ET Online Terming the Union Budget for 2014-15 as encouraging and positive, Deep Kalra, Founder Group CEO MakeMyTrip and President TiE Delhi-NCR on Thursday said the Budget 2014 has given due consideration to the startup community.
"The Rs 10,000 crore startup fund for new businesses, national accelerators and incubators for startups is a step in the right direction but we need to learn from the success and failures of the past incubators so that the new roll-out has the desired impact. We must look at tying up with credible organizations to achieve this," says Kalra.
According to Kalra budget allocations towards agri-infra fund, Startup Village for rural population and for scheduled caste entrepreneurs are other worthwhile initiatives towards fostering entrepreneurship at the base level.
"The initiative on setting up virtual classroom for online courses is a huge boost to the burgeoning entrepreneurship in education sector. We would have loved to see a tangible tax break / priority low cost loans for start-ups especially in technology areas," he added.
This year’s budget proposed to establish a Rs 10,000 crore fund to act as a catalyst to attract private Capital by way of providing equity, quasi equity, soft loans and other risk capital for start-up companies.
Other notable measures in the Budget include a nationwide "District level Incubation and Accelerator Programme" that would take up for incubation of new ideas and provide necessary support for accelerating entrepreneurship.
According to Saurabh Srivastava, Chairman Emeritus TiE Delhi-NCR and Co Founder and Director of the Indian Angel Network, Government’s strong focus on the entrepreneurial and investment landscape in the country calls for applause.
"The union budget’s key announcements today for Rs 10,000 crore fund to be set up for MSME sector is very good news for the creation of conducive entrepreneurial ecosystem in the country. Other welcome announcements are the special focus on technology product startups and Rs 100 crore investment in startup village entrepreneurship scheme. These steps will help a great deal in boosting and nurturing the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the nation," said Srivasatava.
He, however, expressed his disappointed that the so called "Angel Tax" has not been dealt with. "This prevents business angels (successful entrepreneurs/business leaders who invest their own money in startups) from providing the first crore or two to innovative startups before VCs get interested.
We now have a piquant situation where startups in India can raise money from foreigners (who are exempt from Sec 56) but have to relocate overseas to raise money from Indians and, where most countries in the world provide incentives to angel investors, we are the only one which taxes the investment," says Srivastava.
Jaitley also announced to establish Technology Centre Network to promote innovation, entrepreneurship and agro-industry and proposed in the Budget to set-up a corpus fund of Rs 200 crore.
The Finance Minister has also decided to address a long standing demand of startups by announcing that an entrepreneur friendly legal bankruptcy framework for SMEs to enable easy exit is also in the anvil.
Similarly R Narayan, Founder and CEO, Power2SME states that the Union Budget is extremely encouraging for the start-ups and the SMEs. "The proposal of establishing a Rs.10, 000 crore venture capital fund for start-up firms will act as a catalyst and create a favourable ecosystem for the start-ups to flourish," says Narayan.
According to him a nationwide "District level Incubation and Accelerator Programme" will empower the entrepreneurs in a big way and help people to make their dreams a reality.
"The revision of the MSME definition for high capital ceiling will enable the SMEs to get greater credit from the market, in turn helping them to grow and expand. Also, the budget indicated at setting up of an entrepreneur friendly legal framework to enable sick SMEs to exit easily. This will, in turn, enable a smart risk taking business environment," said Narayan.
"The Rs 10,000 crore startup fund for new businesses, national accelerators and incubators for startups is a step in the right direction but we need to learn from the success and failures of the past incubators so that the new roll-out has the desired impact. We must look at tying up with credible organizations to achieve this," says Kalra.
According to Kalra budget allocations towards agri-infra fund, Startup Village for rural population and for scheduled caste entrepreneurs are other worthwhile initiatives towards fostering entrepreneurship at the base level.
"The initiative on setting up virtual classroom for online courses is a huge boost to the burgeoning entrepreneurship in education sector. We would have loved to see a tangible tax break / priority low cost loans for start-ups especially in technology areas," he added.
This year’s budget proposed to establish a Rs 10,000 crore fund to act as a catalyst to attract private Capital by way of providing equity, quasi equity, soft loans and other risk capital for start-up companies.
Other notable measures in the Budget include a nationwide "District level Incubation and Accelerator Programme" that would take up for incubation of new ideas and provide necessary support for accelerating entrepreneurship.
According to Saurabh Srivastava, Chairman Emeritus TiE Delhi-NCR and Co Founder and Director of the Indian Angel Network, Government’s strong focus on the entrepreneurial and investment landscape in the country calls for applause.
"The union budget’s key announcements today for Rs 10,000 crore fund to be set up for MSME sector is very good news for the creation of conducive entrepreneurial ecosystem in the country. Other welcome announcements are the special focus on technology product startups and Rs 100 crore investment in startup village entrepreneurship scheme. These steps will help a great deal in boosting and nurturing the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the nation," said Srivasatava.
He, however, expressed his disappointed that the so called "Angel Tax" has not been dealt with. "This prevents business angels (successful entrepreneurs/business leaders who invest their own money in startups) from providing the first crore or two to innovative startups before VCs get interested.
We now have a piquant situation where startups in India can raise money from foreigners (who are exempt from Sec 56) but have to relocate overseas to raise money from Indians and, where most countries in the world provide incentives to angel investors, we are the only one which taxes the investment," says Srivastava.
Jaitley also announced to establish Technology Centre Network to promote innovation, entrepreneurship and agro-industry and proposed in the Budget to set-up a corpus fund of Rs 200 crore.
The Finance Minister has also decided to address a long standing demand of startups by announcing that an entrepreneur friendly legal bankruptcy framework for SMEs to enable easy exit is also in the anvil.
Similarly R Narayan, Founder and CEO, Power2SME states that the Union Budget is extremely encouraging for the start-ups and the SMEs. "The proposal of establishing a Rs.10, 000 crore venture capital fund for start-up firms will act as a catalyst and create a favourable ecosystem for the start-ups to flourish," says Narayan.
According to him a nationwide "District level Incubation and Accelerator Programme" will empower the entrepreneurs in a big way and help people to make their dreams a reality.
"The revision of the MSME definition for high capital ceiling will enable the SMEs to get greater credit from the market, in turn helping them to grow and expand. Also, the budget indicated at setting up of an entrepreneur friendly legal framework to enable sick SMEs to exit easily. This will, in turn, enable a smart risk taking business environment," said Narayan.
Get Unlimited Access to The Economic Times
