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Counting for the General Elections 2019 is done and it means the BJP supremo and the present Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set for his roaring comeback with a massive victory. Although, the startup community largely believe that Narendra Modi in his first and previous term did somewhat extraordinary to fulfill the terms of the startup policy and other Make in India plans, his victory now and reigning the government once again will only mean that there are hope and scope for a much more improved ecosystem.
In the 150 schemes and policies launched by the previous government, a reformation, on the whole, is anticipated making India’s startup business attain greater heights and in creating many more unicorns.
Angel tax that pinched most startups terribly begs for more attention and ease of doing business and revision in startup policies are much anticipated. In the 150 schemes and policies launched by the previous government, a reformation, on the whole, is anticipated making India’s startup business attain greater heights and in creating many more unicorns.
India today projects an environment that has a very high demand for Internet data and that combined with the accessibility to smartphones is urging young entrepreneurs to innovate. Skilling young talent is another aspect that the startup ecosystem is demanding. On the other hand, India’s pure tech startups and product startups want a clear policy on emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence. Thus, a big shout is out to all the stakeholders, who are responsible to make India’s startup ecosystem on par with its global counterparts. The shout mainly underlies the fact that the new Ministries will now have to work hard on tax incentives and early stage funding for startups.
Voicing individual opinions, several startups took the opportunity to tell the Modi’s new Government in due formation – via VoicenData’s online portal – on what it means to them on the comeback of an NDA-led Government. Few interesting quotes:
Ajay Kudva, Founder & CEO, ENLYFT Networks
“The country needs a flourishing startup ecosystem for increased FIIs. However, the angel tax issue was quite a deterrent for fundings into new startups. With the NDA coming back in the absolute majority, there is confidence that the angel tax issue will be completely resolved. This government has already taken steps in this direction.”
Rashi Gupta, co-Founder & Chief Data Scientist at Rezo.AI:
“A stable government at the center will ensure the successful and speedy implementation of more than 150 schemes and policies that the BJP government introduced for the startups. We applaud the NITI Aayog’s plan to create an institutional framework for Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the country. We look forward to the next 5 years of the new government and are positive that it will continue its focus and support to the startup ecosystem; especially to give a push to adoption of AI in India.”
Now, with BJP coming again, we foresee a multi-fold growth of the entire gamut of the startup network with all the stakeholders leveraging the change in the ecosystem.
Neel Juriasingani, CEO & co-Founder, Datacultr:
“We welcome BJP again as the Government of India. In the past five years, the government has shown tremendous interest in the startup ecosystem of India and has made several policies to make it easier for entrepreneurs to launch new businesses and create jobs. Numerous startups have forayed into the various unexplored sectors and have given a new shape to the economy of India. Now, with BJP coming again, we foresee a multi-fold growth of the entire gamut of the startup network with all the stakeholders leveraging the change in the ecosystem. With the vision of moving towards Smart Cities, Fintech, AgriTech and Smart Industries, the government of India has been a great support for startups.”
Pawas Jain, Founder, TBC Consulting, TechSamvad:
“In the previous term, the Prime Minister had come up with some exciting and lucrative looking schemes such as Skill India, Startup India and Make in India. However, it was disappointing to see that not much success was achieved on the same and there were hardly any startups who received an actual benefit from the same. We would be hoping, as an ecosystem to see some movement this time, and the hopes from the Prime Minister and his vision would be very high. More support on technology would be a great boost for the entire startup ecosystem.”
Startups will be the new industries of tomorrow and it is important to nurture them today for generating superior employment in the country.
Saahil Goel, CEO & co-Founder, Shiprocket:
“We expect that with the continuing mandate of the NDA government and Narendra Modi, the momentum of economic reforms initiated in the last 5 years will continue. The last 5 years were about structural reforms and the MSME segment went through a tough phase with the introduction of GST and demonetization. The credit crunch has been somewhat eased and loans are now readily available for MSMEs thereby, creating a conducive environment for their growth. However, now we expect that the positive outcome of these reforms will be seen in the next 5 years with more businesses entering the formal economy. For startups, we hope that this government will give more incentives to new businesses being set up either in the way of tax incentives or business support. Startups will be the new industries of tomorrow and it is important to nurture them today for generating superior employment in the country.”
Now, with NDA set to return under Narendra Modi, we expect more investment into the ecosystem through the Govt’s FOF of Rs 10,000 crore.
Bhaskar Majumdar, Managing Partner, Unicorn India Ventures:
“The NDA govt right from 2014 has focused on innovations and bringing in digitization to improve the delivery of governance to common people and increase the efficiency of the govt machinery. This stance of govt resulted in Indian startups emerge in a big way not only in the country but at the global stage. Now, with NDA set to return under Narendra Modi, we expect more investment into the ecosystem through the Govt’s FOF of Rs 10,000 crore. With the govt turning a big stakeholder, new startups getting launched will get a boost and confidence that early stage funding will be available for them to grow and scale up.”
AgTech startup, TheKrishi Founder, Ashish Mishra:
“Modi government should hit the ground running on the farmer distress problem. A structural support system like eNam should be doubled down on. Research funding should also be stepped up right away. The government should continue building upon ease of doing business rankings by easing compliance and regulatory hurdles for startups and enterprises.”
Sunanda Rao, Founder & Director, Conccept:
“India has woken up to the potential of startup ventures with great enthusiasm and energy under the leadership of PM Modi. Modi's come back Startup 2.0 is an era of entrepreneurship! Startups will bring the new economic wave and grow exponentially. We can expect a positive impact on the ecosystem as well as the economy. India is Rising!”
Anand Subra, Chief Knowledge Officer, PurpleTeal, Inc:
“The PM’s government should focus on nurturing entrepreneurship by funding 'incubation centers' that would do things like providing access to experts in business, technology, and commercialization, as well as providing shared facilities, infrastructure, and staffing services on a rental basis. These centers would enable entrepreneurs to focus on building their businesses rather than getting bogged down in day-to-day operations.”
The ecosystem must come together in support of new initiatives by startup entrepreneurs and the youth of this nation so as to give them the much-needed confidence in taking risks.
Srinivasa Raghavan, CEO & Founder, Animaker:
“India has always been known for its phenomenal contribution to technology and software building around the world. IT & Software is great but, What next? It's high time that we focus on building our next level skill sets in new areas that would help us create a 2nd level & 3rd level skill based growing sectors to back our economy in future than just relying purely upon the IT industry. For Ex: Skills like Creativity, Design Thinking, Art Forms, AR, VR, AI to name a few have the power of opening up a great economy through the growth of industries like Animation, Entertainment, Media & Public Relations, Real Estate, etc. It's imperative that we create opportunities for our workforce in developing a range of employable soft skills that would nurture the personality and augment their contribution in multiple areas. This would facilitate a path to develop new economies via the growth of new sectors. The ecosystem must come together in support of new initiatives by startup entrepreneurs and the youth of this nation so as to give them the much-needed confidence in taking risks free from fear of failures and constantly innovate to build a healthy business climate aimed towards impacting lives globally in a positive way.”
Our expectation from the new govt would be to design a policy framework that makes India a global startup capital.
Pankit Desai, co-Founder & CEO, Sequretek:
“A stable political environment is what any business would ask for. It helps businesses and startups thrive. This election result has given us that once again which is a big positive for the business community and even people of India. The BJP led govt has always been supportive of startups whether creating a conducive growth environment or angel tax, where the response from the govt was swift and impactful. This govt has had 5 years already where they must have gained some insights and learnings about how to help startups flourish more. Now is the time to implement those learnings through a supportive policy framework. There is still tech like AI, use of tech in agriculture, cyber security, where India is still either lagging or has to depend on other countries for delivering its products. Our expectation from the new govt would be to design a policy framework that makes India a global startup capital.”
The biggest positive impact that we can see is the funding and the ease on regulatory hurdles, if that will be implemented correctly then it will be counted as a significant change and have favorable influence the startup companies.
Sameer Aggarwal, Founder & CEO, RevFin:
“I believe the comeback of Modi’s government after the Lok Sabha election is expected to bring a strong support ecosystem that will be propitious for the growth of startups and supports the spirit of entrepreneurship in the country. With a record of accomplishment of introducing new and innovative initiatives for the benefit of the startup ecosystem, the BJP government’s recent manifesto ushered into a new scheme of providing collateral-free credit of up to Rs 50 lakh for entrepreneurs and a creation of seed startup fund of Rs 20,000 crore that is expected to be a game-changer for the millennial. We are keen on the new government that how they will deal with this. Nonetheless, the biggest positive impact that we can see is the funding and the ease on regulatory hurdles, if that will be implemented correctly then it will be counted as a significant change and have favorable influence the startup companies.”
E-commerce startup LaYuva CEO & co-Founder Rahul Bahukhandi:
“As expected, this is once again a decisive mandate which will pave way for yet another strong government at the center. The results today show the mood of the nation and not surprisingly the markets too have responded optimistically to the results. Like the previous time, I expect the government to continue its focus to bring in more foreign investments which promote startups and entrepreneurship.”
Anil Nagar, CEO & Founder, Adda247:
“As the new government takes charge, we expect the momentum of reforms and policy for startups and education continue to flourish. As per the interim budget to invest about 38.57cr in National Education Mission, we hope to see a positive and fruitful development of the education sector in India. Initiatives for the Teacher Training Institutes and School Assessment Programs and support towards new age technologies should still continue to help the education and technology sector in particular.”
Tanuj Shori, Founder and CEO, Square Yards:
“A majority government always means better governance and stronger all-around growth, startup ecosystem included. If we were to look at PM Modi’s last term, between 2016-2019, over 15,000 startups were recognized under the Startup India program across the country. While 24 Indian states have introduced a policy for startups for the first time, the government made 22 regulatory amendments and approved 1,275 patent rebates in the last three years, as the per reports. Going by these precedents, PM Modi’s comeback means a continued positive outlook towards startups through his new term.”
The start-up community expects the new government to further improve India’s ranking in ease of doing business by easing out the compliance formalities.
Prateek Bhargava, Founder & CEO, Mindler:
“Start-up community will be looking to see some of the exciting initiatives undertaken in the first term being carried forward with even greater gusto. In last five years, the Modi Government has taken many initiatives to create a congenial atmosphere for the growth of startups and for ease of doing business in India which resulted in India taking a huge leap of 65 positions in last 4 years in the World Bank’s index of ease of doing business. Many initiatives have been taken in last 5 years to strengthen the technologically driven start-ups, such as the reduction in tax rate from 30% to 25%, relaxation from levy of angel-tax, deduction under section 80-IAC, etc.
Modi Government aimed to make India, one of the largest and vigorous startup ecosystems in the world with its flagship initiative Start-up India with its potential to help generate lakhs of job opportunities in the country. In its 2019 election manifesto, BJP has promised to create a seed fund of Rs 20,000 crore to back early-stage companies and a scheme to provide collateral-free credit of up to Rs 50 lakh for entrepreneurs. It has also said it would help in the setting up at least 50,000 new startups and 500 new incubators and accelerators by 2024. In the upcoming budget, most likely in the month of July, the Government may make some proposals in this direction. It might be possible that the Government might consider increasing the limit of turnover for availing the deduction under section 80-IAC. At present, a start-up can claim a deduction from income-tax only when its turnover doesn’t exceed Rs. 25 crores. The start-up community expects the new government to further improve India’s ranking in ease of doing business by easing out the compliance formalities.”
It would be great if there are steps around simplification of labor laws, tax exemption on ESOPs and increased investment on infrastructure and education
Hari Ganapathy, co-Founder, Pickyourtrail:
“Over the last 5 years, the ease of doing business, GST, push on digital payments (UPI in specific) and overall checks and balances on compliance and taxation have seen major focus and improvement. The change in angel tax was by far one of the biggest relief. With BJP poised to reach 300+ seats, we are excited for what’s in store over the next 5 years. Personally, it would be great if there are steps around simplification of labor laws, tax exemption on ESOPs and increased investment on infrastructure and education.”
The comment box on this portal is open for more startups to voice an opinion about Modi's comeback and what you expect him to do to enable the ecosystem thrive like never before.