Indian Elections 2019: Expectation of Industry Leaders from the New Indian Government

Indian voters have cast their vote to elect the next government and today is the day when we are waiting for the Indian Elections 2019 Results. The counting is still going on but the trends are showing that a strong government is about to be formed. Industry leaders have a lot of expectations from Modi led NDA Government, here are a few interesting quotes:

Dr Keshab Panda, CEO& Managing Director, L&T Technology Services - “This election is a victory for Indian democracy and the people’s mandate. A stable and clear majority is always beneficial to business and international trade and commerce. As India builds up on its global position of being a leader in new-age innovations, it is the right time to leverage the country’s unique capabilities to serve as a best-in-class ER&D services destination. We can expect to see growing demand for technology expertise in several critical areas such as smart cities, connected healthcare and Electric Vehicle technologies, backed by the Government’s active policy framework. We foresee technology companies coming out with digital engineering solutions catering to all of these in the coming years.”

Kishan Jain, Director, Goldmedal Electricals - “The rapid proliferation of new technologies such as internet of things, artificial intelligence, connected devices & home automation, have provided FMEG companies tremendous opportunities to grow, flourish and expand into newer industry segments. Additionally, the past few years have seen the Government of India having a keen focus on the promotion of energy efficient solutions such as LED lighting. With the current Government all set for a second term in office, we hope that this trend continues as it would give further fillip not only to the manufacture of such products but also to the Government’s ‘Make in India’ and ‘Smart Cities’ initiative.”

Jitendra Chaturvedi, Director and Co-founder, Batooni Mobile Advertising - “The government had started smoothening the tax issues in start-up funding. Continuation of the regime will hopefully hasten the change in the procedures and laws helping startup funding. BJP’s known penchant for advertising is very good news for adtech startups”.

Harshil Mathur, CEO & Co-Founder, Razorpay - "This government has had a very strong focus on Digital India and FinTech, and we are happy that they will continue to do so. A lot of programs were initiated towards digitisation of the country and increasing access to fintech last year - this must progress with a fresh commitment to democratise digital payments. The impact of GST should bring more people into the tax bracket. One reform that I am expecting is the tax and GST benefit for businesses opting for digital transactions. We were looking forward for this to happen last year, however, hopefully, the government will do it this year."

Sudeep Gupta, Founding Partner Impactify, India's smartest marketplace - “CSR funds for social impact startups - Startups working in the social impact space should be eligible for CSR funds. Process and compliance to invest CSR money in technology incubators/ social impact organizations should be simplified and streamlined”.

Bhavin Turakhia, CEO, Zeta & Flock -  ‘’In the last four years, Indian B2B startups have more than tripled. Our country is now taking giant strides towards becoming one of the fastest growing startup hubs globally. To make this a reality and accelerate their growth, the new Government of India must put in place measures such as training hubs for entrepreneurs across India to ease flow of capital, regulatory compliance and more. Further, these hubs must act as one-stop knowledge, research and development centers so that startups can focus more on innovation and less on processes. Thus, acting as a catalyst or emerging startups across sectors’’.

Satyam Kumar, CEO & Co-Founder, LoanTap Financial Technologies Pvt. Ltd - ‘’Currently, a start-up needs to follow number of compliance laid down by various regulatory bodies as well as there is a knowledge gap because of multiple points of contact. While they are definitely necessary, they are onerous and costly to comply with. Compliance is expected with regards to Labour Law, MSME Registration, Investment, MCA Compliance as well as ones related to individual sectors. There should also be consideration on hefty penalty in cases of non-compliance.

Expectation from Government is to make process simpler to comply with - A single clearance window - which ensures end to end solution or procedure to be followed by a start-up that enables pro-active compliance as well as helps to avoid unnecessary costs.’’

Javed Tapia, Founder, Slonkit - "The current government has given a fillip to startups with initiatives such as Start-Up India which enables self-certification, rebate in filing patents, income tax exemptions, easier public procurement norms etc. I think the new government should further enhance the vibrant start-up ecosystem wherein startups can collaborate seamlessly and share knowledge and technical expertise. This will help India to leverage it's entrepreneurial potential and become a hotbed of unicorn start-ups across different sectors."

Pushkar Mukewar, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Drip Capital - "When the new government sets out its agenda, we hope the slew of measures announced to improve credit access for MSMEs will be put into action. So far, much of the policy support to fintech has been on the retail side, that is, digital payments. What is now needed is a big push to promote fintech in areas such as MSME lending and export finance, to help solve the credit gap problem for the MSME sector. Additionally, if PSUs are indeed mandated to ensure that 25% of their purchases are from MSMEs, this will give the sector some much-needed impetus. We also hope that the wrinkles in GST will be ironed out in the next few years."

Ajay Adiseshann, CEO and Founder of PayMate - "Our expectations from the new government is to ensure we have policies to encourage and support startups along with transparent investment policies coupled with adequate but minimum regulations to foster innovation. Startups are making a positive contribution to employment and over the next 10 years can potentially be one of the largest employers of both blue and white collar workers. Startups are critical to the nations future."

Sampad Swain, CEO & Co-founder, Instamojo - “We welcome the newly elected Government and look forward to the next phase of growth and economic development. Across the last 5 years, we have witnessed the implementation of some impactful initiatives including that of Digital India and Make in India which continue to benefit the growth of the economy. For the new term ahead, we hope that the government introduces measures to streamline taxes and ease regulatory policies for the MSMEs of the country which would further the impetus of the sector and ease of doing business. Also, we believe that the government should address the major challenges faced by MSMEs, primarily the absence of adequate financial options and skilled labor which is a significant deterrent to the progress of the sector.”

Dr. Arun, Chief Economist at Dun and Bradstreet - “A stable government and continued policy thrust are two specific pre-requisite criteria for a sustainable growth trajectory. If the intended policy measures are well conceptualized, target oriented and executed with efficiency, it can produce the desired result. The new Government at Centre will have to face the challenges that is inhibiting the current growth momentum and brace the economy from unavoidable external challenges. Uplifting the domestic demand and resolving the issues in the strategic sectors like aviation, power and banking and non-banking financial companies becomes imperative as risks from slowing global economic activity and trade can be difficult to circumvent. The demand slowdown is becoming broad-based with softer momentum in growth visible in some of the high frequency indicators of rural and urban consumption. New investment from the private sector has not picked up and the fiscal constraints limit government spending. With both demand and investment slowing down, the government might have to re-evaluate the implementation of its policy agenda and adjust its policy priorities to accelerate growth in the near term. Given that the current government is well versed with the areas of improvement, it will be advantageous compared to a new government which will frame its new set policy priorities from the start”.

Juergen Hase, CEO, Unlimit - “The Indian start-up sector have already been ignited in the past five years with favourable policies around taxation, investments, ease of doing business, incubation, foreign capital, cross border, startup lobby groups, industry associations. The foundation of the of the ecosystem is already in place with India being the third largest hub for start-ups globally. Active government involvement is the need of the hour to resolve challenges such as unemployment, and funding for the growth of the industry and the economy at large. For start-ups to flourish it is imperative to create an environment that is conducive to physical, offline small businesses and hardware product firms operating locally. The new government should continue with initiatives such as Make in India and Digital India to aid the growth of the start-up industry and also work towards a digital economy by installing proportionate methods to tackle policy challenges”.

Alok Mittal, Founder & CEO, Indifi Technologies - "The vision of India Stack has become well-defined and distinct in its scope and financial services should continue to be a huge area of operations. We expect the new government to define concrete steps to mobilize access to financial services and empower the fintech companies that facilitate them. For instance, extending credit guarantee schemes such as MUDRA and facilitating better data access to alternate lending companies can help in bolstering the impact and reach of these initiatives. Doing so can ensure a step closer to financial inclusion and high growth potential for MSMEs in India.

The government’s intentions are in the right place. Over the next five years, we can expect the government to introduce more well-evaluated and specific purpose driven initiatives to further boost the Indian startup ecosystem. Streamlined regulatory mechanisms, reduced tax rates, enhanced tax exemptions can be expected. The future definitely looks bright for the digital ecosystem, the MSMEs, or the startups, all fostering a better economy during the next five years."

Navtej Singh - CEO Digital Business, Hitachi Payment Services - “It is our belief that the (new) government will take steps to further strengthen the fintech ecosystem in India. With the consumer in mind, the government should introduce regulations that are flexible in nature and benefit multiple stakeholders. While regulations like sandbox and ‘no-compromise’ approach towards safety will further drive innovation and security in the fintech space, a more market driven approach towards pricing, the timelines to implement the norms and flexibility would be equally important. The push towards more convenience, cost effectiveness and adoption of technology that make lives easier for every Indian citizen such as UPI, IMPS etc. should be the topmost priority.”

Himanshu Pujara - Managing Director, Euronet Services India Pvt. Ltd. - “A right mix of policies, regulation and incentives are required to further the fintech space. The Government thus far has been extremely supportive by promoting the platform for real time and faster payments, creating an environment that has let to huge investments in the fintech space which has allowed mushrooming of several hundreds of start-ups who are enabling innovation. Going forward the Government has to ensure that policy and regulation have a coordinated run with industry requirements and innovation to foster creativity, new investments and secure growth of the sector.”

Gaurav Gupta, Co-founder and COO of Navia Life Care - "According to some researchers, Artificial Intelligence has the potential to double the size of our economy by 2025. The government has shown the willingness to promote this sector in the last budget. We expect a strategic plan to promote AI in various sectors, this would need close coordination of different ministries with Information Technology ministry and technology startups.

Entrepreneurship has a potential to create millions jobs in the country, we hope this government will create policies where a conducive environment is created for innovation. True innovation needs capital, stakeholders' willingness to try new products and strict policy implementation. Entrepreneurs expect more opportunities for raising high risk capital, there is a requirement that government PSU’s and its departments be willingness to use innovative products, lastly we need policies to be implemented for higher use of technology to make systems efficient and transparent, this will have a trickle down effect in adoption of technology and transformation of systems".

CP Gurnani, MD & CEO, Tech Mahindra - “Spearheading the world’s largest democracy is no mean feat, so congratulations to the winning team. It is time for us to drive positive change by leveraging digital technologies and embolden India’s collective dream of becoming a five trillion dollar economy. This also underscores the massive task that lies ahead of us - of shaping India’s future. It’s time for each one of us to step-up, collaborate and contribute towards the great India dream.”

Saahil Goel, CEO & Co-founder, Shiprocket - We expect that with the continuing mandate of the NDA government and Shri Narendra Modi, the momentum of economic reforms initiated in the last 5 years will continue. The last 5 years were about structural reforms and the MSME segment went through a tough phase with the introduction of GST and demonetization. The credit crunch has been somewhat eased and loans are now readily available for MSMEs thereby, creating a conducive environment for their growth"

However, now we expect that the positive outcome of these reforms will be seen in the next 5 years with more businesses entering the formal economy. For startups, we hope that this government will give more incentives to new businesses being set up either in the way of tax incentives or business support. Startups will be the new industries of tomorrow and it is important to nurture them today for generating superior employment in the country."

Anil Nagar, Founder & CEO, Adda247 - "As the new government takes charge, we expect the momentum of reforms and policy for start ups and education continue to flourish.As per the interim budget to invest about 38.57cr in National Education Mission, we hope to see a positive and fruitful development of the education sector in India. Initiatives for the Teacher Training Institutes and School Assessment Programs and support towards new age technologies should still continue to help the education and technology sector in particular".

Ms. Saania Singh, Co - Founder, Zero Gravity Aesthetics - “Government policies and their implementation have always played an important role in how different businesses fare in the market. This is why it becomes important to consider the voice of companies and other stakeholders, while implementing any policy. GST was implemented the same year Zero Gravity Aesthetics was launched. It is no secret that GST led to extreme shortage of working capital, to combat which there is no backup plan in place. This has translated into a major hurdle for Zero Gravity Aesthetics, like numerous other startups / entrepreneurs. Due to this, carrying out business operations is a challenge. Now with the same government back in majority, we expect it to act on the issue and make working capital available through banks or reasonable interest rates. We would also want the government to rework on import/ export policies. The government should make them more transparent for the ease of doing business, if it wants to see us scale heights and help us prepare better for the globally competitive market.”

Siddhartha Gupta, CEO of Mercer|Mettl - "India has once again given a clear mandate instead of a fractured one, It should bear fruit for us in the coming years. My advise to the new Government would be to press the pedal on growth enabling measures both Social and Capital.

Higher targets on being a conducive business environment with abundant talent available should be the mission & vision for India. Policy and infrastructure for Up-skilling, re-skilling, and improving the ground-level education in consonance with building capability on disruptive technologies like AI, ML, and data science have to be developed.

Government needs to author a more transparent and accurate measure of Job creation and well being to ensure we can pursue progressive miles tones."

Krishna Kumar, CEO & Founder, Simplilearn - “The newly elected government, in their previous term had introduced several initiatives to bridge the gap of supply and demand of talent by launching the Skill India Initiative in 2015 to train about 400 million people by 2022. We can expect the Skill India initiative to be taken to a newer level. With the need and demand for digital skilling going high, we want the government to encourage public-private partnership model with ed-tech companies at a national and state level with a larger agenda of making Indian IT workforce skill and job-ready”.

“India is all set to become a USD 5 trillion economy. The new government should enable creation of technology hubs and allied training centres across major cities and towns in India. In addition to bridging the skill gap of graduates, this will also accelerate the adoption of new-age technologies such as AI, data analytics and cloud. These disruptive technologies coupled with a young population can foster enhanced levels of growth through entrepreneurship and innovation and significantly augment India’s competitive edge globally."

Javed Tapia, Founder & MD, Clover Infotech - “India is all set to become a USD 5 trillion economy. The new government should enable creation of technology hubs and allied training centres across major cities and towns in India. In addition to bridging the skill gap of graduates, this will also accelerate the adoption of new-age technologies such as AI, data analytics and cloud. These disruptive technologies coupled with a young population can foster enhanced levels of growth through entrepreneurship and innovation and significantly augment India’s competitive edge globally."

KNM Rao, Co-Founder & CEO, Quick Ride - "We are positive that the government will continue executing its progressive policies and programs. Traffic is one such issue that certainly requires full attention from the government. Quick Ride is doing its part in decongesting the roads but we need support from the government. We expect the new government to look at carpooling as a service rather than leverage. For which proper definition of carpooling in the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988 is required. Players like us have witnessed tremendous growth in the last few years.

We expect this to accelerate with additional support from the Government. The Centre can encourage State governments to formulate new policies and programs that will encourage the citizens to carpool. Quick Ride can also be a part of different fora of the government to encourage shared mobility across different geographies. We have already covered major metros and are now penetrating into Tier 2 cities, we expect the government to make carpooling a medium for last mile connectivity from different public transport mediums like metro stations, bus stands, etc. While futuristic mobility solutions for urban India are in the works, optimization of the current mode of transport via ride sharing is a small step towards the bigger dream of a green planet."

Subramanian NN, Director-Delivery and Co-Founder, Maveric Systems - “Technology plays a major role in raising productivity and innovation. We sincerely believe that technology can become an important driver for our country’s economic growth and social development. However, to begin with, government should push more on the impact of AI/IOT, data science and analytics network which is beneficial for the IT industry. Digitization and faster web will also continue to encourage the technology industry in India. Implementing these dealings can also improve access to data and will enable India’s transformation into a data-driven economy. Another major challenge in our country is job creation and therefore this sector should be vigorously promoted in order to facilitate generation of employment and envision a digital world with plenty of options for the youth of tomorrow”.

Deepak Gupta, CTO & Co-founder, LoginRadius - "The new government should focus on data privacy and the security of Indian identities. As India will have 50 billion identities to manage in the next 5 years including identities being also managed via IOT, AI and other technological platforms. The Government should provide emphasis and regulate data privacy with the usage of advanced platforms that provide user consent management, best in class user experience and data security."

Swetabh Pathak, Co-Founder, Elucidata - "Just as the policy changes in 1990s helped India become the IT services hub of the world; India now has a similar opportunity to become a global leader in big data and AI application in Pharma and Healthcare. We hope the Government should create helpful policy frameworks and incentivize start-ups in this niche."

Ashok Chopra, Country Head at Fresca Juices - "We congratulate the current government and hope they will continue to ensure the implementation of more progressive policies. We expect the government to help small traders and businessmen by further simplifying GST. It will also be helpful if the GST returns are allowed to be filed on a quarterly basis.

In terms of other policies, we expect more incentives for the setup of new food processing plants. We would also ask the government to consider increasing direct FDI in the food processing industry. Additional incentives to promote the Make in India campaign should also be a prime area of focus, as it can help create more job opportunities for the country's youth"

Devendra Parulekar, Founder, SaffronStays - "We hope to see the elected government work on rationalising the GST rates as the top end of the customer segments are choosing to holiday abroad, with the current GST bracket ultimately impacting the domestic travel economy. This in turn creates a ripple effect on the employment rates as well. The hospitality industry is a big contributor when it comes to providing employment and need to be actively encouraged and one of the ways of doing so is ensuring that domestic travel becomes an affordable option for the Indian traveler.

It would also help if the government widens the scope and budget of National Skill Development Corporation to train our youth in hospitality operations, housekeeping, front office, cooking and other skills related to the industry, as it create a ready pool of employable resources for the industry.

Another aspect that takes away from the domestic travel industry's growth is the lack of adequate infrastructure. We expect that the elected government to focus on building good quality roads, for the comfort of every traveler along with building public restrooms on highways and petrol stations that are women friendly. Just taking a few mindful steps can go a long way in nudging the domestic travel industry upward on the growth trajectory. Lastly, I also think that a government led initiative to encourage more eco-friendly and sustainable solutions to reduce should energy consumption can really contribute positively towards boosting the economy. We can't have a singular lens towards growth anymore, the onus lies with the government as much as it does with the population of the country to imbibe an empathetic lens and work towards building economies that are flourishing that don't cost us the environment we want to flourish within."

Tanul Mishra, Founder and CEO, Afthonia Lab - "Our expectations from the new government is to ensure we have policies to encourage and support startups along with transparent investment policies coupled with adequate but minimum regulations to foster innovation. Startups are making a positive contribution to employment and over the next 10 years can potentially be one of the largest employers of both blue and white collar workers. Startups are critical to the nations future."

Shakar Prasad, Founder and Director, PurePlay Skin Sciences - Use technology (e.g., AI and blockchain) to remove manual compliance checking. Businesses that have their GSTIN, PAN, IEC etc registered should be "green channeled" through routine processes, instead of having to do KYCs and submit photocopies of the same documents (simply to prove our legitimacy) again and again to every authority that thinks of asking for it. This will vastly and truly improve the "ease of doing business".

Reduce the number of licenses and return-filings required to operate a business. Again use of technology can throw up exceptions, whereas the return filing process is a passive "I'm all compliant" process at present.

Hasten up physical infrastructure projects like metros and subways. In a city like Mumbai, the candidate's place of residence has become my No. 1 consideration while shortlisting resumes, because some intra-city commutes have become impossible, regardless of how motivated or strong-willed the candidate is. I've had to say no to a lot of good talent because of this issue.

A credit guarantee (perhaps backed by our GST receivables?) to banks so that access to working capital finance is possible without the need for collateral. Where do idea-driven businesses (as opposed to asset-driven businesses) go for collateral?

Truly do something for the environment before it's too late. Knee-jerk bans are not going to help. Put in place a science mission to scientifically and pragmatically tackle issues like plastics, urban pollution, habitat destruction and water resource depletion - these will take time to bear fruit but we have to start somewhere.

Satyam Kumar, CEO & Co-Founder, LoanTap Financial Technologies Pvt. Ltd. - “ We are extremely happy to see continuity in policy making. Government has been rightfully using Niti Aayog very effectively to push inclusion, ease of doing business, innovation, job creation and easier compliance environment. Currently, a start-up needs to follow number of compliance laid down by various regulatory bodies as well as there is a knowledge gap because of multiple points of contact. At the same time, there is a hefty penalty in case of non-compliance. While compliance is definitely necessary, they are onerous and costly. Compliance is expected with regards to Labour Law, MSME Registration, Investment, MCA Compliance as well as ones related to individual sectors.

Expectation from Government is to make process simpler to comply with - A single window clearance- which ensures end to end solution or procedure to be followed by a start-up that enables proactive compliance as well as helps to avoid unnecessary costs.”

Vivek Kumar Singh, CFO & Co Founder at ToneTag - "We would like to congratulate the BJP government for their remarkable landslide victory. We hope the NDA 2.0 govt will continue to work on its progressive policies and further strengthen the Make in India campaign with focus on technological innovation. As a part of the Indian technology startup fraternity, we hope for speedy implementation of schemes and policies like easing the regulatory requirement for start-ups and facilitating the establishment of 50,000 new startups by 2024 which will result in massive job creation.”