Dr OmkarRai lauds the Union Budget 2021-2022. The Union Budget 2021-22 was the first paperless budget in the history of post-independence India. It was the much-awaited policy document in 2021 as the Indian economy tries to take off in the post-pandemic era. In the past few years, the role of the government has been instrumental in giving a fillip to entrepreneurship and shaping the growth of the Indian startup ecosystem.
A series of policy initiatives such as broadening the definition of startups, providing income exemptions and setting up ‘Fund of Funds’ has had a cascading effect in not only providing an impetus to startups but also generating employment and encouraging innovation.
It is notable that despite COVID-19, the startup ecosystem has shown resilience and witnessed the emergence of 12 unicorns. The focus on AatmaNirbhar Bharat has further encouraged the rise of Indian startups. The Union Budget 2021-22 marks the continuation of these efforts.
“There are many announcements in the budget that are going to have a significant impact in the future. The product linked incentives and National Research Foundation, for which 1.97 lakh Cr and 50K Cr have been announced respectively, are going to fuel indigenous production by promoting ‘Make in India’ and ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ schemes. National Research Foundation will encourage research and will help the startup ecosystem in India which is at the 3rd position in terms of startups. The foundation will further help in making India a technology hub by cutting-edge research and development, and will also create IPR and Intellectual Property. The OPC provision in the budget for startups has also been announced that will enable students to come up with startups and attract overseas Indians to invest in these companies, so investment options are increasing in the country. Another significant step in the establishment of the National Translation Mission which aims to promote Indian languages. It will promote vernacular language teaching mentioned in the New Education Policy-2020. This budget has all the necessary elements to push the growth of India. The government made several announcements even during the lockdown and if we combine them, they seem promising,” Dr OmkarRai, Director General, Software Technology Parks of India, said.
“The extension of the tax holiday till March 31, 2022, will boost sentiment aid towards the paradigm shift from ‘job seekers to job creators.’ The announcement of the launch of data analytics, AI, ML-driven MCA 3.0 version and an e-court system as a special framework for MSMEs underscores the government’s commitment to spur digitization to enhance the ease of doing business and propel Indian startups,” he added.
Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) is actively working to encourage the startup ecosystem in Tier 2 and 3 cities. Its flagship India BPO Promotion Scheme (IBPS) aims to foster an IT ecosystem in Tier 2 and 3 cities through the establishment of 48,300 seats in respect of BPO/ITES operations across the country. The scheme provides financial assistance of up to 50% of the total admissible expenditure (Capital / Operational), with an upper ceiling of Rs. 1 lakh per BPO/ITES seat.
After establishing sizeable industry base, this Chennai center put High Speed Data communication (HSDC) facilities during 1999 in Coimbatore and subsequently in Chennai, Madurai, Pondicherry and Tirunelveli.Today STPI Chennai has spread its industry base across 10 districts of Tamil Nadu Viz., Chennai, Coimbatore, Trichy, Madurai, Thirunelveli, Salem, Vellore, Tirupur, Erode, Thanjavur. Though the major concentration of exporting companies are at Chennai, secondary cities are being seriously considered by the IT companies for cost advantage and good human resourceDrOmkarRai is the Director-General of Software Technology Parks of India (STPI). Under his leadership, STPI has been providing services to IT/ITES/ESDM industry for the promotion of software exports and entrepreneurship from the country. He has spearheaded the growth of the IT industry in India and has been involved in various policy formulations from time to time.