Budget 2022 Highlights: More Relief in Standard Deduction and Insurance Products?

Praveen Dhabhai , COO, Payworld 

Fintech has played a major role in promoting transparency, cashless economy and access to timely payments to the underprivileged in remote corners of the country. It is one of the important ‘Shared Services’ that would help connect and promote digitization in Indian agriculture, Indian MSMEs and informal economy. It is imperative to provide the conducive environment to both new and existing fintech companies/start ups , in terms of easing access to funding at concessional rates and lower taxation by providing ‘Infrastructure Status with special provisions’ for the new-age yet important nation building industry such as Fintech.

Puneet Gupta, managing director and vice president, NetApp India

It will be great to see the Union Budget allocate funds toward incentivizing the use of emerging deep technologies like artificial intelligence, intelligent automation, blockchain, augmented / virtual reality etc., among businesses. Today, businesses across verticals are generating large amounts of data, which when harnessed through the use of new age technologies can be better leveraged to solve challenges faced by citizens. Promoting digitization is the need of the hour, and while we have made significant progress in this area in the last few years, we still have a long way to go.

Surabhi Goel, CEO, Aditya Birla Education Academy, Aditya Birla World Academy

The pandemic has resulted in a tremendous learning loss for students across the country. As children return back to school in phases, it is essential that the Government sets up programs to bridge this learning gap. One step in this process would be a robust program to train teachers on how they can work with students to bring them at par with the expected learning levels of their grade. In order to facilitate this, the Government must allow partnerships between private players to be a part of educational governing bodies to ensure a greater reach for upskilling programs in the government sector for teachers.

Along with this, reduction in the GST slab for teacher training will help make these trainings accessible to all teachers

Suman Banerjee, CIO, Hedonova

Regulatory and tax framework for cryptocurrencies is expected during the Budget. The introduction of a special regulatory and taxation regime for cryptocurrencies and central bank digital currencies to cover various aspects can be expected. I expect cryptocurrencies to be taxed as capital assets and a sale tax of 30 per cent similar to winning the letters can also be expected.

Aradhana Minawala, co-funder, The CAI Store

The recent increase in GST on footwear priced below Rs 1,000 has had an impact on the retail industry, and more for the consumers willing to purchase affordable footwear. We hope the Government reconsiders these rates in the near future like done for the textile industry. Read the full story Here

Sachin Agrawal, co-founder and COO, Bizongo

India is on the cusp of transformation in domestic manufacturing of custom goods and has already reduced dependence on other countries in verticals such as packaging, textiles, and speciality chemicals. Here, India should take advantage of the ‘China Plus One’ strategy and become the next manufacturing hub for the entire world. With added support from the Government, the country can also extend this to a few other sectors like Pharma and Home & Personal Care products.

In order to achieve the goal of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’, it will also be critical for the Government to reflect on fiscal incentives for Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) who source Made in India goods and MSMEs who manufacture goods locally.

Karan Shaha, co-founder and CEO, Vahak

The Indian logistics sector has grown by leaps and bounds and will play the role of enabler in achieving the goal of becoming the world’s third largest economy by 2030. As we enter the new normal of post-pandemic businesses, and scaling up of domestic manufacturing, the logistics sector requires major investment from the government in infrastructure building.

Expressways, warehousing hubs, inland waterways as well as dedicated freight corridors are some of the major and urgent infrastructural needs that will support the manufacturing and retail sectors. Greater funding has to be provided for rural connectivity, and setting up of technology-driven logistics operations across the country.

Automation of various paper-based processes, funding support for adoption of EVs by transporters and simplification of business processes are some of the other major improvements that we expect the government to pay attention to, in the upcoming budget.

Saroja Yeramilli, founder & CEO, Melorra

Indian D2C ecosystem has evolved significantly in the recent years. However, the need of the hour is to further expedite market expansion through investor and startup friendly initiatives. It is expected that the e-commerce policy will be implemented keeping the interests of consumers and D2C retail businesses in mind. There is still a lot of work to be done in terms of simplifying investments and taking steps towards boosting investor confidence in the Indian markets. Foreign investors could be offered incentives and benefits to enter the Indian D2C retail.

Another key area to focus on is the strengthening of internet infrastructure and e-commerce logistics networks across the country. The growing demand and the vast untapped market can be converted into consumer base by ensuring easy and consistent access. We hope the government will expedite efforts in this direction as a part of the Digital India mission

Budget 2022 should pave a way to introduce a separate section under the Income Tax Act to claim deduction against insurance premiums, believed industry experts. Read our full story here

Dhruv Sawhney, business head and COO, nurture.farm

Farmers in India still work on Agri models that are input-intensive, which affects their overall profitability. Enabling a lean agribusiness model should be a priority by developing shared economy platforms through which farmers can access farm equipment and machinery at substantially lower costs. Mechanisation in agriculture would improve productivity and yield, and India needs significant improvements in both these spheres. An impetus towards shared economy models and digitisation of Agri ecosystems in India would induce transparency into the entire sector – empowering farmers to make informed decisions and improve their output and incomes.

Bhushan Nemlekar, director, Sumit Woods Limited

“The government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have done enough to bail out the real estate sector from depression, as it remains one of the most precise bellwethers of the state of India’s economy. The budget for 2022 will surely bring a positive outlook for the sector and we look forward to further emphasis on tax incentives, GST waivers, and Affordable housing this financial year. A series of key decisions taken by the government recently to revive the realty sector has improved consumer confidence and the impetus given to the residential sector is expected to yield positive results in the near future.”

Kaushal Agarwal, chairman, The Guardians Real Estate Advisory

The real estate sector, like others businesses, is looking forward to many positive, innovative and path-breaking announcements in the budget this year.

Deviation of 20 per cent from circle rates should be extended across the sector and not limited to homes costing upto Rs 2 crore. The same will allow developers to offload the massive build-up of unsold inventory costing more than Rs.2 crores. There couldn’t be a more opportune year to accord industry status to the Real Estate sector as a whole; currently the same has been accorded only to affordable housing. This is a long-pending demand and can help developers raise funds at lower costs.

The reduced repo rate has helped reduce EMI’s for homebuyers; the government should permit further deductions in the income tax for individuals availing homes to buy affordable and mid-income homes.

Sharad Chaudhary, founder, Dreamz Production House

With the event industry facing an anomalous situation, we have a lot of expectations from the government to look into its revival and help the event industry strive in these challenging times. The industry is remaining stagnant for almost two years now and the livelihood of millions of people has come to a standstill.

The industry has requested the government to take immediate measures to rescue and revive the sector which had come to a standstill due to the Covid-19 related restrictions. We also hope that the startup-friendly policies should be made simplified to register and there should be a relaxation in the taxation policies and simplified GST returns as well in the upcoming Budget.

Pritam Chivukula, co-founder and director, Tridhaatu Realty

The upcoming budget shall bring a lot of hope to the real estate sector. The budget shall offer the much-needed push to the infrastructural development of the country. Falling housing inventory levels and a much healthier banking system are the perfect platforms for the budget to anchor a strategic roadmap for the next decade. Additionally, developers are hoping for provisions that will benefit the growth that includes the deduction of loss under house property, reduction in the income tax burden on rental housing and long-term capital gains on capital assets, relaxations in provisions for REITs for faster recovery in commercial real estate.

Anand Kumar Bajaj, founder, MD & CEO, PayNearby

The digital payments space has proved its mettle as a stable growth avenue during the pandemic. A positive impact was seen on digital payments due to benign taxation for self-service digital customers. To ensure the same benefits reach the less-savvy citizens, our government could waive GST and TDS for financial inclusion services at Business Correspondent (BC) outlets across India.

A GST and TDS waiver will help reduce the cost of offering seamless financial services and help high-end tech reach the technology-oblivious segment. We stand with the government’s intent of taking digitization to the last mile and passing the GST waiver benefit to ‌end-users as this will push for greater financial inclusion and a digital economy in the country.

Bhavin Patel, co-founder & CEO, LenDenClub

The pandemic has resulted in significant job losses, primarily due to people’s inability to keep up with evolving technology. The way the government is spreading awareness is remarkable. Further to that, setting up avenues for advanced technical education, for instance, could help it drive so much further. Presently, India requires professionals with technical and financial competence to conduct the Fintech revolution. More institutions that provide formal education and certifications are needed to create a skilled group of individuals required to grow P2P lending platforms and the Fintech industry.

Bhavin Patel, co-founder & CEO, LenDenClub

The economy is projected to gradually return to its previous trajectory, with fiscal priorities in the upcoming budget invigorating it. A regulatory body to oversee payment recovery is the need of the hour. An enhanced procedural aid to the legal recovery of repayments from digital borrowers to further protect the rights of those who lend money. Such a specialsed government vehicle to oversee fintech could not only help startups run more effectively, following compliance requirements, but it would eliminate possible fraudsters.

Shalu Jha, co-founder and director, PRandit Solution

At a time when the Covid-19  threat is still looming large on the Indian economy, the upcoming Union Budget should focus on enabling collective economic growth and supportive aid for various industry sectors, including the services sector and the media sector. At the same time, I would also like to see a focused push and incentivization for digital media platforms and startups in the media and communications industry in order to allow them to prosper. Especially given that the accelerated adoption of digital and social media networks has now given more power in the hands of the nation’s consumers, some stimulus packages and futuristic policy moves focusing on digital infrastructure building and media-tech will be furthermore welcome and encouraging.

Abhishek Pathak, founder & CEO, Greenwear

The textile industry alone has the potential to reduce carbon footprint by a huge margin along with creating jobs at the local level. The textile and fashion industry needs urgent reforms in order to reduce polluting earth. We are taking one step at a time and currently are very small against the problem. However, we believe that the solar-vastra value chain if added with natural fibers and organic processes will create immense impact in reducing carbon footprint from the textile industry. If only 5 per cent of Indian villages become solar charkha clusters (around 30,000), it can produce 180 crore kilogram cotton yarn which is almost 50 per cent of India’s current cotton yarn capacity, and generate livelihood for 1.2 crore people without migrating from their villages.

Deepak MV, CEO and co-founder, Etrio

At a time when electric vehicle adoption is gaining unprecedented momentum despite many challenges, in the upcoming Union Budget 2022, we want the finance minister to address the critically-important area of making wide and varied range of financing options available for electric vehicle and commercial vehicles’ buyers – as this is extremely critical for further increased uptake of EVs in India, going forward. To this end, the government should make the electronic vehicle sector a priority lending sector for the financial institutions.