Union Budget 2019-20 had some bright spots. The enduring issue of angel tax for startups has been resolved to a large extent, perhaps completely. There are encouraging plans to get India skilled in the realm of artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT) and virtual reality (VR). And the critical gap in research to achieve the well-intentioned goals in the emerging fields of AI and IoT would hopefully be addressed by the setting up of a National Research Foundation, which was another major announcement in the budget speech.

Publication: Livemint

Date: July 15, 2019

The Indian government keeps coming up with newer ways to pull in foreign direct investments (FDI) and empower e-commerce startups. On the other hand, it also enforces restrictions to protect the business interests of local kirana players. The new e-commerce policy marks a clear recent shift in the government’s mood towards the latter. Once implemented, the policy will straight-away put a halt on e-commerce firms in India who trade via companies in which they hold equity.  Another aim of the policy is to check the concept of unlimited cashback and deep discounting that often drive a disproportionate percentage of customers to online sellers.

Publication: BW BusinessWorld

Date: July 15, 2019

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade will soon float draft national retail policy, aimed at promoting growth of 65 million small traders, to seek views of stakeholders, a top official said. The policy will streamline the retail trade and promote ease of doing business in the sector. The main elements of the policy include promoting ease of doing business, licensing, access to funds, direct selling, and hyper-market related matters. “It will also focus on ways how to promote growth of retail sector, increase in digital payment, reducing infrastructural bottlenecks,” the official said.

Publication: The Economic Times

Date: July 15, 2019