Himanshu Gupta, Co-founder and CEO, Lawyered Shares a Quick Byte on Budget 2021

The FM's speech briefly touched upon aspects of MSME, entrepreneurship and innovation. The allocation of funds for MSMEs has doubled to INR 15,700 and the incorporation of small companies and one-person companies will be aided by the amendments in the requirement of paid-up capital and turnover. This will provide a boost to innovators, entrepreneurs and MSMEs. The budget did not specifically talk about strengthening aspects of technology, communication, financial inclusion, AI/ML etc. - but these will definitely be positively impacted by some of the other announcements made today. Increasing the FDI cap in the insurance sector from 49% to 74% will make it more lucrative for foreign companies to setup shop and also have ownership of the business. This will provide a boost to the insurance tech sector in the country. The allocation of INR 3000 crore for the country's first "digital census" will generate goodwill among those who are betting big on digitalization and tech. The consolidation of provisions of the SEBI Act, Depositories Act, Securities Contracts Regulation Act and other similar acts will also impact the ease of doing business positively - making it more lucrative for businesses to open up and aim towards going public.