Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar called for further exemption for startups, days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the much-anticipated Start-up India action plan. “Small entrepreneurs face the biggest harassment from government officials… all startup firms should be exempted from filing returns in the first five years,” Parrikar said at an event organised by the Wadhwani Foundation in New Delhi on Tuesday.
The minister said he was speaking as an entrepreneur and recollected the harrowing time he personally faced while running after government departments. The BJP-led NDA government has already exempted startups from capital gains tax, filing tax returns and inspection for three years.
Romesh Wadhwani, a recipient of the Forbes India Philanthropy Award, suggested the creation of National Jobs Advisor to the Prime Minister at the PMO, among other measures urgently required to help create 50 million jobs in India over the next 10 years. Wadhwani, founder, chairman and CEO of Silicon Valley-based Symphony Technology Group and a part of the Forbes 400 list, has already committed $1 billion to help the government, both central and state, skill the youth.
“The job advisor will be responsible for creating the overall master plan for job growth, frame special initiatives to add up to the plan and coordinate between the Cabinet ministries and state governments,” said Wadhwani. He said the signals from the prime minister on this issue were encouraging.
The Wadhwani Foundation released a white paper on job creation and mooted an integrated national ecosystem for entrepreneurship, education and mentoring, ease of doing business for startups, and enabling growth in existing small and medium enterprises (SMEs), among its various suggestions to give a fillip to high quality job creation.