Startup Sector
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman delivered the Union Budget 2023-2024 at the Parliament on 1st February that clearly lays down a fresh set of policies and initiatives to boost the number of startups in the country as entrepreneurship has been a catalyst for the economic development of the country.
Therefore proposals such as the extension of the period of incorporation for startups till 31st March 2024 for availing income tax benefits and increasing the benefit of carrying forward losses can facilitate startups to a greater extent. Furthermore, in order to unleash innovation and research by startups, a national data governance policy will be brought forward, giving access to anonymized data which can be utilized in the research and development of novel products and services.
One major initiative was - MSMEs that are failing to execute the contracts that they have entered into during the covid period are to be given 95% of the forfeited amount in relation to bidding or performance security, which can act as a major relief and unburden the startups. Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS) scheme, Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS) and Credit Guarantee Scheme for Startups (CGSS), under the Startup India initiative of 2016 would provide financial aid to startups at every stage of their business cycle. Therefore, the aforementioned amendments would result in the sprouting of new startups with better innovative products & services this year along with the flourishing of existing startups resulting in economic growth & development contributing to the GDP of the country.
E-mobility
‘’ OEMs & EV stakeholders were overwhelmingly happy with the announcements made in support of e-mobility at Union Budget 2023. Green growth has been considered one of the seven sectors of priority and a slew of measures in support of EVs has been taken by the Government to achieve the ambitious target of net zero emissions by 2070. Key announcements made were the allocation of INR 35,000 crore to support green projects & others with net zero goals, viability gap funding for a Battery Energy Storage System and Rs 19700 crore allocated for the production of green hydrogen which can reduce the dependence on the import of non-renewable energy.
Additionally, one major challenge faced by OEMs was the custom duties on inputs for the manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries which has now been dealt with the exemption. This can further improve the value addition, reduce input costs and in turn, can correct the inverted duty structure further boosting domestic manufacturing and make India's export competitiveness. Furthermore, FM also proposed to set up a transmission system in Ladakh for evacuation and grid integration of renewable energy.
Overall, the initiatives announced to make it clearly evident that e-mobility is a priority and the government is clearly heading towards making India a self-sufficient country giving more weightage to the Make in India scheme launched by our Hon Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014.‘’