'Acche Din Aane Wale Hai' for e-commerce

 

The first budget presented by the finance minister Arun Jaitley seems to have its impact on the masses. There was something for everyone and for each sector but the industry was hoping for few extra tax relaxation. While some disappointed, some do believe that the new government will try to take the country to newer heights.

If talk about one of the leading sectors in the world 'e-commerce', it was encouraging to see that e-commerce got an explicit mention. E-commerce is set to become a $30-billion industry in the next five years, which will not just provide access to consumers from across the country but will also create tremendous employment opportunities for all participating businesses like logistics firms and small businesses and here is what the top heads of the e-commerce world in India have to say about the Indian Budget 2014.

Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder and CEO at Paytm, "Given a choice, I will like to say that service tax on online and mobile advertising is an unexpected move by the government and something that is detrimental to the service industry - particularly startups. This will increase costs for startups and digital economy companies as a lot of services are leveraged by these companies. Similarly one person companies or single individuals providing a service too are affected. On the other hand the Government has removed service tax for print and that's like promoting old world media over new world economy options. We would have loved to have a more future focussed policy regarding this particular aspect of the budget."

Saurabh Kochhar,MD and co-founder, Printvenue.com," The new government has taken a great initiative towards inclusive development and economic growth by permitting FDI in the e-commerce sector. Also, this will help in nurturing new players in the e-commerce space. Besides this, the Rs 10,000-crore fund, set up to aid start ups and SMEs, is a welcome sign. However, the implementation of this fund is most significant. The government will need a team of highly competent individuals to identify the most deserving investment opportunities. I think helping new start ups with funds will indeed boost the morale of young entrepreneurs and soon we'll see positive numbers in the Indian job market as well."

Mehul Agarwal, co-founder and MD, Fabfurnish.com, "It is encouraging to see ecommerce and entrepreneurship getting explicit recognition in this year's budget. Rs 10,000 cr startup fund will act as a big boost to promote entrepreneurship and increasing risk appetite of our largely young population, that's constantly filled with brilliant and dynamic ideas.

Rohit Chadda, MD and co-founder, foodpanda, "This is a very heartening news for the entire ecommerce ecosystem in the country - established international ecommerce players, Indian entrepreneurs, ecommerce enablers as well as the Indian consumers. This change in regulation will be a further catalyst to the rapidly expanding ecommerce industry in India. Top international players coming in will mean more competition to the local players which will eventually be beneficial for the value driven Indian consumer both in terms of price as well as services. Indian entrepreneurs will be able to easily raise funds from overseas investors who are always very keen to explore and ride the ecommerce boom in the country. This will also present an opportunity for new players in the ecom enabling space like logistics, supply chain, payments etc. And lastly of course with so many old and new players expanding and starting up respectively we'll see boost in the Indian job market as well. I think this is a very progressive step by the government and was long overdue. Seems like 'sahi mein achche din aane wale hain'."

Pavan Chauhan, MD and co-founder, Meritnation.com, "The government's decision to focus on setting up more institutes for technical and professional education such as AIIMs, IIMs and IITs is an extremely positive step. We have a huge population and scaling successful models like IITs is critical to bring quality education to more and more people.

The budget marks out Rs 500 crore for making broadband Internet available to Villages. In addition to this the reduced taxes on telecom equipment which will make mobile phones cheaper will ensure that the penetration of technology continues at a rapid pace and students all over the country can access quality education at the click of a button.