The Union Budget’s proposal to allocate Rs. 1,000 crore under the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog to support start-up business is perceived to complement the State government’s all out efforts to promote start-ups and student entrepreneurs.
However, sceptics had expressed concern over how the proposal to set up SETU (Self-Employment and Talent Utilisation) as a techno-financial, incubation and facilitation programme would pan out. Pranav Kumar Suresh, CEO, Startup Village, has found heart in the allocation of Rs. 150 crore for the Atal Innovation Mission to be created under the NITI Aayog apart from the Rs. 1,000 crore allocation.
“The policy decision to ease the closing down of start-ups will also help improve the start-up ecosystem since a lot of time is being wasted now on the formalities for closure. The move to allow foreign investments in Alternate Investment Funds under SEBI will also be helpful to start-ups,” he said.
Infopark CEO Hrishikesh Nair said that he was waiting for specifics like benefits to Special Economic Zones. “The abolition of minimum alternate tax introduced a couple of years ago, much to the chagrin of the industry, was expected,” he said.
C. Jayasankar Prasad, CEO, Technopark-TBI, looked at the allocation of Rs. 1,000 crore with a mixed feeling considering that in the last budget Rs. 10,000 crore had been set apart for start-ups. “The start-up eco system hadn’t seen the utilisation of that fund. So while the fresh allocation is good, there is need for clarity on how it would percolate down to the beneficiaries since start-ups being small initiatives need easy and timely access to funding,” he said.
Anoop P. Ambika, secretary, GTech, felt that the proposal to set up Mudra bank for small and medium enterprises will give a big boost, especially to student entrepreneurs. “Apart from that and the Rs. 1,000 crore allocation, there is nothing concrete for the IT industry ,” he said. Cyriac Davies, managing director, Kitco found encouraging signs in the budget for start-ups. “Though it is not clear just yet as to how the fund allocated would be channelized, the message is very positive and encouraging for start-ups,” he said.