In a year which also saw the country's largest e-commerce company Flipkart getting acquired by global retail giant Walmart, startups are also demanding favourable treatment against their global counterparts.
The startup ecosystem wants the government to promote digital payments and create favorable policies for domestic firms in the Interim Budget.
According to e-commerce firm Shopclues, the government should promote the digital mode of payments by incentivising them. "Similar incentives should also be provided to small merchants for encouraging digital payments through tax benefits," the company's spokesperson said.
A survey done by LocalCircles, a community media platform that hosts over 35,000 startups and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) carried our a survey which found that close to 30 percent of its respondents felt that incentives should be given for digital transactions. Close to 26 percent said that priority sector status should be give to small and medium enterprises for lending, and 9 percent said corporate income taxes should be reduced.
Stressing upon the importance of digital payments, microfinance industry body Sa-Dhan said that the government should set up a dedicated fund for micro finance institutions across legal forms, to improve accessibility in difficult to reach areas like the hilly regions, the ultra poor belt of central India etc.
"An incentive can be built in for digital technology usage in these areas as the setup costs would be high," it said.
In a year which also saw the country's largest e-commerce company Flipkart getting acquired by global retail giant Walmart, startups are also demanding favourable treatment against their global counterparts.
"With a high number of foreign players entering India, it is important to safeguard the interests of Indian consumers as well as Indian companies. If we look at a country like China, their laws and sanctions safeguard the interests of local companies. These companies are now entering India and are creating a problem for domestic companies in India. This is nothing less than invasion and the Interim budget should showcase a vision for the same," said Mayank Bhangadia, chief executive officer and co-founder of Roposo.
"It should include how the government plans to regulate these foreign players and further provide economic relief for domestic players in order to create a level playing field," he added.
The Interim Budget will be presented by Finance Minister Piyush Goyal on February 1.
