India is certainly becoming the place of attraction when it comes to rising startups. The startup community in the country is not as large as the global giants US and China but it is looking promising at the moment.
Recently, several entrepreneurs got together to talk about the issue of Angel Tax imposed by government and their voice is getting heard at the highest authorities. The government sent notices to founders over the angel investments into their startups and many are asked to pay a heavy penalty on the tax not paid. Giving you an idea about the amount, some received the taxes-cum-penalty amount as much as half of the total amount raised.
This led experts to share their views so that govt. can take the right steps. “We have taken up the matter,” tweeted Minister of Commerce and Industry Suresh Prabhu.
We have taken up the issue https://t.co/N14IZm8gVY
— Suresh Prabhu (@sureshpprabhu) December 18, 2018
Being an angel investor, former Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai said: “Draconian angel tax torturing startups. It is killing genuine innovation,”
Draconian Angel tax torturing startups: It’s killing genuine innovation
@PMOIndia @narendramodi @arunjaitley @sureshpprabhu @sanjeevsanyal Sir this has started again in big https://t.co/hwFttS1aZi intervene urgent https://t.co/a63XKp4sIa— Mohandas Pai (@TVMohandasPai) December 18, 2018
Sanpdeal founder Kunal Bahl tweeted “This has got to stop! We are going to end up destroying the most promising startup community in the world.”
This has got to stop! We are going to end up destroying the most promising startup community in the world. https://t.co/GwikmTWR43
— Kunal Bahl (@1kunalbahl) December 17, 2018
Anand Mahindra tweeted “I have to admit I didn’t know about this but it certainly goes against all the tenets of #StartupIndia It needs immediate attention or else all chances or building a rival to silicon valley in India will be lost…”
I have to admit I didn't know about this but it certainly goes against all the tenets of #StartupIndia It needs immediate attention or else all chances or building a rival to silicon valley in India will be lost… https://t.co/qOD0rHB3G3
— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) December 18, 2018
We guess the pressure from these big names made the government think about the concerns as Union Minister Suresh Prabhu has recently tweeted that he’d look into the matter, it’s likely that entrepreneurs will get some relief from the tax notices they’ve been receiving. Entrepreneurship by itself is hard enough — founders don’t need to worry about an additional 30% tax when they’re starting off building their companies.
