Mr. Kumar Abhishek, CEO & Co-founder, Amazon backed ToneTag:
“Among various agendas, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken steps to promote young entrepreneurs in the country. The startup ecosystem is eyeing the Union Budget 2019, as the government is slowly recognizing the potential of startups and framing policies that create a favorable environment for them. While the Startup India Scheme has definitely provided multiple benefits to startups in the form of easy license clearance, tax cuts, and minimum regulatory interference, there is still scope for many more reformative policies which will further ease out the journeys of start-ups.”
Mr. Alok Mittal, CEO & Co-founder, Indifi Technologies :
“Credit inclusion for MSMEs is a critical imperative to enable growth and job creation in India. We expect the upcoming budget to define concrete steps to mobilize access to financial services and empower the fintech companies that facilitate them. For instance, facilitating access to wholesale capital, and extending credit guarantee schemes such as MUDRA can help in bolstering the impact and reach of these initiatives. Similarly, opening up API based access to data within government and banking domains can help expand the reach of digital credit.”
Mr. Dilip Modi, Founder and Chairman, DiGiSPICE:
There is great anticipation around the presentation of Union Budget 2019. After a consecutive majority mandate received by the BJP and this being new Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s maiden budget, market stakeholders are following the proceedings with keen anticipation. Also, the strength of its electoral mandate enables the government to initiate long-term transformational projects. Technology will play a great part in this transformation and already we can see various projects under the National e-governance plan taking shape across states. Maharashtra has set an example of optimized digital adoption and we can see the central government and many other states adopting AI, machine learning and data analytics to bolster public service framework.
Dedicated ‘Special Digital Zones’ like SEZs, operational subsidies, reducing import duties on essential hardware and components, guidelines to safeguard Intellectual Property and development of institutions to aid in upskilling are areas that will continue to receive focused attention. Incentives can be expected to promote greater adoption of digital solutions in the SME and MSME sector. As India emerges as a service-sector driven economy for the long run, digital infrastructural investment, both for enterprises and for the nation, will become essential. The Union Budget 2019 will feature decisions that go a long way in optimizing the transparency and judicious utilization of resources. There is a great opportunity for us to use Aadhar as an authentication platform to drive financial inclusion across semi urban and rural India.
