BENGALURU: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday proposed the extension of tax benefits to start-ups, and investments made by sovereign wealth funds have been now extended by one year till March 31, 2025. Start-ups see this as a good signal from the government.
Mayuresh Raut, Co-founder & Managing Partner, Seafund, says this indicates that there will be continuation of beneficial policies and friendly institutional investor policies.
During her budget speech, the finance minister said that PM Mudra Yojana has sanctioned 43 crore loans aggregating to Rs 22.5 lakh crore for entrepreneurial aspirations of the youth. "Besides that, Fund of Funds, Start Up India, and Start Up Credit Guarantee schemes are assisting our youth," she said.
Also, 30 crore Mudra Yojana loans have been disbursed to women entrepreneurs so far.
A new scheme to strengthen deep tech In order to strengthen emerging technologies such as deep-tech, FM also announced that a new scheme will be launched for defence purposes and expediting ‘atmanirbharta’. She also pointed out this will be a golden era for the tech-savvy youth.
50-year interest free loan
Announcing a corpus of Rs 1 lakh crore with 50-year interest free loan, the finance minister said the corpus will provide long-term financing or refinancing with long tenors and low or nil interest rates. "This will encourage the private sector to scale up research and innovation significantly in sunrise domains. We need to have programmes that combine the powers of our youth and technology," she said.
Venture capitalists and start-ups see this as a big boost to small businesses. Anil Joshi, Managing Partner, Unicorn India Ventures, said provision for Rs 1 lakh crore toward sunrise segment at nominal or zero interest rate will certainly help small business.