Budget 2021: Tagore, Thiruvalluvar, Indian cricket team, and Aatmanirbhar win the day

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented India's first paperless Budget 2021-22 to lay the foundation for Aatmanirbhar Bharat and aid the growth of startups in the future.

Ramarko Sengupta

Kanishk Singh

Suman Singh

Tuesday February 02, 2021 , 3 min Read

Good morning

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented her third Budget on Monday, where she quoted the great bard of Bengal, Rabindranath Tagore, and celebrated Tamil poet and philosopher, Thiruvalluvar. She also mentioned the Indian men’s cricket team’s recent triumph down under.

Draped in a traditional Bengali ‘laal paad’ saree, Sitharaman presented India’s first paperless Budget.

The Narendra Modi government has always been very vocal in its support for India’s startup ecosystem, so it wasn’t surprising that Nirmala Sitharaman, during her nearly two-hour-long speech, mentioned the word ‘startup’ several times.

At YourStory, we have tried to decode what this year’s Budget means, with our extensive multimedia coverage, where prominent captains of the industry and India’s startup ecosystem shared their thoughts.

The Interview

The highly-anticipated Union Budget 2021 has created quite a stir within and outside the startup ecosystem, with stakeholders lauding its interventions to revive the economy. Kunal Shah, CEO of CRED, says that the Budget has a positive outlook for fintech startups, as well as ease in access to credit for SMEs and businesses.

Startup Spotlight

Noida-based video-sharing startup Fun2 enables content creators to monetise their craft

The rise of video-sharing apps has resulted in a shift in India's entertainment consumption patterns. Capitalising on this trend, Noida-based social media video-sharing startup Fun2 aims to celebrate the diversity of Indian culture by encouraging people and communities to showcase their talent and creativity across various categories. Read more.

Fun2 final snapshot — Illustration: YS Design

Editor’s Pick: Budget 2021

How the fintech startup ecosystem reacted to Budget 2021

With the push for Digital India, the fintech industry in the country has seen continuous growth over the last few years, and Union Budget 2021 was a testament to the fintech boom. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman laid down several incentives such as a Rs 1,500 crore scheme to accelerate boost digital payments in India, the establishment of GIFT city, setting up of development financial institutions, and increasing FDI limit in insurance to 74 percent. Read more.

News & Updates

In a welcome move for Indian startups and MSMEs, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed the incorporation of one-person companies, with no restriction in paid-up capital and turnover, as well as an update to the definition of small companies under Companies Act, 2013.

In Budget 2021, the government has proposed to extend the eligibility of tax holiday for startups by another year. Further, the capital gains exemption for startups has also been extended by another year.

The use of AI makes its entry into the Indian Budget 2021 lexicon. Budget 2021 saw Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman emphasise on the use of AI technology to enable compliance, adjudication of disputes on the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.

FM Nirmala Sitharaman provided Rs 35,000 crore towards COVID-19 vaccination in 2021-22 fiscal. The country launched its COVID-19 vaccination drive from January 16 in what PM Narendra Modi has called the world's largest inoculation programme.

The finance minister proposed a Rs 1,500 crore scheme to develop, promote, and accelerate digital payments in the country, following the sharp growth in online and contactless payments during the COVID-19 led lockdown months.