The way new-age India Inc. (entrepreneurs, start-ups) has virtually dominated a lot of Modi Government’s Policy decisions made us very clear — we had to cover this budget by taking in perspectives from this specific community. And hence, we are hereby starting a Pre-Budget expectations series, in parts obviously (due to the sheer amounts of quotes we have received) telling you what India’s next-generation of businessmen think about this year’s general budget.
So here we go, with Part 1 of this. Also, let us know if you’d like a specific founder/entrepreneur to quote for this budget, and we would be more than happy to get it from them.
So without further ado, here we go :
Shailaz Nag, Co-founder & COO, PayU India
RBI and Govt have been very pro-active in facilitating innovations in electronic payments. Indian consumers have often surprised the conventional wisdom when it comes to adopting new ways of doing things – telecom, internet. If right incentives on both supply (Merchants) and demand (Customers) side are announced in this budget session, it would push the quick and wide adoption of electronic payments.
With the launch of Startup India, we are very confident about Govt’s focus and due importance to Startups. We would like to get more details on operationalization of Startup India. It is fairly certain to say India could soon emerge as one of the top three Startup hubs in the world given its natural inclination for Enterprise and support of establishment,
Raghav Bahl, Founder, The Quint
We need only two things: one, more bandwidth/spectrum; and two, a level playing field on taxes. Why should a rich, old, viable, lucrative medium like print advertising be exempt from service tax, while the fledgling, entrepreneurial, technology driven Internet advertising is skimmed?
Sandeep Aggarwal, Founder and CEO – Droom
In the union budget we wish to see avenues of public private participation with telecom Operators. The same is the key to Internet growth; unless our telecom providers do not fuel our masses with bandwidth and affordability, Digital India would be a distant dream.
Subsidy on smartphones is my next expectation, buying a smartphone is much easier than buying a desktop / laptop. The current Tier 2 and 3 cities and rural India thrives on these devices and smartphone reach will only make them stronger and smarter. It may give rise to evolution of many new Enterprises. Lastly, GST would be a game changing reform, it will enable a country wide, single market with reduced transaction costs for businesses and controlled economic volatility.
Anish Williams, CEO and Co-Founder of TranServ
With the fintech industry emerging as a big market segment for the Indian economy, the Government must look to consolidate the alternate banking and financial transactional space in the upcoming budget as it looks to give digital commerce a big boost. As such, we are expecting a relaxation of norms and increased ease of doing business for digital wallets owing to the disruptive impact and ubiquitous accessibility that they offer.
An increase in the limit of capital that wallets can handle will definitely add to the user convenience and fuel the growth of the industry.We are also looking forward to a deeper, more integrated service provision in association with nationalised and private banks to further the cause of financial inclusions.
Ambarish Gupta, CEO and Founder, Knowlarity Communications
There is lot required to speed up the growth of startup sector today. Few points I can focus from the perspective of startup and telecom industry are:
- We are still waiting for clarity in angel tax which would foster the startup-ecosystem in India.
- Removal of policy regulations such as reliance on self-certification instead of audits, tax exemptions for startups as suggested by Nasscom would be of great help for entrepreneurs to dedicate their time towards innovation.
- Ease of compliances are still required for new startups. Creating such ecosystem will limit movement of startups from India to South-Asia (Particularly in Singapore) and create better opportunities here in India.
More quotes and budget expectations will be coming up in this series. You can comment below on whcih founder you wish to hear from regarding this year’s budget and we will be happy to get you their opinion.
Stay tuned. Cheers!
