6 start-ups are ringing the alarm bell. Is the PM listening!

Some of the bigger start-up companies like Snapdeal, Flipkart, OYORooms etc are now opinion makers. Gone are their initial days of struggle. It’s the survival-of-the-fittest race now they want to win as opposed to some of the early stage start-ups, who are the ones reeling under real problems while facing huge challenges on the ground.

We spoke to some of them and in no time, learnt some of the pertinent challenges. We thought it was best to let the government know what these new kids on the block seek from Mr Arun Jaitley’s upcoming Budget even though it’s just a week away.

Some of the recommendations are real food for thought and therefore hard to ignore. Read on!

Capital Float - Online lending platform

“The Prime Minister’s action plan on startups was the first step to aid the growth of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in India. We hope that the budget will lay the groundwork to create more opportunities for innovation in the startup sector especially in the Fintech space. We expect this Budget to bring parity between the NBFCs and other financial institutions and kick-start the SARFAESI measures, which has been the long standing demand of the NBFCs thereby bringing the regulatory framework in parity with banks,” says Sashank Rishyasringa and Gaurav Hinduja, Co-Founder, Capital Float.

We believe that this budget would also look at providing monetary incentives under Skill India to small-scale entrepreneurs to help them impart specific training to unskilled labour and a flush of capital into the Technology Acquisition and Development Fund (TADF), meant to help business to acquire the requisite machinery and technology to expand their operations. Incremental steps promised in the Startup India initiative by the Prime Minister will need to become a reality which can in turn set the stage for something big, bold and a game-changer,” he adds.

CUBE 26 – A Technology innovation firm

“This Union Budget, we expect the government to make patents simpler, and offer schemes and incentives that encourage startups to take risks. We also expect government to approach India’s smart devices market through supportive and encouraging regulations to expedite the ecosystem for smart device manufacturing. To promote Make in India, we believe that the government should offer subsidies on investments and incentives for Indian device manufacturers. This will help them to build a price advantage over the increasing international competition from brands. Also, reduction of import duties with an option to allow businesses to Make in India will be a welcome move. Digital literacy and mobile internet penetration in tier 2, tier 3 cities are other areas onto which we would like to see the Union Budget’s focus. Substantial funds should be allocated to develop a robust network infrastructure and realise the government's 'Digital India' mission,” says Saurav Kumar, CEO & Co-founder.

Grabhouse – Online portal for flats, PG, House for rent without broker

“PM Modi’s recent Startup India Standup India campaign has definitely heightened the aspirations of the Startup community and now everyone is pinning hopes on an equally encouraging union budget. We look forward to a startup friendly tax budget with reduced interference and easy access to capital. As proposed by NASSCOM, removing angel tax and exempting startups from direct and indirect taxes will go a long way in assisting startups to get a foothold in the market. Most startups run on bootstrap funding initially and waiving off service tax for a period of 3 years will build the risk-taking ability for startups in their nascent stages. Another area which we are keen about is the real estate space, we would like to see the execution of initiatives like smart and connected cities which deploy technology at the heart of their existence. We have always believed that technology will be key to resolve India’s real estate issues and we hope this budget will help make this dream possible at a faster rate,” says Pankhuri Shrivastava, Co-Founder & CMO.

PaySe™ - Fintech start-up

“The government said in one of its communications to the Payment Council of India that merchants with more than 50% of their transactions done digitally could get a tax rebate or a 1-2% reduction in value-added tax on all electronic transactions. Consumers could get some income tax rebates if they showed a certain portion of their net expenses was incurred digitally. A similar initiative was implemented in South Korea and helped transform a predominantly cash nation. Success of the initiative in Korea was driven by the willingness of the government to allow various payment instruments including open, semi-closed and closed pre-paid instruments to be within the gambit of digital payment. A similar policy will help the merchants and consumers overcome the initial inertia”, says Ashutosh Pande, founder & Chief Innovation officer of PaySe.

Droom - Online marketplace to buy & sell used cars, bikes, scooters, bicycles, aero planes

“Internet is an enabler of growth and visitor Highways should be simulated, similar to our rail and road infrastructure. Allocation of budget for creating a robust network of Internet connectivity across India is elementary. In the union budget we wish to see avenues of public private participation with telecom Operators. The same is the key to Internet growth; unless our telecom providers do not fuel our masses with bandwidth and affordability, Digital India would be a distant dream. Subsidy on smartphones is my next expectation, buying a smartphone is much easier than buying a desktop / laptop. The current Tier 2 and 3 cities and rural India thrives on these devices and smartphone reach will only make them stronger and smarter. It may give rise to evolution of many new Enterprises. Lastly, GST would be a game changing reform, it will enable a country wide, single market with reduced transaction costs for businesses and controlled economic volatility,” says spokesperson, Sandeep Aggarwal, Founder and CEO.

TravelKhana – Online portal to book meals onboard trains

"Being an online platform to book meals especially while travelling by train, in this year’s budget, we expect the government to include only the transportation cost in the ticket. Other facilities like food, blankets, bedsheets, etc, should be kept as optional charges while booking tickets online or offline, even for the premium trains. There should be preferences to upgrade tickets based on the availability on paying an additional cost. Also, there needs to be a system to utilize the terabytes of data generated by the Railways everyday for upgrading functions like fuel & energy costs, sources of delay in timings etc. For those who intend to create new startups, the Government must ensure that data is available to them and a separate railway startup policy should be announced as well," says Pushpinder Singh, CEO & Co-founder.

(Image credits: PTI)