Union Budget 2020: Invite young entrepreneurs for public-private-partnerships

By Vikram Pawar

Indian Startup Ecosystem is bustling with innovative concepts – a combination of tech and non-tech start-ups. The most visible challenges for these start-ups are go-to-market strategies and scaling-up. With the Modi government promoting Make In India, its time they mandate all Govt establishments to use the innovative technologies the start-ups have created. Another way the government can give a fillip to the start-up ecosystem is to invite young, budding entrepreneurs for a public-private partnership to address some of the pressing issues affecting the common man. The setting up of an Rs. 10,000 Crore Fund of Funds and establishing an India start-up fund of Rs. 1,000 crore for technology start-ups will go a long way in fuelling the image of Make in India in true spirits and promote the start-up ecosystem with the faith that Government is a partner in innovation. Relaxation in regulation for foreign VC firms to invest in Indian start-ups will further boost tech start-ups.

Other expectations:

• Increase in CTMSE credit/loan guarantee scheme by Central Government limit to be increased to Rs 5 Crores.
• Reduction in GST % to be paid upfront that eats up into Opex.
• Abolition of tax on Angel investors selling their shares.
• “Withholding tax" should be reduced such that it matches the actual corporate tax and there are fewer cases of refund, resulting in more cash at hand for day-to-day business operations.
• Encouragement of B2B start-ups, who rely on deep technologies to solve enterprise-level challenges, should be bolstered.
• Start-up System integrators/product engineering firms to get a tax rebate on revenue generated from product development

(Vikram Pawar is the Cofounder and CEO of Techchefs)