Budget has clear focus on Digital India, Skilling: Startups

NEW DELHI: Hailing the Budget as progressive, unicorns and startups said the proposals have a clear focus on ' Digital India' and skilling.

The attention to affordable housing and greater employment in rural areas are the right interventions to build a more equitable society, they said.

"The budget is progressive and forward looking...These are welcome moves in the interest of India's unique and growing needs," Ola co-founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal said.

He added that the focus on building long term digital infrastructure and cashless ecosystem will also help accelerate quality of services and innovation at large.

Enhancing digital infrastructure, reducing cash donations, capping cash transactions, using Aadhaar Pay to enable more digital payments are significant measures, Snapdeal co-founder and CEO Kunal Bahl said.

"The emphasis on skill development and technical education will enable India to successfully harness the demographic dividend. The attention to affordable housing, greater employment in rural areas are the right interventions to build a more equitable society," he added.

Startups welcomed the move to extend tax benefits for three out of the first seven years of incorporation for the fledgling firms.

They were also of the view that the move to reduce corporate tax for Medium and Small Scale Enterprises ( MSMEs) to 25 per cent will go a long way in attracting more investment in the country.

"It will surely give the domestic sector a massive push and indirectly help the country in restoring its healthy GDP growth forecast," Mobikwik CEO and founder Bipin Preet Singh said.