General Election 2019 Reactions: Big Smile on the faces of IT HONCHOS

As the counting for General Election 2019 is going on and its all clear that the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) is all set to come again in power with its alliance NDA. Narendra Modi is set to become the Prime Minister of India second time in a row.

Here’s what India’s IT honchos said ahead of the final mandate of the General Election 2019 poll results.

Neel Juriasingani, CEO & Co-founder, Datacultr said "We welcome BJP again as the Government of India. In the past five years, the government has shown tremendous interest in the startup ecosystem of India and has made several policies to make it easier for entrepreneurs to launch new businesses and create jobs. Numerous startups have forayed into the various unexplored sectors and have given a new shape to the economy of India. Now, with BJP coming again, we foresee a multi-fold growth of the entire gamut of the startup network with all the stakeholders leveraging the change in the ecosystem. With the vision of moving towards Smart Cities, Fintech, AgriTech and Smart Industries, the government of India has been a great support for startups. "

Bhavin Turakhia, CEO & Co-Founder, Zeta & Flock says, ‘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 Government of India must put in place measures such as training hubs for entrepreneurs across India to ease the 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’’

Kartik Agarwal, CEO at Staunch said "We welcome Modi government again, in last 5 years government has launched more than 150 schemes and policies for the startup community interest. Further pushing the Indian youth to look at start-ups as a viable career option, the government launched Fund of Funds worth INR 10,000 crore whereas NITI Aayog launched the Atal Innovation Mission to foster innovation among budding entrepreneurs at the grassroots level. Now, with BJP coming in power again, we have huge expectations ranging from Clarity on angel tax to tax exemptions on ESOPS, easing active compliance norms and state level funding & infrastructure support."

Nikhil Arora, Vice President & Managing Director, GoDaddy India said, “As we stand at the cusp of a new government, we are hopeful that there will be a strong impetus on providing a better ecosystem for the growth of small businesses, startups and MSMEs in the country. We are quite positive about the current government's push towards digitally transforming the nation and aspire for GoDaddy to contribute significantly to our country's Digital India initiatives. To help drive the next phase of online growth in the country, we are committed to continue working with the right partners and the government and provide all the tools and help needed to empower entrepreneurs and small businesses to bring their ideas online.”

Satyam Kumar, CEO & Co-Founder, LoanTap Financial Technologies Pvt. Ltd says, ‘’Currently, a start-up needs to follow a 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 a consideration on hefty penalty in cases of non-compliance.

The expectation from Government is to make the process simpler to comply with - A single clearance window - which ensures an 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 says, "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 its entrepreneurial potential and become a hotbed of unicorn start-ups across different sectors."

Jitendra Chaturvedi, Director, and Co-founder, Batooni Mobile Advertising said, “The government had started smoothening the tax issues in startup 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”.

Rashi Gupta, Co-founder & Chief Data Scientist at Rezo.AI, “A stable government at the center will ensure the successful and speedy implementation of more than 150 schemes and policies that the BJP government introduced for the startups. We applaud the NITI Aayog’s plan to create an institutional framework for artificial intelligence (AI) in the country. We look forward to the next 5 years of the new government and are positive that it will continue its focus and support to the startup ecosystem; especially to give a push to adoption of AI in India."

Yogesh Bhatia, CEO at PreLoved Device reacts,  "As a startup, we are expecting a very smooth and feasible ecosystem from the coming government, so that startup like us run their business without any administrative obstacles and we welcome new government, on behalf of all startups industry."

Kishan Jain, Director, Goldmedal Electricals said, “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 has 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”

Subramanian NN, Director-Delivery and Co-Founder, Maveric Systems says, “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, the government should push more on the impact of AI/IOT, data science and analytics network which is beneficial for the IT industry. Digitization and a 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 the generation of employment and envision a digital world with plenty of options for the youth of tomorrow”.

Ashutosh Harbola, CEO & Co-founder, Buzzoka reacts, "The re-elected government will have a lot more on their shoulder as new India has higher expectations this term. While digital India saw a mammoth growth in the last term, we expect the same to continue with higher investments in Digital India, etc. Also, on the front of ease of doing business, the government took some major steps last term and we expect even simpler processes should be implemented. And finally, on the GST front, I would appeal the government to introduce simpler filing processes for startups and MSME's."