Union Budget 2020: Need for regulatory change in ESOP regime

By Saroja Yeramilli

The government, led by Hon’ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, has had a pro-start-up the posture from the time it came into power. It has so far brought about some encouraging policies from the perspective of the start-up sector especially in areas such as skill development and enabling ease of business.

There were also some positive developments in the area of training people on advanced technologies such as AI, Big Data, 3-D Printing and VR. Last year, the government emphasized on digital payments and waivers of fees on such transactions making it conducive for online retailers like Melorra.

However, the increase in duty on gold import from 10% to 12.5% has been a dampener for us. Coming to the other areas, there should be a smooth single-window process to make the entire journey of regulatory approvals and compliances less time-consuming for emerging businesses. This is more so in case of women-led startups. There must also be some regulatory change in the ESOP regime, making ESOP taxation available to employees at the time of sale instead of later.

(Saroja Yeramilli is the CEO and Founder of Melorra)