Abhishek Goenka, Head and CIO, RPSG Capital Ventures, an early-stage consumer venture capital fund with a focus on investing in the D2C ecosystem
This Union Budget was highly anticipated as one that will give shape to post-pandemic recovery of the Indian economy. It has outlined some steps that will be helpful in this arena such as focusing on simplification of foreign investments in clean energy, infrastructure and sustainable businesses, and increased public sector investments. Pradhan Mantri Gati Shakti Yojana has got a lot of attention in the budget, and this is in sync with the plans to make India a manufacturing and business hub of the world. Push towards a stronger digital ecosystem and the extension of startup tax holiday were much anticipated moves. Also, it is encouraging to hear that an expert committee is to be constituted to evaluate the concerns of Private Equity and Venture Capital investors, however, further clarity on the measures would have been helpful. Overall, this budget offers various positive steps, but we expected more boosters in terms of investor benefits and development of the overall startup ecosystem.
Naveen Duggal, CFO, Melorra, India’s fastest growing lightweight D2C brand designing affordable and trendy jewellery for everyday wear.
Given the huge opportunity in the gems and jewellery sector and India is a major exporter, policies to facilitate export in the Union Budget 2022 are a welcome sign for the industry. For companies like us that thrive on international standards and already have a global brand appeal, there is an opportunity to create a wider international footprint as jewellery exports through online channels get a green light from the government. A 5% reduction in import duties on diamonds and gems is also welcome. However, no reduction in customs duty for gold imports, long-standing industry demand and critical growth aspects for companies like us, came in as a dampener. The extension of start-up incentives under the Income Tax Act by one more year is a welcome move. However, it may not have a widespread impact on start-up eco-system. Reduction of surcharge on LTCG on shares of unlisted entities from 37.5% to 15% is a good move. With this at least there is parity in surcharge on LTCG from listed entities. Overall, the budget has something for the jewellery industry and start-ups. We hope the government will do much for start-up eco-system.
Tapan Barman, Co-Founder and CEO, Mihup, a leading conversational AI platform
India is now aiming to evolve into a $5 trillion economy and technology driven startups are going to play a crucial role in achieving this goal. Towards this end, the government announced paying special attention to technology enabled development and on companies that help in digitization as well as optimization of manual processes. AI technologies have been mentioned among the sunrise sectors, and the government has also announced simplifying FDI in various private sector entities. The extension of startup tax exemption by one more year was much needed. However, there is still a need to simplify ease of doing business and allocating greater funding support to startups which hasn’t been adequately outlined in the budget. We also hoped for incentive or infrastructural support for research and development of AI based futuristic technologies and issuing of relevant directives and policy announcements to address the outstanding issues. This would lead to a faster growth for the tech driven Indian startups and Indian SaaS companies will be able to export products and services at par with the IT industry in the years ahead
Ashivini Jakhar, Founder and CEO, Prozo, an e-commerce enabler & accelerator start-up
In this budget, there was a focus on augmenting the logistics and infrastructure ecosystem. The announcements related to PM Gati Shakti augurs well, especially the push to create 25,000 kms of additional road & highways network, Multi modal logistics park and a Unified Logistics Interface Platform, which will help reduce overall logistics turnaround time and costs. As we reduce logistics costs from the current 14% of GDP to the global benchmark of 8-10%, this will fuel both domestic consumption and exports, and will also give a much needed boost to the manufacturing and MSME sector, taking us closer to our goal of $5 trillion economy
The expansion in Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme for MSMEs by Rs 50,000 Cr along with additional credit through Credit Guarantee Trust is an important enabler for the MSME sector. The push to reduce overall logistics costs, digitization of land records, along with the PLI scheme and support to MSMEs will improve ‘ease of doing business’ and make India much more competitive on a global scale