The government is proposing to set up an Agriculture Accelerator Fund to encourage young entrepreneurs in rural areas to start farming.
MeIndia’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman made some proposals on February 1 in the budget bill for fiscal year 2023-24, which starts on April 1. This demonstrates continued government efforts to support technology-driven entrepreneurship.
Ahead of the 2024 general elections, some proposals are specifically focused on boosting tech startup activity in rural India beyond the big cities. For example, the Minister proposed setting up an Agriculture Accelerator Fund “to encourage agricultural start-ups by young entrepreneurs in rural areas.”
“This fund aims to provide innovative and affordable solutions to the challenges facing farmers. ,” she said in her budget speech to Congress. She did not immediately provide details on how much money will be spent on setting up the fund. The government also plans to expand digital public infrastructure for agriculture as an open source, open standard and interoperable public good, she added.
Its purpose is to provide an “inclusive to deliver “targeted and farmer-centric solutions”. industry and startups.
In other technology-related proposals, Sitharaman said the government would fund the establishment of three centers of excellence in artificial intelligence (AI) and set up 100 labs in engineering colleges across the country in the area of 5G wireless. . And she reiterated that the government will set a national data governance policy to provide anonymized data to encourage startups. rice field.
“We expect the budget to deliver significant benefits in job creation and strengthening the country’s technological and competitive manufacturing capabilities, one of the key drivers of India’s $5 trillion economic target.” based venture capital firm, said in an email.
Also Read: Agriculture on Budget 2023: Focus on Accelerator Funds and Digital Public Infrastructure for Startups
Indian Tech Startups Benefit from Government-led Investments in AI Centers of Excellence, Establishment of Labs for 5G Development, Increased Investment in Research in Priority Areas, Strong Interest in Green Growth and Energy Transition Kumar said. The Agriculture Accelerator Fund encourages agritech startups by rural entrepreneurs to drive innovative solutions for farmers based on technologies such as AI, machine learning, Internet of Things and augmented reality, he said. added.
On the tax side, the Minister proposed to further extend the establishment date of the income tax incentives for start-ups from one year to 31 March 2024. Companies can now also benefit from loss carry-forwards associated with changes in shareholdings in start-up companies. 7 to 10 years since establishment.
Abhishek Malhotra, Managing Partner of TMT Law Practice, said in an email: The center has long intended to use anonymized data sets for the benefit of small businesses and start-ups, and plans to launch a national He noted that it plans to introduce a data governance policy.
In addition to this, improvements to simplify the process of getting to know your customer have taken a risk-based approach rather than a one-size-fits-all approach, catering to startups and smaller industry players, and empowering entrepreneurs to research and develop. and development. their product, he added.
Also Read: Budget 2023: Economic Research Project 10 Years of Sustained Growth
At the forefront of the energy transition, as part of India’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions, manufacturers in the electric vehicle (EV) sector will benefit from additional measures introduced in the budget. The budget also includes proposals to fund more biogas projects, energy storage and pumped storage technologies, and clean hydrogen. India’s National Hydrogen Mission Plan was unveiled last month.
Etrio Automobiles managing director and co-promoter Kalyan C Korimerla said in an email that the EV promotion budget is focused on a much-needed initiative. This includes lowering tariffs on lithium batteries from his 21% to 13% and extending EV battery subsidies for another year.
Rahul Garg, Founder and CEO of Moglix, a manufacturing procurement marketplace, added: We support small businesses nationwide. ”
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