Mr Greg Moran, CEO & Co-Founder, Zoomcar

In this year’s budget, the Finance Minister made a couple of announcements around the auto industry that will boost the industry overall, and will also enable us to deliver better. With the reforms coming in play in the automobile industry in India the Battery Swapping Policy on being implemented  efficiently will benefit the entire EV ecosystem including manufacturers and charging infrastructure players. As a result of this policy and its appropriate execution, the adoption of EV will see a significant boost in India. The government will also encourage private players to become a part of this new development and its process in setting up adequate infrastructure. While this policy will enable wide-scale adoption of electric vehicles, it will also contribute to achieving net-zero goals of the country.

Dhruv Sawhney, Business Head and COO, nurture.farm

As a part of the agri-tech industry, I firmly believe that the budget should not only focus on economic but also enable sustainable development to secure future generations. Putting climate action as one of the focus areas of the budget is a mega move from the government. The AgTech sector plays an important role in educating farmers on sustainable modes of agriculture, scaling the operations, and reducing the carbon footprint that are an outcome of the agricultural practices. The announcement towards launch of sovereign green bonds for projects signals India’s strong commitment towards a low carbon economy. It will help to bring down the cost of capital for green projects by attracting new investors and mobilising private capital towards sustainable development. This will further boost our efforts to make agriculture sustainable by helping farmers earn more through adopting sustainable agricultural practices.

Another key point is the adoption of technology-enabled models of agriculture. The need of the hour is to make the sector more efficient, sustainable, profitable, and the farmers more resilient. Revision of agriculture syllabus to include modern agricultural methods; use of Kisan drones for crop assessment, digitisation of land records and spraying of insect pesticides; boosting financial inclusion of farmers through digital modes of payments – all these steps taken by the government will go a long way in agriculture sector achieving its maximum potential while encouraging Indian AgTech startups to strengthen the agri ecosystem from the grassroots level.

On behalf of  Mr Pranav Dangi, Founder of The Hosteller

The FM has announced a forward looking budget with an impact horizon of 3-4 years. Already struggling travel sector has still not come to pre Covid levels and hence a boost to small players in the sector through extension of ECLG scheme from 50k cr to 5 lakh cr shall help the small operators stay afloat and in turn keep the industry’s base strong and intact.

Mr Roshan Farhan- Founder and CEO, Gobillion

“Start-ups are the next high impact growth drivers for the Indian economy and will promote an Atmanirbhar Bharat.

The proposed extension of tax incentives for one more year will help startups at the early stage attract more funding and optimize their working capital.

The proposed fund for promoting agri-tech startups and rural enterprises will boost the rural economy.

We are excited for India’s economic growth this year and looking forward to startups playing a pivotal role”

Mr Siddharth Kukatlapalli, Co-Founder and CBO, Syntizen

India has more than 61,400 startups recognized by the DPIIT. The growth in the number of startups and unicorn-startups in the country, exhibits the potential that the startup community brings to the economy. Not just the variety of services and products, but also the contribution of startups to the economy holds a significant place. The provision made for startups, in today’s budget announcement, of implementing tax incentives to startups for four years of incorporation is a big step for enabling and encouraging newer startups. This will help startups in attracting more funding, therefore optimizing their working capital and continuing to drive growth for the economy.

Zafar Imam, CEO, FinShell

In order to promote digital footprints We appreciate the intiatives announced in the budget by the honorable FM. 75 digital banking units by scheduled commercial bank in different districts will enhance banking penetration to the last mile.  E passports using embedded chips, futuristic technology is another digital intiative which Govt plans to complete by 2023. Allocation of 48000 cr to PMAY scheme to complete 80 lakh homes will boost affordable housing sector. Govt also proposed to expand E vidya to 400 channels and establish digital universities. Credit linked guarantee scheme extended till March 2023 will support the MSME sector during these pandemic time. Overall seems to be a futuristic budget where a lot of thrust is given to more digital expansion and to promote start ups and fintech.