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Ronak Gupta, Co-founder, Routofy: The Union Budget 2016 has focussed heavily on improving connectivity across India. With 160 non-functional airports set to be developed in the coming future (average cost per airport being Rs 50-100 crore), travellers will have better access and more options to travel in India. This will be particularly advantageous for travel-planning to Tier-2 & Tier-3 cities, be it for leisure or for business. Infrastructural development of new ports & state highways will also contribute in this quest for better connectivity. Air fares are set to increase due to Krishi Kalyan cess & the hike in excise duty on aviation turbine fuel from 8 to 14 per cent. This will pose a problem for corporate travellers, whose chief mode of transportation is flights. This will be challenging for the common man as well, especially for long-distance travel where air travel becomes the preferred option; exempting LCC’s from the same could have helped.
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Pawan Gupta, Co-founder, Curofy: The budget was very welcome for the startup ecosystem in India. From registering startup with in a day to reducing corporate tax for companies with revenue less than 5 crore, the budget spoke of achhe din for startups in India. The ecosystem needed a sentiment push and I think it got it. I personally like the provisions of capital gains not to be taxed on investments by fund of funds for startups and lowering the long term capital gains duration from three years to two years. These measures should improves the confidence of investors. Combined with Bankruptcy laws they should work wonders for the ecosystem. In healthcare, the government has expanded health cover by Rs. 30,000 for senior citizens and provided Rs. 1,00,000 cover to every family in the country. In a country where so many people go without proper treatment due to lack of funds, the healthcare cover extension should improve healthcare spending. There is obviously a big opportunity for startups and companies in insurance sector. Further emphasis on generic drugs through PM Jan Aushadi Yojana gives further boost to homegrown generic pharmaceuticals. But at the same time the budget was low on how healthcare infrastructure will be created and how the Doctor-Patient ratio will be improved. These are the biggest problems plaguing the industry.
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Rakesh Sehgal, Co-founder, PayTunes: While the budget raised most of the eyebrows over the increased service tax and taxation of EPF, still from the startup founders lens, there were some good takeaways such as one-day registration of companies and exemption of capital gains tax on startup investments. The proposal of MOOCs based learning of entrepreneurship also seems to be a good step ahead. What still remains an expectation is the tax treatment of ESOPs to attract good talent to startups. And yes, we like to party and eat out, so service tax actually hurt us as well.
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Maanendra Singh, Managing Partner, Antal International: Budget looks good for employment generation, rural india, digital market and skill development, based on what could be made out as implicit help to e-commerce sector which as part of the chain reaction would have a positive impact on rural chunk of the population. They have talked about 1500 multi skills developing Cushing centre which would help in pushing youths forward from rural as well as Tier 3-4 cities, increasing the number of to be ready to be hired professionals and ultimately helping organizations to get the skilled workforce. No one can deny the fact that there is a dire need for multi-skilled workforce across the corporate and technical sector, now we should expect a win-win situation for these organizations along with the youths who would stand a better chance to be employed.
