Varun Rathi, COO & CO-founder of Happay (Bangalore based fin-tech start-up that offers expense management solution for SMEs’)
We would like to see how quickly these policies come into action. We are hoping that government will work on the bottlenecks like increasing the limit of IMPS transactions, which still remains a major concern for businesses who want to make urgent transaction beyond bank hours. Scale, innovation, and adoption in Fintech sector have always been restricted due to strict regulations. The recent announcements and the intent of the FinMin has been a welcome move. It is encouraging to have a supportive regulatory framework. With policies favoring digital transactions, it is all the more important for Happay to serve more customers and be available with the right solutions when the SMEs and Enterprises need them the most.”
Paynear Solutions, Ms.Priti Shah, CEO of Paynear Solutions (“Paynear ONE” a payment solution that transforms merchant’s Smartphone/Tablet/PC to a card payment acceptance device)
According to the budget, 20 Lakh POS machines will be deployed this year.
Commenting on the announcement, Ms.Priti Shah, CEO of Paynear Solutions said, “This is a great move and encouragement to fintech companies to play a big role in the eco system to digitise India . Paynear is keen in having decent market share and plans to deploy more than 1.5 lac devices this financial year. “
Post Budget Quote - Mr. Pramod Saxena, Chairman & Managing Director, Oxigen Services
Mr. Pramod Saxena, Chairman & Managing Direct, Oxigen Services - "The budget 2017-18 reflects the government’s continuous efforts to move towards less cash economy and bringing transparency in value chain through digital payments & GST. The budget has stressed upon the importance of strengthening India’s digital economy by bringing down cost of digital infrastructure. The acceleration of PoS infrastructure with 10 Lakh PoS machines by March 2017 and another 20 Lakh Aadhaar based PoS by September 2017 is a reflection of pushing digital payments at last mile by 300% from the current base of 15 Lakh PoS achieved so far in last 20 years. The decision to exempt duty on various POS machines will help in reducing cost of digital infrastructure implementation and benefit companies like Oxigen."
Post Budget Comment - Mr. Sunil Shroff, CEO, Viviana Mall
“Budget 2017 covered a number of issues to uplift the economy although there was nothing much for the retail sector. Governments aim to bring one crore households out of poverty by 2019 is a welcome move. Increasing expenditure towards boosting infrastructure, improving financial system and steps towards increasing foreign investments coupled with reduction in personal tax rate for the middle class would help in increase in the disposable income and spur demand for products and services which would help retailers going forward. Special scheme for creating employment in the textile, leather and footwear industries is a welcome which will help in increasing the talent pool serving these industries.”
Budget Quote from Videocon
Mr. Anirudh Dhoot, Director, Videocon
The 2017-18 financial budget based on the objective to Transform, Energise and Clean India, is aimed at spurring economic growth, synergizing investments and establishing greater transparency. With 100% rural electrification, lowered tax rates for MSMEs, and increased allocation towards schemes like M-SIPS and Electronic Development Fund (EDF), the budget fosters positive steps to further accelerate manufacturing capabilities and boost employment in the country. High disposable income as a result of lower tax rates will lead to higher purchasing power of the individuals. This will lead to increase in demand of consumer goods.
Also, we are happy to learn that GST is on track and will be implemented in April 2017. In addition to this, the Abolishing of Foreign Investment Promotion Board to ease the inflow of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) will expand investments significantly. All this will play an extremely important role in realization of Government’s dream of ‘Make in India’.