'World Bank's biz-ready formula & startup concerns on budget agenda'
Angel tax, taxation of Employee Stock Option Plans and bank guarantee commitments in tenders in the upcoming budget to be presented after the general elections.
Further, the Centre is gearing up for a new World Bank assessment framework called Business Ready (B-READY), which would assess countries on everything from the start to the closure of a business.
«There are four or five elements which they (startups) are a little concerned about. Mainly these are on issues like Angel tax, TDS ( tax deducted at source) there is some software related issue, on ESOP… getting into some kind of double taxation,» DPIIT secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh told ET in an interview.
Singh said work needs to be done to improve the country's performance on contract enforcement and compliance, customs and land transfers, and land transfer mutations.
«We are preparing for that (new framework). They have circulated a set of indicators and questionnaires which are quite voluminous. I think there are about 13,000 odd questions in that,» Singh said.
On land issues, he said along with land record digitization, the aim is to bring down litigation.
Singh said the department is trying to ensure that the B-READY elements are also covered in the Business Reforms Action Plan (BRAP) which ranks states and assesses them on 301 reform action points that improve investor confidence and access to government services for citizens. He said access and ease of utilities is one such area. Singh added that work had begun on reducing more compliances under the
