💡Is the budget budgeting the retail world?

Hey there,

Can you believe that we are already into February?! Seems like yesterday when we were welcoming 2022.

The first month was truly amazing for me, Xeno won NASSCOM’s Emerge 50 in RetailTech Category, our Marketing Calendar 2022 was a huge success and we have so many things coming down the pipe this month that cannot contain my excitement.

Well, nevertheless February also did start with a bang :P Yes, you got it right I’m talking about the budget.

It’s no surprise that today I’d be talking about the hot topic around i.e, The Union Budget 2022-23 with a specific focus on the retail & e-commerce industry.

What did the retail industry expect from Budget 2022?

Given the sustained challenges the retail sector faced last year, the industry players expected a few measures and resources to be allocated towards the retail sector in Budget 2022 to facilitate the complete revival of the sector. Here's what retail and e-commerce firms expect from FM :

• Startup employees have to pay tax whenever they sign up for ESOPs with a vesting schedule and also pay a tax on capital gains whenever they redeem their ESOPs. ESOPs should be taxed only when an employee has realized a benefit with regard to the same. Taxation should follow actual gains and not notional gains.
• To focus on increasing digitization in Tier II+ cities of India. The youth from these regions have started adopting e-commerce extensively and there is enormous growth potential if the government continues to prioritize infrastructure.
• Concentrate on policy alignment for the retail sector, which is reeling as a result of the pandemic. The long-standing demand of the National Retail Trade Policy to be addressed in order to provide the sector with a framework and structural financial support. The inclusion of retail under the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME) program to provide access to bank loans through priority sector schemes.
• To come up with a clear e-commerce policy to ensure regulation, data protection, and anti-competitive practices in the sector.

Budget 2022: Hits & misses in the Retail Sector

Now coming to what actually happened:

• Capital Expenditure: Surcharge on long-term capital gains capped

Capital expenditures increased by 35.4 percent in FY 2022-23 compared to FY 2021-22, bringing government CAPEX to 2.9 percent of GDP. This is the largest capital expenditure allocation in the last 10 years. Infrastructure spending would help to create jobs and boost the consumer economy.

The Finance Minister has capped the surcharge on long-term capital gains from shares of unlisted companies at 15%.

This will promote further direct investments in start-ups by high-net-worth individuals, venture capital firms and boost the use of ESOPs (employee stock options) by start-ups to remunerate top talent, according to experts.

• More focus on Digitalization:

Measures centered on digital banking and digital payments, such as the establishment of 75 digital banking units in 75 districts across the country by Scheduled Commercial Banks, are expected to provide a significant boost to India's digital banking infrastructure.

The financial support for the Digital Payment ecosystem will be maintained in order to promote the use of payment platforms that are cost-effective and user-friendly, as well as to support e-commerce activities.

Special Economic Zones Act to be replaced

The Special Economic Zones Act will be replaced with new legislation that will enable the States to become partners in ‘Development of Enterprise and Service Hubs’. This is likely to apply to all large existing and new industrial cover enclaves in order to maximize the use of available infrastructure and boost export competitiveness.

Start-Ups

To qualify as an eligible start-up, the start-up must, among other things, have a certificate of eligible business from the Inter-Ministerial Board of Certification and be incorporated on or after April 1, 2016, but before April 1, 2022. Due to COVID-related set-up delays, the period of incorporation of the eligible startup has been extended by a year, from March 31, 2022, to March 31, 2023.

Custom Duty Reduced

The removal of customs exemptions on certain items and the imposition of concessional duties on raw materials used in the manufacture of intermediate products will support the government's 'Make in India' and 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' initiatives, particularly in sectors such as electronics, gems, and jewelry.

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That’s it for today.

Hope you liked today’s edition, let me know what you think :)

See you next time. Stay safe!

Pranav

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