In this session we take up a long pending issue of “Angel Tax”. It has been given partial reprieve recently, under StartupIndia plan. We also discuss how startups can raise money from Angels, without getting trapped in fair market value rule of finance act 2012. Sanjay Khan speaks on the problem, the latest announcement and the way out for startups to raise equity without DIPP route, in the below...
Over the past few months, we have witnessed a number of policy changes focused on creating a conducive environment for startups and entrepreneurship in India. Some changes go beyond the startup ecosystem and attempt to resolve the issues faced by companies/investors in general. A common feature in most such changes is iSPIRT’s Stay-in-India Checklist (SIIC). The SIIC comprises 34 issues, which...
Mr. Ramesh Abhishek, Secretary of DIPP in a learning-session with iSPIRT. He formerly headed the Forwards Market Commission and has subsequently served as the secretary of performance management at the Cabinet Secretariat. He has been the key driver behind several reforms including the FMC being merged with SEBI. Mr. Ramesh Abhishek, is the new Secretary of DIPP (Department of Industrial Policy...
Every few years, we witness a fierce attempt to re-ignite the discussion of patentability of software (something that the Indian Parliament had rejected in 2005) by the usual beneficiaries of such a system: the mutli national holders of patent thickets, old system integrators, lawyers, and patent agents. These incumbent holders of patent thickets love to confuse rule-making by crying wolf and...
Over the past couple of days, a lot has been written/discussed about the so called ‘startup tax’ and its perceived ill effects on the startup ecosystem. Under iSPIRT’s new initiative, PolicyHacks, I attempt in this note to demystify the legal/tax jargon around this tax and to clarify the proposed rule for the benefit of ecosystem participants, particularly startups. What is the law? Simply put...
“Digital” is an inevitable and progressive catalyst of change. Whereas internet-based online transactions have existed for some time now, the transformations at a national scale are morphing many more areas together into a “digital economy”. The transformation is about 100% dematerialisation up to the ‘last mile’, with near 100% continuous involvement of the internet and is built upon cloud...
There are instances, when Software exporting companies operating outside an export oriented scheme (STP, SEZ, EOU etc.) are advised, that there is no need for them to file SOFTEX forms. The young entrepreneurs in Startups, obviously get confused on this. In some cases, companies stopped getting SOFTEX certification done, after complying in past when they moved out of STP/SEZ schemes, owing to...
Background There two precursor blogs recently published to this new article on taxation of digital economy, which are helpful in understanding the context for Software product industry in general and especially for SaaS. ‘SaaS’ – the product advantage and need ‘SaaS’ – indirect tax issues in India Here is a brief overview. The first blog, made a case for SaaS industry to be a formidable part of...
Ever since UPI (Unified Payments Interface) alpha launched on 11th April 2016, I see much confusion amongst various stakeholders. For me, the most relevant question is will UPI kill payment gateway aggregators and PSPs (payment service providers) ? My answer is No. If you’re interested to know more, please read on… To understand in detail, let’s understand below 5 pointers:(1) What is UPI...
A Podcast with Nandan Nilekani, founding Chairman, UIDAI On the occasion of Aadhaar reaching the 1-Billion landmark – the fastest of any digital initiative in history – I had the privilege of recording a Podcast with the founding Chairman of this grand vision, Mr. Nandan Nilekani. Nandan shared his views on how they went about building Aadhaar, the teams involved, some challenges...
