Budget 2019 royally ignored India’s startups

• The biggest menace for the Indian startups angel tax was not addressed in the Budget 2019.
  
• Indian entrepreneurs are disappointed with the exclusion of startup policies.
  
• However, Finance Minister Piyush Goyal included artificial intelligence in the government’s Vision 2030, which could boost the growth of AI startups.
  

Indian startups had big hopes from the Budget 2019 but the government failed to bring anything on board for the entrepreneurs in the country.

The impact of startups in India was measured with jobs created in the country. “With job seekers becoming job creators, India has become the world’s second largest start-up hub,” said Finance Minister Piyush Goyal during his Budget speech.

However, the Budget failed to cover important aspects that startups looked forward to – most importantly the Angel Tax menace. From entrepreneurs to investors, everyone was looking at angel tax being removed. “With the upcoming budget, I wish the government addresses problems being faced by startups over taxes levied on angel funds,” Harshil Mathur, cofounder of Razorpay, had said before the budget had been announced.

Meanwhile, Dr Ritesh Malik, one of the most active angel investors in the country and co-founder of Innov8, had expected that the government will bring an instrumental change in policies which will transform, safeguard and support the startup ecosystem.

Finance Minister mentioned that special benefits and incentives were given to small businesses and start-ups while also simplifying overall compliance processes.

However, considering the Startup India initiative is considered to be one of the most important initiatives of the Modi government, there was more awaited.

While the government did mention Digital India as one of its initiatives for Vision 2030, covering artificial intelligence and robotics, the Budget failed to accommodate expectations of entrepreneurs.

“Looks like the government doesn't realise the potential of growth that startups can contribute to the overall economy and the jobs creation situation in the country. Ignoring the pain areas for startups and the ecosystem is sending wrong signals to the youth of the country. Budget 2019 for startups in India was too much of expectation, but too less was delivered. The Startup josh is low and something needs to be done!,” said Deep Malhotra, Co-Founder, BECKFriends.com.

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