APRIL 2023930,000 acve companies in its innovation and startup ecosystem. A crisis of this magnitude requires strong government assistance. Furthermore, it calls for strong collaborations between academia, government, and business. The Indian government's unwavering support of its startup and incubator ecosystem over the past few years is one of the brightest shining lights on the horizon to dispel the darkness of despair that seems to be enveloping many parts of the world, even though no one could have anticipated a crisis of such epic proportions to arise so unexpectedly.Bhanu Chopra, Founder & MD, RateGain Travel Technologies, said, "What I loved about the budget presented by Hon. Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is the focused on upskilling, innovation and technology- the realization that the curriculum of today is no longer enough for people to succeed in the AI-enabled future. The Minister's focus on involving educational establishments, and making center of excellences for innovation will bring a new mindset in future generations to experiment, fail, and pivot from a very young age - setting up a country that is agile, ever ready to embrace new technology, and be the economy that the world relies on to drive growth! Make AI in India and For India".The Future Awaits India's startup-friendly conditions often don't call for significant financial investments or financial incentives. However, they do require support at all stages of development, including company strategy, community building, and establishing connections with knowledgeable business mentors. This support comes from successful entrepreneurs and strategic angels. A complete interaction between all stakeholders is necessary for innovation to be supported and R&D to be pushed in the country. Real leaders will differentiate themselves from the rest in the coming years based on how their organisations react.Javed Tapia, Founder & Managing Director, Clover Infotech, said, "The measures introduced in the Union Budget 2023 in terms of ease of doing business such as reducing compliance requirements and legal provisions will play a key role in attracting global investments into India. By relaxing contract execution policies, facilitating availability of credit, and extending tax benefits to start-ups and MSMEs, the FM has taken progressive steps to build a favourable support ecosystem for start-ups and MSMEs. The training and skilling initiatives under the `Make AI in India' and `Unified Skill India Digital Platform' will create a highly skilled workforce that can significantly accelerate our economic growth".Founder of Geniemode- Tanuj Gangwani, said, "Today's budget for the first time offered a package of assistance for traditional artisans through the PM Vishwakarma KAushal Samman (PM VIKAS) scheme. This step is in the right direction and will enable artisans to improve their products' quality, scale and reach, integrating them with the MSME value chain. While tax rebates on personal income will benefit the commoner, we were expecting decriminalization of GST and TDS, which were not addressed in today's budget. Moreover, we were concerned about the high cotton prices and hoped a cotton price stabilization fund scheme would be installed. While the scheme wasn't introduced, the budget announcement spoke about adopting a cluster-based value-chain approach, encouraging collaboration between farmers, the state and the government, which will help reduce fluctuations in natural fibre, making it an overall positive value add". India currently has the third-largest startup ecosystem in the world, the United States of and is the economy with the quickest rate of growth
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