Budget expected to boost smartphone users

Rajesh Loomba, Managing Director of Eco Rent A Car

‘Previous budgets and governments have always neglected tourism, I hope in this budget some focus is put into tourism as a generator of employment and not be treated as an elitist activity’. 'High Taxation on tourism combined with road taxes for tourist entries which is additional by every state is a penny-wise pound unreasonable approach. GST needs to be revised for various sectors especially the hospitality sector where it's currently very high especially for Self Drive Car Rental services. I hope the government will give its due importance to the Tourism and Passenger transport business and relax the taxation in the coming financial year. There are no incentives on new investment whereas tourism and tourist transportation creates the most employment per rupee of investment’, he adds.

Vishal Gupta, Co-founder & CEO of Momspresso India's largest user-generated content sharing platform for women

“The real issues that impact the lives of mothers have been underrepresented across conversations around us. As the largest community of mothers, we have taken the onus of creating a survey that presents the voice of mothers, a view that is crucial to the overall progress of the country. Through the Union Budget Survey, we are bringing forth these voices that often remain unheard, and present their point of views through our platform. We believe that the concerns and aspirations of mothers will now reach the right audience among the powers that be.”

Gautam Raj Anand, Founder, and CEO, Hubhopper

"With podcasting industry gearing up for a transformational year with the convergence of media, technology and telecom industries coupled with the government’s vision to further accelerate the Digital India program, most experts also support that the Budget 2019 will only help to streamline this transition more positively. This industry is also expected to grow in conjunction with an increase in smartphone user base, provided Ms. Seetharaman continues with her pinpointed focus on digitization.

The Budget is also set to help the innovators in this industry as the government looks towards scaling up digitization across all industries that touch a common person’s life and concerns their needs. We are also hopeful that this will prioritize the growth in the domestic purchasing parity of consumers and build their confidence towards discretionary purchases towards content. This will also boost ad revenues, and the introduction of premium subscription models, as exists in a lot of players for the VOD and AOD space."

Gauri Singhal, Founder, and CEO, Visionaari (parent company of FLOH tampons)

“This year’s budget is expected to boost the number of smartphone users and e-commerce firms. With more women in tier 3 and tier 4 towns opting for shopping online and high amount of rural spending, lies a huge scope for FMCG and menstrual hygiene brands in small towns. Additionally, a few legislations on this phenomenon can help with providing access to products which are a necessity for women. Places like Patna, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, and Ambala are likely to witness the transformation of Kirana shops into online stores.”

Ankur Choudhary, Co-Founder, and CIO, Goalwise

“The Modi government’s first budget was a major hit among the salaried class, and rightly so. It had increased the investment limit under Section 80C. Since it has been 5 years since then, we expect the government to revise the Section 80C upwards from 1.5 lakhs to at least 2 lakhs given the inflation. While the corporate tax rate was lowered for MSMEs last year, we are now expecting the same for businesses of all sizes. On the personal finance front, the government should consider widening of tax slabs as per CII recommendations, i.e. no tax up to 5 lakhs (not just a rebate but a revision of tax slabs), 10% between 5 to 10 lakhs, 20% for 10-20 lakhs and 30% beyond 20 lakhs.

Moreover, LTCG is currently applicable on Equity MFs, but ULIPs continue to be tax-free. We want parity between ULIPs and Mutual Funds in terms of taxation. Additionally, removal of SST (Securities Transaction Tax) and simplification of GST slabs should be the top priorities of the Modi government 2.0.”

Siraj Dhanani, Co-Founder and CEO, InnAccel Technologies

"The budget should create a healthy India with distress-free and comprehensive wellness system for all, which can be achieved by the widespread adoption of indigenously developed medical technologies that solve problems faced by Bharat and India both.

AI has the potential to solve many problems of Healthcare Delivery in the country. Access to large volumes of quality data is vital for the success of AI. More budget allocation towards R&D in medical device innovation and digitization of care delivery process through the right investment in tools, infrastructure and training will help us to meet some of the challenges in the Healthcare Industry."

Vipul Jain, CEO, Advancells

"We are eagerly waiting for the first budget of Modi 2.0 Government. Over the last couple of years of the last administration, the government had shown some serious commitment towards healthcare with Ayushman Bharat and such schemes. We are hoping the new government will take these agenda’s forward and there will be a push on new innovations in the healthcare sector under Make in India and Startup India programs."

Dhruvan Barar, Co-founder, Boingg!

"This budget will be a marker of the government's assessment and vision for the economy. Union Budget 2019-2020's allocation will determine whether E-commerce and tech startup will work in sync with the government's policy & Digital India initiative. We believe that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's budget will incorporate and allocate resources for various initiatives announced in the Interim Budget presented earlier this year. The abolishment of angel tax is one step towards it. Expecting the budget to go easy on credit loan processes and further provide a rebate in loan interest."

Gautam Thapar, CEO, Thapar Builders Pvt Ltd

"On July 5th, 2019, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is expected to present the 2019-2020 budget. It is expected that the government should bring stimulus to boost the real estate/construction industry. To further promote the sector incentives should be given to buyers to buy a 2nd home which will definitely promote the real estate segment, in the long run, bringing smiles on the faces of the people associated with it. In the coming budget, we expect the applicable GST on the real estate to come down and should also bring down the interest rate on home loans. Also, as proposed remove income tax from rental housing - ensuring builders to lease unsold inventory and hence it will help the government real it's the target of housing for all."

Satanik Roy, Co-founder, HyperXchange

“The growing use of the internet and increasing dependency on smartphones has brought cheer to the internet startup sector in India. However, rural areas of India still demand better infrastructure to promote the penetration of smartphones. As the Indian economy moves towards creating its global digital footprint, it is expected that the Indian government will further promote penetration of smartphones by incentivizing refurbished and introducing schemes which will include installing more wi-fi hotspots in rural and semi-urban areas. The UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) scheme can also be given a boost, which will enable companies and startups to set up operations in smaller towns which will then indirectly lead to bridging the urban-rural divide.“