Budget 2019 expectations: What startups want from FM Nirmala Sitharaman

Budget 2019 expectations: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to present Union Budget 2020 on February 1, with the economic survey to be tabled a day before. People from all sectors have started to voice their demands with startups expecting the Modi government to provide them a boost by taxing unlisted equities at same rates as listed equities, focusing more on Smart Cities to to shape the IT infrastructure and announcing a waiver of Angel tax for the DPIIT registered Startups, among other things.

Snapdeal CEO Kunal Bahl, in a tweet, put forward two demands for the Finance Minister asking that ESOPs should be taxed at the point of liquidity, not exercise. He also asked the government to ensure that sale of unlisted equities is taxed at the same rates as listed equities. Bahl believes that both of these demands, if met, could be gamechangers for the industry.

Vikram Kumar, CEO and Founder Letstrack hopes for more policies that are favourable for local businesses.

"Government must help the startups to grow through the implementation of tax benefit to angle investors for investing in the startups and to reduce the GST for the entrepreneurs who are new in the markets. We need more policies favoring local businesses. The government needs to focus on development for technologies like AI, Data Analytics, Machine Learning etc," he told Zee Business Online.

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Kumar added that adoption of technology is a must across both private and public sector companies and especially in sectors like Transportation.

"Government needs to emphasize more on the personal security of the individuals and their data. More budget needs to be allocated to the companies or manufacturers providing security products," he said.

Kumar also believes that the government in the upcoming budget should focus more on Smart Cities and Digital India initiative in order to shape the IT infrastructure and increase the adoption of technology.

"Lastly, we expect the policies to be implemented for higher use of technology in order to make systems efficient and transparent," he added.