We asked couple of startups on what kind of announcements they look forward to from the India government to further promote the startup scenario in the country and this is what they had to say:
Gyanesh Kumar and Devesh Kumar Thakur, Axis Softech Pvt. Ltd.
“In context to promote start-ups we would like our honourable Prime Minister should announce simple laws for start-ups so that they can easily operate their business because start-ups cannot afford to pay bribes. Government can think of introducing a Start Up act which should make the system flawless.Mr. Modi should offer tax-relaxation and reduction in import and export duties. We would be glad to hear that start-ups would get loan from any bank easily and announce that they will provide incentives to best 10 start-ups who will generate maximum number of jobs in financial year.”
Rajiv Kumar, CEO & Founder, Hippo Innovations
“For the IT sector, service tax is a major concern. The domestic IT companies are at a disadvantage as compared to foreign players as they have to charge service tax from the Indian clients. As a result, many companies prefer set up base overseas. We would like the government to provide easier access to capital, offer funds, and implement favorable policies and framework to spur the growth of startups. The government can help startups to flourish by organizing events which focus on giving visibility to startups that usually do not have hefty funds to spend on marketing. I feel the current trends and infrastructural environment is making people switch to the service rather than work as entrepreneurs while it should be other way round.”
Nilesh Patel, CEO, LeadSquared:
- Initiatives on lowering the cost of compliance for startups and businesses in general
- Steps government is taking to make it easy for startups to participate in government contracts and ensure they get paid for work done on time
- Initiatives on creating eco-system to help startups market and sell their products globally
- SEBI listing norms of startups are still very strict for startups, any steps to make them startup friendly will be welcome
- Steps on how RBI or government will make it easy to collect small recurring payments in India
- Startups buy a lot of recurring software subscription from across the world. There is no clarity on applicability of service tax around for such purchases.
- Steps being taken to make it easy (lowering compliance cost and clarity on taxation) to bring capital for startups and make it easy for non-Indian share holders to exit and remit their monies. Most of the tech startups now either open the companies abroad or move the head quarters to other destinations as they get funded to avoid getting into issues with government.
- National Startup Day – Modi ji’s birthday can be celebrated as National Startup Day to recognise startups that contributed and made impact to India’s economy. This will also be the day to assess the progress against the goals set for the previous year and set the agenda for the following year.
