Start-ups and traders body CAIT upset with budget 2019

Budget utterly neglected the trading community, says CAIT

startup-reuters Representational image | File

The last budget of the current Modi government, presented by interim Finance minister Piyush Goyal, did not have much in store for start-ups. Many from the start-up community felt that the budget failed to address any clarity on angel tax and there were no tax rebates announced for the segment in budget 2019. At the same time, traders' body Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) was upset with the budget as it failed to give any tax relief to them. 

READ: Budget 2019 highlights: Goyal's doles for the 'electorate'


“We appreciate the budget’s recognition of India’s start-up ecosystem’s contribution to the economy and the creation of a Digital India in Vision 2030 is indicative of the long road ahead for this ecosystem. However, the budget did not offer clarity on issues surrounding the angel tax much to the dismay of the industry’s expectations. Facilitating a conducive growth environment for such companies is key and hence, clarity around taxation and the regulatory environment will further help build a strong technology ecosystem, which can contribute to the government’s vision of India as a $5-trillion economy over the next 5 years,” said Mitesh Shah, Head of Finance, BookMyShow. 

Similarly, Anurag Bhatia, CEO and Head of Investments at Minance, a fintech start-up, feels that he was really hoping for some clarity on the angel tax in this interim budget. “We were really hoping for some resolution on the angel tax issue, but disappointed to see nothing in this interim budget,” remarked Bhatia. 

Representatives of trade body CAIT were also disappointed with the interim budget as they felt that it had utterly neglected the trading community. “Seven crore traders of the country had high hopes from the budget. Though every other section of the economy has been given relief in the budget, the trading community, which is the backbone of the economy has been neglected. The budget makes us feel that the trading community is like an unwanted community in the country. After renaming DIPP as the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade and giving no extension to FDI policy in e-commerce, the traders were hopeful that they will get due attention in the budget but we were totally left out from the budget. We will send a fresh memorandum to the prime minister and the finance minister urging them to take care of the trading community,” said CAIT, Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal. 

READ: Budget 2019: MSMEs find mention, no cheer for startups


Start-up entrepreneur Nikhil Mantha, co-founder and COO of Piggy, a mutual fund investment app, also felt disappointed that no clarity arose regarding the angel tax in the budget. 

On the other hand Krishna Kumar, founder and CEO of edtech start-up Simplilearn, felt that the government was committed to further the digitisation agenda aligning with the vision of creating a digital India. “While the move will help India to enable millions of jobs in the next few years, but it should also address the need of getting the current talent pool global-ready for tomorrow. This will happen through robust skilling, reskilling and upskilling model of the current workforce by government, companies and institutes. We expected the government in today’s budget to pass on a few benefits for the education tech and skill-tech sectors by extending tax benefits and incentives for players, corporates, education institutions or even end users by giving tax exemption,” said Kumar.