Impetus, incentives, innovation – 30 quotes on Union Budget 2022 reactions

Launched in 2014, StoryBites is a weekly feature from YourStory, featuring notable quotable quotes in our articles of this past week. Share these 35 insights with your colleagues and networks, and check back to the original articles for more insights. See our special compilation of quotes related to India’s coronavirus responses here.

See also our pick of Top Quotes of 2021 on Entrepreneurship, Investment, Digital Transformation, Storytelling, The India Opportunity, Pandemic Resilience, Failure Recovery, Design, and Art.

Startup ecosystem

Tax exemption for startups being extended by one more year is a welcome move, and it is likely to further encourage innovations and growth that the startup ecosystem is delivering. - Ravish Naresh, Khatabook

This budget opens up a huge opportunity for start-ups across Defence, Agriculture, Drone, Fintech, and mobility sectors. - Padmaja Ruparel, Indian Angel Network

We appreciate Government’s empathy towards the startups by extending the period by a year for startups to avail tax incentives around the tough times of Covid. - Tanmay Kumar, Shiprocket

The startup ecosystem in the country is on an uptick with increasing job opportunities, tax benefits and investments. - Jitendra Chouksey, Fittr

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The new committee being appointed to look at regulatory and other challenges for PEs and VCs will increase the confidence of the community to look at India and its opportunities more favourably. - Amarjeet Singh, KPMG

The plans to set up a digital ecosystem will be a major driver for digital upskilling and enhancing entrepreneurship. - Nitin Sharma, CredAble

The one-year extension in the startup tax incentive scheme is most welcome and needed. I would have loved to see better, friendlier tax structures for ESOPs. - Deepak Gupta, Bombay Shaving Company

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Digital

The impetus towards the rollout of 5G and broadband services in 2022 will catalyze an entrepreneurial culture and expand India’s presence on the global map of technology innovation. - Bhavin Turakhia, Zeta

30 percent tax on income from virtual digital assets, while high, is a positive step as it legitimises crypto and hints at an optimistic sentiment towards further acceptance of crypto and NFTs across stakeholders in the country. - Avinash Shekhar, ZebPay

Today’s digital-savvy Indians are willing to experiment with this emerging [Web 3.0] asset class. - Ashish Singhal, CoinSwitch Kuber

India, now, is unlikely to get a ban on crypto and that is progressive for the nation. - Vikram Subburaj, Giottus Cryptocurrency Exchange

Manufacturing

The game-changer is going to be the PLI-driven 14 sectors including IT and hardware manufacturing - Sanjay Mehta,100X VC

It is good to see the announcement of the PLI scheme for design-led manufacturing, this will help in getting ready with Make in India products and solutions. - Sandeep Lodha, Netweb Technologies

The budget highlighting the PLI scheme, in general, should also hold value for the medical device sector. The creation of a national digital health ecosystem with a focus on mental health would also lead to enhanced business activities. - Ashok Patel, Max Ventilator

Another noteworthy move is the duty exemption on steel scrap extended by a year to help MSMEs. - Pushkar Mukewar, Drip Capital

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Mobility

This year's budget placed a considerable focus on almost all industries, with a special mention of EVs to further bolster the adoption of electric vehicles in India. - Greg Moran, Zoomcar

The battery swapping policy that has been announced in the budget is a welcome effort. It will give a huge boost to the commercial adoption of EV's in a big way. - Sakshi Vij, Myles Cars

Talking about battery swapping standards and creating interoperability between different batteries, that's a step in the right direction. - Akash Gupta, Zypp Electric

Introducing a battery swapping policy and recognising battery or energy-as-a-service will help develop EV infrastructure and increase the use of EVs in public transportation. - Sohinder Gill, SMEV

The announcement of green bonds to raise capital focused towards carbon footprint reduction could be a significant milestone for industries that work towards sustainability. - Dipanjan Purkayastha, HyperXchange

Sectoral impacts

The D2C sector gets a boost from the focus on fintech and digitization. - Vivek Gupta, Licious

Bringing core banking services to post offices can pave the way for deeper digital access for the country's largely untapped market. This being supplemented by the building of 75 new digital banking units will help in accelerating the shift to digital even further. - Navin Honagudi, Kae Capital

The newly-announced budget is very new age as it talks about establishing digital universities, which in turn shall accelerate quality output within the country. - Mayank Kumar, upGrad

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The launch of the National Digital Health Ecosystem in Union Budget 2022 is a strong step towards fast-tracking the adoption of digital health services and products. - Vikram Thaploo, Apollo Hospitals Group

It is a forward-looking budget, and considers how technology can become an enabler in agriculture. - Subhadeep Sanyal, Omnivore

By digitising the entire [agri] value chain, it will bring in transparency and will make these value chains more efficient. - Prashanth Prakash, Accel

Mechanisation in agriculture would improve productivity and yield, and India needs significant improvements in both these spheres. - Dhruv Sawhney, nurture.farm

Gaps

It is disheartening to note that persons with disabilities once again find no substantive mention in the Budget Speech of the FM, 2022-23. - Arman Ali, NCPEDP

There continues to be a lack of clarity on the rules for allowing foreign direct listing — a key demand from the startup ecosystem that wasn’t addressed in the budget. - Mahankali Srinivas Rao, T-Hub

The provisions of extra tax benefits, subsidies, and interest-free loans would have been a major boost for the entrepreneurial spirit among women-led startups. - Deepthi Ravula, WE Hub

With the landscape of unemployability, higher living costs, inflation of health costs, higher fuel costs, a tax respite, especially for the middle-income group, would have been appropriate. - Vinayak S, Toch AI

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The road ahead

The government’s digital platform, Gati Shakti, will also pull forward the economy and will lead to more jobs and opportunities for the youth. - Shalin Maheshwari, Meraqui

The government’s push to create thematic investment funds and to invite private fund managers to invest in these sectors provides a lot of impetus to these sectors. - Rahul Garg, Iron Pillar

YourStory has also published the pocketbook ‘Proverbs and Quotes for Entrepreneurs: A World of Inspiration for Startups’ as a creative and motivational guide for innovators (downloadable as apps here: Apple, Android).