The Finance Minister has introduced several measures that help in doing ease of doing business and address the concerns expressed by startups in India. This is good as the entrepreneurial spirit must be unchained mainly because India is capable of giving birth to lakhs of startups, in technical space and outside it. Many of these startups have the potential to become unicorns if nourished properly and the measures in the Budget will help in that.
The Finance Minister has allowed startups to be constituted as One Person Companies (OPP). She has also allowed NRI (who were present in India for 120 days or more) to form OPPs in India. This is a good move which was being demanded for long by the startup ecosystem. Since startups usually begin with a new solution to a problem or fill in a demand in a novel way, founders are usually wary of sharing the fruits of their labour with outsiders, either as shareholders or on the board. These OPPs will now be able to operate without restriction on paid up capital or turnover and can convert to any other type of company at any time.
In the next measure, compliance has been eased for small companies. These companies were previously marked by having a paid up capital of Rs 50 lakh and a turnover of Rs 5 crore. This has now been revised to Rs 2 crore and Rs 20 crore respectively. This will increase the ease of doing business and remove compliance hassles for a large number of startups. Then, many startups are constituted as Limited Liability Partnerships (LLP). Previously, if these firms were found to come short on compliance, a criminal liability attached to all the partners. The new provisions do away with criminal liability for many such compliance provisions.
Tax holiday for startups has been extended by one year till March 2022. Similarly, capital gain tax exemption for investors in startups has also been extended by one year. Startups have also been exempted from the need to get their accounts audited if gross sales are up to Rs 10 crore and 95% of the transactions are through the digital payment mode. These and a few other measures like the merging of the SEBI Act and the Depository Act will bring relief for startups as angel investors will be less wary due to a transparent regulatory framework. A boom in startups will also create jobs and revive the economy.
pic courtesy: cloudways.com
