ in the global economy. I believe, in order to maintain the growth trajectory, the need of the hour is to further push the development of the technology ecosystem through a tech-driven, forward-looking budget. We look forward to seeing focused initiatives to boost consumer sentiment, improve Ease of Doing Business (EODB), strengthen infrastructure, and promote investment in critical areas including healthcare, network modernization, skilling & job opportunities, and financial inclusion.  We hope the upcoming Union Budget 2023 will be a beacon of hope for creating National R&D Ideas Incubators, which will nurture critical cross-disciplinary research, new ideas, and technologies through the early phase. Encouraging joint collaborations and ownership by industry and academia, along with centers of expertise will also be a welcome experience. The IT sector is poised to play a crucial role in fulfilling the Government of India's vision and mission of 'Make in India' for the world, - all it needs is a final push – which the upcoming Budget could grant.

Srividya Kannan, Founder & Director, Avaali Solutions, said, "As the Indian economy continues to navigate through a difficult period, Budget 2023 presents a crucial opportunity for the government to guide the country towards a sustainable path of growth. With several economies struggling to navigate through the uncertainties due to recession and inflation, it is important that Budget 2023 takes a holistic approach to revive domestic consumption and investment while also promoting exports.
One key area that the budget should focus on is providing clarity and parity for foreign portfolio investors. With the Indian capital markets being among the most attractive in the world, it is essential that the budget presents a stable and predictable tax regime that would encourage foreign investors to continue to invest in India. This would not only provide a much-needed boost to the Indian economy but also help attract much-needed foreign capital to the country.
Furthermore, Budget 2023 should also focus on sectors that are vital to the Indian economy, such as agriculture, manufacturing, and services, by providing the necessary fiscal support to these sectors. This would help create jobs and boost economic growth, especially in the rural areas. Overall, Budget 2023 has the potential to be a game-changer for the Indian economy. It is important that the government takes bold and decisive steps to revive the economy, provide clarity and parity for foreign investors and support the sectors that are vital to the Indian economy."
Nitin Varma, Managing Director, India & SAARC, CrowdStrike, said, “We are hoping for policies that drive progressive investments in cybersecurity; talent and skilling; boosting digital infrastructure as these are critical components of the IT industry, allowing organizations to drive operational efficiency, accelerate innovation, and protect sensitive information. The upcoming Union Budget can play a very important role in positioning India as an attractive destination for technology investment. The growth of the technology sector is expected to be a key driver in achieving this goal. Cybersecurity, data, cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) are the top priorities for the technology industry. The recent cybersecurity breaches in multiple healthcare and public sector entities, necessitates the need for robust and secure digital facilities. As technology advances, the importance of having a cyber safe & data driven digital infrastructure will only grow. Today, cybersecurity is the need of the hour and budgetary support must be extended to strengthen public digital infrastructures. Budgetary allocation for resources for IT services, cybersecurity, intellectual property, emerging technologies will also be crucial for the sector.
Another big impact of digitization is the rising demand for skilled talent. Skilling has become the need of the hour for various industries with new and emerging technologies. The skill gap in the cybersecurity industry in particular has been observed over the last few years and the ongoing pandemic and remote work added to the exponential growth in cyberattacks. In addition to this, many organizations are facing resource crunch. The previous budget laid down a huge focus on skilling and training with steps like  alignment of national skill qualification framework to dynamic industry needs and plans to establish a digital university to provide world-class education. University education in the field of cybersecurity is extremely important and training in this space will enhance students in building the required skills as there’s a growing demand for cybersecurity professionals in the market."

Rahul Pillai - Relocation, Moving and Logistics expert, said, "The relocation industry is poised for change in India today. Though Covid -19 pandemic did ensure that fewer people were moving to newer locations, this year we expect the industry to grow both from an international and domestic perspective. Being part of the unorganised sector and considered a grey industry - the moving and packing business has been marginalised significantly which has led to the advent of many fly-by-night operators. However, all this is changing with the focus of the present Government on the logistics and moving sector.

In the 2023 budget, we expect emphasis and financial support from the government towards establishing compliances and rules and regulations for a common GST across this sector which will help not just the common man while moving but also bring legitimacy to this sector.   Last year's focus on the PM Gati Shakti project ensured multi-modal connectivity and provided integrated and seamless connectivity for the movement of goods and services from one mode of transport to another. This helped in facilitating the last mile connectivity of infrastructure and also helped reduce travel time for goods and was greatly beneficial for the relocation and moving industry. Besides this subsidies for green transport, logistics and better road infrastructure will also go a long way to improve the service provided to customers"

Pratyush Roy, VP, Go-To Market, Crayon Data, said, “Whatever be the unfolding scenario, India is expected to be amongst the fastest growing major economies in the world.” We at Crayon Data agree with the RBI Governor’s statement. In particular, the start-up ecosystem plays a significant role in that growth trajectory.

However, the funding for Indian start-ups has dropped by 33 percent in 2022 as compared to the previous year (PWC Report). Investors are exercising caution in negotiating on valuation until the storm recedes. To offset the foreign-funding winter, the government can lower the long-term capital gain (LTCG) tax for domestic investors. This will encourage domestic investors to invest in Indian start-ups and strengthen the ecosystem financially, thereby allowing talent to not fall prey to recession. Further, the stance on ESOP policy could be relaxed to avoid dual taxation and enable start-ups to attract talent. Additionally, relief in GST would also encourage start-ups to ease doing business and expansion.

India is emerging as a fintech ecosystem offering start-ups the opportunity to grow into billion-dollar unicorns. Fintechs are expected to grow to 9.2 billion at a CAGR of 24.96% between 2022 to 2027. However, to keep pace with the volatility, liberalization of indirect tax and GST rates will help pave way for innovation and build a stronger economy. With banks, fintech, and tech solution providers now partnering more, strengthening this collaboration would allow more flexible reforms to fall in place. We hope that the budget will incentivise and encourage AI and Big Data players in the industry as we march toward a digital future.

Vikas Gupta, MD &Chairman, Miles Education Group, said, "The upcoming Union Budget should have a strong focus on education, particularly in the areas of implementing the National Education Policy and reimagining university education. This includes increased funding for higher education institutions and a reconsideration of the 18% GST rate currently imposed on educational and training services, which includes PG certifications and executive programs from any institution, private or public. Such a high GST rate acts as an entry barrier for many individuals to upskill themselves, thereby hindering the goal of building a skilled and competitive workforce, and driving economic growth in the country. An upskilled workforce will not only earn more but also spend more, ultimately paying higher taxes and giving better returns in the long run. Therefore high taxes on upskilling programs seem counterproductive, becoming an unnecessary hurdle in the way of India becoming an economic powerhouse. Thus, the government should take the necessary steps to make education more accessible and affordable for all."

Mahesh Kulkarni, Co-Founder, and MD, AFour Technologies, an ACL Digital Company, said, "With the alarming increase in cyber attacks over the last few years, Indian companies are prioritizing cybersecurity as a part of their digital transformation plans. The goal now is to develop smart, agile strategies that can be adapted to the evolving sophistication of cyber-attackers as well as changes in compliance laws. This calls for two things - extensive knowledge of cybersecurity and the skill set to develop flexible solutions, along with a reasonable budget to prepare and deploy security plans. We're confident that the new budget will reflect increased funds to build the necessary cybersecurity awareness through training initiatives as well as focused IT skill-building. Given how rapidly technology is evolving, an investment in IT talent will enable organizations to be more agile on the business front, too - a critical asset if India is to fulfill its goals of becoming the go-to global tech and manufacturing hub in 2023. Last but not least, continuous testing will be vital to spot and rectify vulnerabilities before they reach threatening levels."
Vijay Oddiraju, CEO and Co-founder of Volante Technologies, said, “In 2021, we witnessed favorable announcements from the Government of India to boost the Indian IT/ITes, telecom and fintech sectors among others, as part of the efforts to accelerate India's journey to digitalization. With enterprises and startups across the nation driving innovations in Cloud, AI, 5G, etc., the Government should encourage the adoption of digital payments for B2B transactions. Investments in SaaS, automation and security solutions by companies will not only enhance the ease of doing business, rather also ensure higher levels of transparency and compliance. Further, as the Government bolsters its efforts for financial inclusion, the Union Budget 2023 should enable policies that can boost India's digital lending infrastructure. With startups and enterprises striving to ensure the benefits of technology, cybersecurity and digital lending reach the masses, they should be immediately given necessary support by way of tax incentives and GST subsidies. 
Considering the kind of investments industry leaders such as Volante are making to create tech products 'Made-in-India' for the world, we need to put India on the map - going beyond being viewed as a software talent hub. We are optimistic that India is at the forefront of driving a global fintech revolution, the upcoming Union Budget should introduce initiatives to advance digitalization across the nation."

Chander K Baljee, Chairman & Managing Director, Royal Orchid & Regenta Hotels, said, “The hospitality industry has bounced back like never before; the good times have returned. We are looking forward to a very great next few years. What happened is that the economy itself has recovered quite well. So, as the economy recovers, automatically, it has to result in benefits for the hospitality industry.

Another major boost to the sector is that we have got a lot of new roads within the country, for example, the Shimla-Chandigarh Road is near completion and will very soon get commissioned. This will reduce the distance and travel time by about two hours. Similarly, the Bangalore-Mysore Road is almost complete, reducing travel time by two hours. Due to improvement in connectivity, there is going to be a boost for tourism across the country. We have also seen the growth of religious tourism coming up in places like Ujjain, Ayodhya, and other places that are booming. So, I think this government has done well in this regard.

Another trend we’ve seen is long weekend getaways. Long weekends in our country do help a lot because youngsters today don't like to take one long holiday, they’d prefer to take three or four short vacations in a year. This has also been a contributing factor.

The hospitality Industry expects the government to provide us with a uniform industry status across the country. Today, only some states have announced this status for us along with some very good measures to help the hospitality industry. However, this is not the case with all states. The central government should put in place similar policies across the country and that will help the industry to grow. We must keep in mind that this industry provides a lot of employment and the multiplier effect of this industry doing well has a positive impact on the economy.

We request the government and finance ministry to provide us with long-term loans. In the hotel industry, there is a huge gestation period, which means, it takes three to four years to build a hotel, then another two to three years to stabilise, and then, the repayment starts, which causes a lot of distress. So internationally, hotel loans are 15 to 25 years. A similar structure should be implemented across the Indian hospitality industry too as it will not cause much NPAs and distress as in the past.

I think it’s a good time for the sector and we are looking forward to it. As a company, we have aggressive growth plans. We are already 78 hotels, with 24 openings slated by September 2023. In total, we will cross the 100 hotels mark very soon."