In the last two years, startups in our country faced unprecedented challenges due to the ongoing pandemic. Funds dried up for most, many entrepreneurs reeled under the multiple taxes, and quite a few shut down operations.

Now, all eyes are on Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as this year’s Union Budget is about to be unveiled. Start-ups are looking for policy changes that will help them surge ahead and boost recovery from the long drawn-out pandemic.

Let's take a look at what they are expecting from the Union Budget 2022-23:

Jitendra Chouksey, Founder and CEO, Fittr

Investing in start-ups is vital since they are engines of job creation. We are hopeful that the government will work through bringing in policies and the necessary support mechanisms towards capital participation domestically, along with developing a favourable investment climate in the country. There needs to be tax exemptions in foreign direct investments with an emphasis on start-up infrastructure development, which will eventually open the doors for the globalisation of Indian start-ups. We expect to see announcements in this budget that will help the economy revive as well as efforts that will further boost the start-up ecosystem.

Rohit Gajbhiye, Founder and CEO, Financepeer

The year 2021 has been an exciting one for the fintech sector with the industry attracting record high investments and outperforming other sectors in the face of a pandemic and a gloomy market. Budget 2022 should encourage the growth and success of the fintech industry by enacting favourable policies and relaxing restrictions. The booming digital infrastructure won’t be complete without having a robust data protection mechanism. This Union Budget should focus on building the necessary infrastructure for data security.

Secondly, this Union Budget should focus on further strengthening the NBFCs through incentives and investments, to give it the required push.

Thirdly, this upcoming Union Budget is expected to bring newer reforms for fintech sectors and focus on lowering the GST rates for financial services, substantial tax breaks and other tax reforms.

Jatin Paranjpe, Founder, KheloMore

The one big thing that will further accelerate the propagation and promotion of sport (in India) is ease of access. This ease of access is currently hampered by the high GST of 18% on sports coaching, booking of sports venues and purchase of sports equipment. Due to this high bar, coaches, venues and participants are operating a ‘cash only’ model of business that is leaving a lot of revenue from the sports participation pipeline out of the system where it should rightfully belong. The government should look at bringing this down to between 5 to 10%.

Rahul Singh, Co-founder, Mesh

We are grateful for the impetus given to the start-up community and recognition as the ‘backbone’ of new India and as a significant enabler of economic growth. In the same spirit, we look forward to a favourable budget which fosters innovation and growth. Specifically, from this financial year’s budget, we look forward to easier compliances, simplified tax structures coupled with added tax incentives in aiding a more conducive investment environment.

Vijayaraghavan Venugopal, CEO and Co Founder, Fast&Up

The funds issued by the government in last year’s Union Budget saw an increased spending on healthcare by 137% with allocation to the healthcare sector at Rs 2.23 lakh crore through the PM Atmanirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana. This year, too, we expect a substantial increase in this percentage for the healthcare sector as this will have an overall impact on the economy. We look forward to reduced GST on homegrown healthcare products and companies by keeping a low GST bracket on immunity-boosting products.

There should be economic incentives in the form of endowment funds and providing tax relief. Overall, we hope that the spends on the healthcare sector go up to more than 2.5-3% of the GDP.

Shilpa Khanna Thakkar, CEO, Chicnutrix

The Make In India or Be Indian Buy Indian, should be the key focus. India has emerged as a land of opportunities where we are constantly witnessing a lot of start-ups flourishing. Quite a few successful start-ups have been spearheaded by women. There is still a gap of financial support and literacy that becomes an obstacle. Efforts need to be taken to support and mentor these entrepreneurs.

Investors and government bodies should allocate funding that supports sustainable businesses. With health and wellness taking centre stage, there should be a relaxation of taxes on essential wellness products.

Harry Sehrawat, Co-Founder, Sanfe

The Union budget should emphasise women being more open about menstrual hygiene and issues as digital media takes the world by storm. With soaring environmental issues, many consumers are looking at eco-friendly alternatives to lessen the potential damage to the environment. We hope that the government will begin their support towards the encouragement of using biodegradable products which will be highly conducive to the reduction of plastic waste in our country.

Apart from the exemption of taxes on sanitary pads, changes implemented for import duties would be very beneficial to the expansion and speedy production of these biodegradable products which are possibly the way of the future and will definitely help the menstruating population of the rural regions as well as the economically backward sections of our country.

Major Manjit Rajain, Global Chairman, Tenon Group

Budget 2022 should focus on employment generation across sectors to revive the stressed economy. Private security guards, cleaning staff, and workers continued to work through the lockdown, risking their lives to support police, local administration, hospitals, grocery stores, e-commerce warehouses, and banks. It is time to extend support to them through the Budget.

To continue paying wages to lakhs of private security guards, cleaners, and other such minimum wage workers, the sector will need adequate working capital support from banks. Therefore, our sector should be classified as a priority sector and banks should be advised to extend at least six months of equivalent working capital credit lines to eligible security, facility management, manpower supply, and cash logistics companies.

Jatin Ahuja, Founder and MD, Big Boy Toyz

The luxury car segment has some of the highest duties, GST, cess and registration costs. I urge the government to kindly review the current tax structure for luxury vehicle cars and come to a more rational tax structure to drive growth in the sector. The automobile sector will be obliged by the government if there is a standardised GST to 12%, as now GST varies from 18% to 12% on used cars. It will boost the economy and the sector as well. It will also help the government to get more and more car dealers to roll up for GST.

Ruchika Bhagat, MD, Neeraj Bhagat & Co.

I am hopeful that the upcoming Budget will give the economy a much-needed boost. A complex unfriendly capital gains tax system is a big reason why many Indian start-ups fail to sustain in the long run, so we believe that the government should look at assisting start-ups through policies and support mechanisms towards domestic capital participation, incentives to set up incubators in every state, tax exemptions in foreign direct investments, and a high focus on start-up infrastructure development.

As far as the Hospitality Sector is concerned, we are hoping that the government should offer interest-free loans, subsidies, reduction in tax structure, which will help in the recovery and covering up the previous losses as the pandemic was particularly hard for this sector.

The focus of this year’s Budget is expected to be growth-oriented. The government would prepare a balanced budget that would account for growth as well as revenue-generating options. Considering the impact of the current pandemic the budget should focus on general economic growth.

Dr Kshitiz Murdia, CEO and Co-founder, Indira IVF

We would suggest the government bring IVF treatments under health insurance parameters. Though social stigma prevents couples from considering such treatment, particularly in rural areas and small towns, many couples in urban areas are currently unable to seek benefit because it is not covered by insurance and they fail to afford prolonged treatment if required. Financial support through insurance will bring much relief to such couples and it will also encourage more penetration of such treatments in small cities/towns.

If the insurance company pays for infertility treatments, there will be more standardisation and transparency in the system.