“Early-stage acceleration of startups and venture capital have been fuelling the entrepreneurial growth in India over the last few years. Despite the pandemic-induced challenges, the country has been witnessing entrepreneurs and startups thriving due to early-stage acceleration and venture capital, as well as a push from the Indian government through acceleration programmes via ‘Make in India’, digitisation, etc. While this is a positive sign, the need of the hour through policy is to create a more robust startup ecosystem in the country is to reduce the disparity in capital gains taxes between investments in listed and unlisted companies, so more investors are incentivised to bet on early-stage startups. Through Budget 2022, the government should also consider easing angel tax restrictions so more startups and the overall ecosystem can benefit significantly. We strongly believe that simpler loan-disbursements, e-approvals and incentives to startups for adopting digital finance will help propel Indian startups, as well as the overall economy.”