India’s finance minister Arun Jaitley will present Union Budget 2018-19 on February 1, 2018. This will be a first post-GST budget, so a lot of these Internet biz have common expectations around simplification of GST and relaxation around it. We asked some of the India’s digital biz companies what they expect from the current budget, they shared some expectations with us touching points like digital payments, tax benefits, angel funding tax, startup boost etc. Read more below: On Startups Swati Bhargava, CashKaro.com: Out of Rs 10,000 crores Startup India Fund, which the Government announced in 2016, only Rs 600 crores has been distributed. Today entrepreneurs struggle with basics like, how the Government defines a startup. The rules around eligibility to claim these benefits are unclear and the approval process is tedious. The new budget should create an environment conducive to business. Aurko Bhattacharya, ePayLater: Provide incentives and/or guarantees for lenders in the micro credit space to provide loans to small time entrepreneurs in rural and semi urban parts of the country. Currently the tax rebate/'certain tax benefits' to startups registered under Start Up India is only available to start ups incorporated after March 31 2016. This can be revised to 2015 or 2014. Costs for setting up incubation labs should be considered within CSR. So more companies can set up such labs and everyone can benefit. On Angel Funding Subrat Kar, Vidooly: As per the current regulations, angel tax is ambiguous and unfair for startups since it doesn’t factor in the…
