As we are looking forward to have the first budget from the Modi Government by tomorrow morning, here are some of the expectations that IT industry has from this budget.
Neeraj Jewalkar Founder and CEO Smartur.com
“The IT & Education sectors look forward for a strong budget with more incentives for boosting the startup ecosystem. The ITIR announced last year was a welcome move; the industry now hopes this will be further enhanced this year. This budget hopefully will provide clarity on the 10,000 Cr fund allocated for startups last year.
The Make in India initiative is a crucial move to encourage more and more startups and create a business favorable perception for India. It would be a great step if government can consider strengthening primary & secondary education in the country through enhancing digital & technology solutions. Tech startups in this space should be given special incentives to enhance skill development in primary & higher secondary education”
Suman Reddy Managing Director Pegasystems India
Overall expectations from the budget 2015
“The new government has shown some promise so far in highlighting few crucial elements for improving the current economic scenario, enhancing the investor sentiment thereby leading to country’s overall development. As its going to be the first full-fledged budget by the new government, the industry is certainly keen to see some tangible initiatives from the Finance Minister. I believe this budget will set the tone from economic growth path perspective and needs to have strong policy decisions to control inflation and reduce the fiscal deficit. Reduction of oil prices has happened at a good time which will help reduce the deficit. The government should look at giving further boost to entrepreneurship and provide additional support to scale the startups. ITIR was a welcome move, the industry would look forward to more such initiatives. While Make in India is a great initiative announced by the government, the details are yet to be seen and I hope this budget will layout some realistic measures.
Telangana state needs a fresh start for certain sectors such as manufacturing and real estate. Any support from the center for these industries with further action from the state government will surely help enhance growth in the state as well.
From the IT/ ITES industry perspective clarity on transfer pricing aspects is much awaited in this budget. Additionally the budget should have more support initiatives and mechanisms to boost the startup ecosystem. Initiatives to nurture more engineering talent and boost the skilled manpower in the country with adequate infrastructure assistance should always be in the mix.”
On the ‘Make in India’ initiative
The Make in India is a good initiative by the Prime Minister. Several companies in the IT sector have been making in India since a long time including Pega. The industry is in support of the initiative and is shifting from services led to a product led ecosystem which is commendable. Like I mentioned above, ample support from the government’s end will be key to nurture this trend. Support for the startup ecosystem with incentives, co-working spaces, trainings and mentoring etc will bring in the desired results on this front.”
Ramesh Loganathan Vice President and Managing Director Progress Software President HYSEA – Hyderabad Software Enterprises Association
“I hope something more substantial is set aside towards ITIR and also the Pharma city. We (Hyderabad) are positioned very well for the Make-in-India initiative given we have a strong defense/aerospace presence and also pharma/life sciences. I believe some incentives to boost these segments and local manufacturing would help the city and state.
From the IT Industry perspective the long elusive transfer pricing clarity is one serious expectation from this budget. The various skill development initiatives getting to a mainstream operational mode is another expectation. For the Startup ecosystem, clarity in operationalising the 10K Cr startup fund will be great. The implementation will boost growth thereby enabling startups. More specific policy support that incentivize and support incubators will be a major boost to early stage ecosystem. Moreover, Programs/initiatives to seed the startup thought and initial idea prototypes in colleges; is necessary. A substantial mindset altering initiative will be very helpful in getting more graduates to think about starting up and making in India.
Safir Adeni TiE Hyderabad Fostering Entrepreneurship Globally President – TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs) Hyderabad.
“We would expect government to focus on minimizing indirect taxes and not imposing retrospective taxes. The industry would also certainly like to see a pro-investor tax policy and avoidance of double taxation for foreign investors to enhance investments in the country.
In order to boost the Start-up ecosystem, we have 4 suggestions for the government. Firstly, it should adopt tax policy framework of countries like Singapore and New Zealand for faster growth of Start-ups. It should also avoid ‘Angel Tax’ which negatively impacts the fund raising activities of Start-ups as they have to dilute more stake to cover the tax amount. Thirdly, there should be a structured disbursement of the incubation fund as a streamlined process. Lastly, Government should review Companies Act to make it simpler and less expensive for Start-ups to maintain compliances.”
Kenny Ye, MD, UCWeb India
“We expect PM Modi government’s first complete Union Budget to outline the policy and regulatory framework to aid business sentiments and bolster growth.
We have high expectations in terms of attention and budget allocation for the IT sector. We hope the new government is able to provide adequate thrust to investments in IT and its infrastructure. Digital literacy and mobile internet penetration are other areas onto which we would like to see the Finance Minister’s focus. The budget should allocate substantial funds to develop a robust network infrastructure and realize the government’s “Digital India” mission that will positively impact the nation.”
