NEW DELHI: Abolition of angel tax, data privacy and a sharp e-commerce policy are what India’s start-up ecosystem is looking forward to, as the new government prepares its first full Budget on July 5.As part of the pre-Budget consultations, Union Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur, chaired a meeting with industry bodies such as National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and Maharaja Agrasen Institute of Technology (MAIT) on Saturday.
Issues that dominated the discussions included the tax structure; use of Big Data technology in improving forecasting of economic, financial and climatic phenomena; and regulation of digital economy, especially in privacy and digital infrastructure, said an official.
The experts suggested a variety of solutions to sector-specific problems. “We urged the government to deal with the angel tax issue urgently. In February, the government had considered Section 56 (2) of the Income Tax Act, but notices have been served under Section 68,” said IAMAI president Subho Ray.
Similarly, NASSCOM hopes that the government will continue giving tax incentives to start-up units in Special Economic Zones (SEZ) beyond March 2020. “It would be useful to build on this strength by laying out an SEZ policy, keeping the next 20 years in perspective. This would provide the industry with certainty and enable them to invest in a long-term strategy,” said Ashish Aggarwal, senior director and public policy head, NASSCOM.
NASSCOM, which represents an industry that earns over $130 billion in foreign exchange, has suggested that the new tax-friendly SEZ policy should retain existing tax benefits and provide a concessional rate of 9 per cent Minimum Alternative Tax (MAT).
Buoyed by earlier positive initiatives such as the Fund of Funds for Start-ups under SIDBI, women entrepreneurship and a sharp focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI), the industry is hopeful that the government will bring key changes in regulations and schemes this time since the Interim Budget 2019 did not have much in store for the start-up industry.
labourers’ voice
MoS for Finance Anurag Thakur also held a meeting with representatives of trade unions and labour organisations. Discussions were held on providing social security to labourers, re-skilling of existing labour force, quality of job creation, ensuring minimum wages to workers, besides rehabilitation of workers who have lost their jobs.