The week that was

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented what was perhaps one of the most-awaited Budgets in Indian history.

Saturday February 06, 2021 , 3 min Read

Good morning

On Monday, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented what was perhaps one of the most-awaited Budgets in Indian history.

This is India's first paperless Budget, and the third Budget presented by Sitharaman. The Finance Minister started by thanking the frontline workers, who continued to serve the country amid these difficult times, and announced that Budget 2021 was prepared in "unprecedented times".

Budget 2021 focused on rejuvenating capital spending in crucial sectors to fuel demand and accelerate India’s “economic reset,” in the wake of the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on consumer demand and growth.

Here are some key reactions from India Inc and the startup ecosystem:

Kunal Shah, Founder, CRED

kunal shah, budget 2021, cred — Kunal Shah, Founder, CRED

For our complete coverage on Budget 2021, visit www.budget.yourstory.com

The Interview

The COVID-19 pandemic has created difficulties for businesses in India and across the world, with some of them also falling into the trap of gluttony as the future remains unpredictable. For Bombay Shaving Company, its CEO Shantanu Deshpande says that the silver lining is that the crisis presented tailwinds as the brand did not see a drop in consumption and people moved online.

Editor’s Pick:

What led IIT alumnus Shashank Kumar to found agritech startup DeHaat

Though Shashank Kumar has no experience in farming, when he was working at Beacon Advisory Services, he became interested in the hurdles institutional buyers faced in procuring agricultural produce directly from farmers. He would also interact with farmers back home and realised that there was a deep sense of unhappiness and low-income generation. So, he decided to help the farming community by bridging the gaps. Read more.

Startup Spotlight

Indore-based startup Redigo uses tech to solve last-mile commute issues

With the increased adoption of electric vehicles, India is gradually moving towards making ride-sharing mobility services green and sustainable. With an aim to bring these services to Tier-II cities, Telada Technology Pvt Ltd, better known by its brand name Redigo, provides eco-friendly and pocket-friendly last-mile transportation solutions in Indore. Read more.

Readigo snapshot — *Illustration: YS Design*

News & Updates

Times Internet, Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel, ShareChat, and government-backed National Informatics Centre (NIC) emerging as India's top app publishers in 2020, according to app analytics provider App Annie. Meanwhile, Ludo King-maker Gametion emerged as India's top game publisher.

Cybersecurity startup Lucideus has changed its brand identity to Safe Security as the company changes its market positioning from being focused on services to products, and recently entered the B2C segment with SAFE Me app.

Ticketing site BookMyShow launched ‘BookMyShow Stream’, a transactional video-on-demand (TVOD) streaming platform with a catalogue of 600 movie titles and 72,000 hours of content from India and around the world.

The Google Fit app for Pixel phones will soon have features to measure heart rate and respiratory rate. Google has already completed initial clinical validation examining accuracy among healthy individuals as well as those with respiratory conditions.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allowed banks to deduct loans disbursed to new micro, small, and medium enterprise (MSME) borrowers from their net demand and time liabilities (NDTL) for calculation of the cash reserve ratio (CRR).