Good morning!

The Union Budget 2021 is only a week away and all eyes are trained on Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as she gets ready to present her third Budget.

After a virus-ravaged 2020 that wreaked havoc on investments and business, the Indian startup ecosystem hopes this Budget will bring in a slew of measures to boost entrepreneurship and innovation.

Ahead of the Budget, investors told YourStory that lower taxes, easing of regulations to encourage foreign investments, and incentives for the edtech sector are some of their expectations from the finance minister.

The year 2020 was especially tough for Indian businesses and MSMEs as COVID-19 changed the rules of the game. After a very difficult year, MSMEs have several expectations from Budget 2021 — from revised GST rates to ensuring higher credit flow, and more.

Industry observers say three elements need to work in tandem — ease of doing business, raising capital, and exits — to increase the vibrancy of the Indian startup ecosystem. 

Clearly, a lot rides on this year’s Budget.

Last but not least, the Union Budget app, which was launched on Saturday, went live on Google Play Store on Sunday. 

Yesterday, we had shared a screengrab of the previous year’s app. This is how the new app, developed by NIC, looks like. 

Stay tuned for our detailed review of the app!

The Interview 

One of the earliest social media platforms to go mainstream, Twitter is used widely by entities ranging from the government, corporates, entrepreneurs, and influencers to communicate effectively. In 2020, with most of us locked indoors, Twitter India MD Manish Maheshwari says that the purpose of the microblogging site became a source of information and engagement in public conversations.

Here are some key takeaways from the interview:

• How people used Twitter in 2020
• Twitter’s public policy initiatives
• Disseminating information during the lockdown
• Combating hate speech
• What Twitter plans for the Indian market

Startup Spotlight

On-demand storage startup Safe Storage solves to keep your valuables safe

While planning a holiday, one of our main concerns is the safety of our valuables at home. To solve for this, Bengaluru-based Safe Storage provides storage management solutions ranging from household storage (appliances, kitchen utensils, furniture), business storage (B2B), document storage, and tape vaulting. Read more.

Editor’s Pick: Budget 2021 expectations

What the ecommerce industry expects from Union Budget 2021

The Union Budget is just around the corner and the hopes of the ecommerce industry are sky-high. Expected to reach $38 billion in sales in 2020, the sector is seeing massive year-on-year growth propelled by increased digitisation and rise in online shopping during the lockdown. But the industry is also facing challenges due to the loss of demand during the pandemic, and is now looking towards the Finance Ministry for some measures. Read more.

News & Updates

• In a notice sent by the Ministry of Electronics and IT, the government has informed Chinese apps, including TikTok, that it will continue with the ban imposed on them and asserted that they were "stealing" users' data.

• India witnessed 19 initial public offerings (IPOs) worth $1.84 billion in the fourth quarter of 2020, according to an EY India report, indicating a positive market sentiment.

• According to reports, the government may announce the formulation of a dedicated policy for the toys sector to boost domestic manufacturing in Budget 2021.

• Alibaba Co-founder Jack Ma, who was reported missing since China's crackdown on the ecommerce giant, has resurfaced after months out of the public view, as per multiple media reports. The entrepreneur addressed teachers in a live stream on Wednesday. 

• Softbank Group-backed messaging service Hike, which had once been valued at over $1 billion, has been taken off app stores in India.

Before you go, stay inspired with… 

“Complacency never finds a place in the arsenal of an entrepreneur.”

— Sandeep Aggarwal, CEO, Droom Technology

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