FM Nirmala Sitharaman holds maiden pre-Budget consultations

Tribune News Service

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New Delhi, December 16

Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman started her Pre-Budget consultations with different groups beginning with stakeholder groups from the digital economy, fintech and start-ups.

The main areas of discussion included the use of Big Data technology, including for the SME sector and Public Governance. Other issues which dominated the discussions included digital infrastructure and role of government, regulation of digital economy, especially in privacy, financial regulation, ease-of-doing business environment for start-ups, infrastructure gaps for digital India and taxation issues.

Along with the Finance Minister, the meeting was attended by Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs Anurag Thakur, Finance Secretary Rajeev Kumar, Economic Affairs Secretary Atanu Chakraborty, Revenue Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey, Electronics and Information Technology Secretary Ajay Prakash Sawhney, Telecom Secretary Anshu Prakash, CBDT chief Pramod Chandra Mody, CBIC chief PK Das, Chief Economic Adviser KV Subramanian and other senior Finance Ministry officials.

The representatives of digital economy, fintech and start-ups shared their views and suggestions regarding Big Data, incentives for encouraging setting up of data centres, fiscal incentives for data localisation, incentives for pushing digital penetration in rural areas, corporate guarantee to start-ups for competing with other nations, rationalisation of MAT tax rate, tax exemption for start-up units, creation of specific agency for looking after cross-border financial crimes, increasing women employment (gender dividend in skill development), training youth in skill development along with international internships and incentivising R&D, stated an official news release.

The experts suggested improvements in their respective fields and also gave a variety of solutions to sector-specific problems. Many speakers suggested tax sops to start-ups to nurture them.

Industry participants

Deepak Acharya, Wipro

Mandeep Singh Puri, Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council

Vishakha Saigal, Jio Mobiles

Dheeraj P Sharma, IIM Rohtak

George Paul, MAIT

Ashish Aggarwal, Nasscom

Suneel Maggo, Industries and Entrepreneur Council

Raj Nehru, Shri Vishwakarma Skill University

Anand Nandkumar, Indian School of Business

Amrit Manwani, president, ELCIN

Peyush Bansal, Lenskart

Amit Bansal, Uber India

H Nagaraj, Velankani Electronics

Virat Bhatia, Apple India

NK Goyal, Telecom Equipment Manufacturers Association

Pankaj Mohindroo, Indian Cellular & Electronics Association

Deepa Mani, Indian School of Business

Hari Om Rai, Lava International

Madhur Deora, Paytm