Budget 2019 Expectations: Startups' wishlist for Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman

Budget 2019 Expectations: When the first lady Finance Minister of India, Nirmala Sitharaman will stand to present her maiden Union Budget on July 5, whole breed of startups would be looking at her with expectations like simplification of GST filing, measures that would fillip B2B business, skilled labour and knowledge gap address, ease of credit and regulatory norms etc.

Speaking on their demand from the Indian Finance Minister this union budget 2019 Bhavin Turakhia, CEO & Co-Founder, Zeta & Flock says, "In the last four years, Indian B2B startups have more than tripled. Our country is now taking giant strides towards becoming one of the fastest growing startup hubs globally. To make this a reality and accelerate their growth, the Government of India must put in place measures such as training hubs for entrepreneurs across India to ease the flow of capital, regulatory compliance and more. Further, these hubs must act as one-stop knowledge, research and development centers so that startups can focus more on innovation and less on processes.  Thus, acting as a catalyst or emerging startups across sectors."

Demanding ease in regulatory norms Satyam Kumar, CEO & Co-Founder, LoanTap Financial Technologies Pvt. Ltd said, "Currently, a start-up needs to follow the number of compliance laid down by various regulatory bodies as well as there is a knowledge gap because of multiple points of contact. While they are definitely necessary, they are onerous and costly to comply with. Compliance is expected with regards to Labour Law, MSME Registration, Investment, MCA Compliance as well as ones related to individual sectors. There should also be a consideration on hefty penalty in cases of non-compliance. The expectation from Government is to make the process simpler to comply with - A single clearance window - which ensures an end to end solution or procedure to be followed by a start-up that enables pro-active compliance as well as helps to avoid unnecessary costs."

Jitendra Chaturvedi, Director and Co-founder, Batooni Mobile Advertising said, “The government had started smoothening the tax issues in startup funding. Continuation of the regime will hopefully hasten the change in the procedures and laws helping startup funding. BJP’s known penchant for advertising is very good news for adtech startups”.

Asking for tax sops Javed Tapia, Founder, Slonkit says, "The current government has given a fillip to startups with initiatives such as Start-Up India which enables self-certification, rebate in filing patents, income tax exemptions, easier public procurement norms etc. I think the new government should further enhance the vibrant start-up ecosystem wherein startups can collaborate seamlessly and share knowledge and technical expertise. This will help India to leverage its entrepreneurial potential and become a hotbed of unicorn start-ups across different sectors."