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The Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman has finally announced the much awaited Union Budget 2025. While there have been significant announcements made for various sectors, the Indian startups sector was given special emphasis. As expected, the government has announced impressive fund allocation to promote and encourage the startup culture in India.
As the budget speech for 2025 concludes, the financial minister with a belief in India’s growing economy, has announced major initiatives for the startups which includes:
Budget Allocation and Financial Support for Startups
₹10,000 crore allocated under a new Funds of Funds for Startups, enhancing capital availability.
Credit Guarantee Scheme cover doubled from ₹10 crore to ₹20 crore, reducing lending risks and improving access to credit.
Guarantee fee lowered to 1% for loans in 27 focus sectors, making funding more affordable for startups.
₹20,000 crore allocated to support private-sector research and innovation, benefiting Deeptech and R&D-driven startups.
Policy Changes and Tax Implications for Startups
Startup incorporation period extended to five years (till April 1, 2030), allowing more startups to avail tax benefits.
TDS and TCS threshold reduced, improving cash flows and lowering the tax burden for startups.
Government Initiatives and Reforms
Expansion of the Deeptech Fund to support both technical and non-technical startups, driving innovation in AI, robotics, and clean energy.
Formation of a high-level committee to streamline licensing, certification, and compliance processes for startups.
Jan Vishwas Bill 2.0 amendments decriminalizing nearly 100 provisions across different laws, improving the ease of doing business.
Positive Developments for the Startup Sector
More access to funding through the Funds of Funds and expanded credit guarantee.
Lower compliance burden with tax adjustments and regulatory reforms.
Encouragement for innovation and R&D with a ₹20,000 crore research-focused fund.
Increased support for Deeptech startups, fostering advancements in critical sectors.
Simplified licensing and approval processes, reducing bureaucratic delays.
Potential Challenges and Concerns
Clarity needed on fund disbursement mechanisms for the new Funds of Funds.
Execution of TDS and TCS threshold adjustments needs better-defined guidelines.
Effectiveness of regulatory reforms depends on how well new committees manage licensing and certifications.
Industry concerns on eligibility criteria for accessing the credit guarantee and innovation funds.
The significance of India’s startups in pushing the country’s GDP forward has long been realised by the government and it reflected well in the 2024 union budget announcements. Here’s a quick recap of budget 2024 announcements for startups:
Tax Initiatives
The union budget 2024 laid special emphasis on tax implications for startups. Some of the key highlights of tax initiatives include the removal of Angel tax that was earlier levied on investors. The removal helped startups as more investors entered with their huge pockets to fund promising projects. Additionally, there were initiatives for taxing unlisted equities at par with listed equities and charging buybacks and bonds at tax slab rates.
Access to Capital
The Indian startups sector faces major challenges due to lack of capital access. To tackle the challenge, the budget 2024 announced the allocation of ₹10,000 crores to the “Funds for Startups”. Additionally, the allocation of ₹1,000 crore to the National Seed Fund helped bridge the gap between ideas and implementation.
Digital Infrastructure
The union budget 2024 realised the importance of digital infrastructure for startups and had announced several initiatives like allocating ₹15,000 crores to BharatNet Project to promote broadband connectivity even in rural areas and the announcement of Digital Innovation Fund by allocating ₹5,000 crores to help startups build cutting edge technology.
Regulatory Reforms
To create a streamlined operating system for the startups sector, budget 2024 also touched regulatory reforms. Some of the reforms include the reduction of TDS on e-commerce to 0.1% to match offline transactions, removal of equalisation levy for ecommerce startups to match the Global BEPS 2.0: Pillar One and Pillar Two taxation framework.
Sector Wise Initiatives
The budget 2024 had announced multiple funding schemes and initiatives for different sectors as well. The budget focused on the growth of biotechnology and agritech to promote activities in agriculture, healthcare, sustainability, supply chain management etc.
Now that the union budget 2025 has been announced, the future for India’s startup sector looks promising. Here’s how the startup sector can benefit:
Skill Development
The establishment of National Centers of Excellence for skilling to equip youth for skills required to promote “Make in India” can prove beneficial for entrepreneurship in India to develop the right skill and undergo training.
Promising Sectors
The allocation of ₹10 lakhs crore to offer interest free loans for new projects for infrastructural development across states presents a promising opportunity for entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs can also focus on agri-based projects since there have been announcements to ease credit access for agricultural sector development.
Ease of Doing Business
The union budget 2025 has laid special focus on promoting schemes and funds to ensure ease of doing business in the country. Start-ups can now expect easy documentation, licensing, certification et cetera. Additionally the promise to decriminalise over 100 provisions relating to tax clearances, audits et cetera will further strengthen startups.
The union budget 2025 was expected to represent the government’s concrete determination to promote the growth of the Indian startup industry and with announcements made by the finance minister, it is safe to say that the Indian startups industry is all set to take a huge leap forward. While there remain certain challenges and speculations about the actual implementation, it would be exciting for economies of all spheres to see how the new chapter unfolds for Indian startups in reality.
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