HYDERABAD: Hyderabad’s women-led startup ecosystem is largely satisfied with the announcements made in the Union Budget. However, some feel that the Budget left out a few key measures, which could have empowered women entrepreneurs. Experts say that although the Budget is all-encompassing with regard to addressing the issues of various sectors, it did not say anything about providing incentives to women entrepreneurs, who have been finding it hard to thrive amid the pandemic.
We-Hub CEO Deepthi Ravula had a similar view of the Budget. She said, “The pandemic has altered the nature of women’s participation in the economic workforce of India. The opportunity for providing financial and institutional support to women-led businesses, be it home-based, collectives, enterprises and startups, was not looked into.”
However, other women entrepreneurs found the announcements encouraging. Subalakshmi, founder of Macromoney, said, “A strong focus on improving the infrastructure in urban areas, like supplying drinking water, improving solid waste management and tackling air pollution, augurs well for the startups in the urban tech sector.”
Vidhushi Aggarwal, co-founder of Mitra Money said, “We believe that the government’s divestment plan coupled with increased expenditure in various sectors hit hard by Covid-19 will surely bring the economy back on track.”
Budget disappoints MSMEs in Telangana
Telangana’s industries, especially the MSME sector, is not satisfied with the Union Budget. “There is nothing attractive for MSMEs in the Budget. We have been requesting for loan relaxations and measures to revive sick MSME units affected by the pandemic. However, nothing has been announced to address these issues,” Telangana Industrialist Federation president T Sudhir Reddy told Express