FM Nirmala Sitharaman Cautions Against Conspiracy To End India’s Entrepreneurship Culture

As entrepreneurs in India continue to make their mark in the startup ecosystem, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has cautioned against a conspiracy to end the country’s entrepreneurship culture even before it fully blooms.

“Hardworking entrepreneurs are building this country. The conspiracy is to end India’s entrepreneurship culture even before it fully blooms, thereby hitting at India’s core backbone, which is India’s entrepreneurship of small and medium units and enterprises that are building India,” the minister said.

While addressing to the general discussion on the FY25 Budget in the Lok Sabha, Sitharaman said that entrepreneurship itself was being made a villain as a part of this conspiracy. 

Without disclosing any name, the finance minister said that some forces are working behind to show India’s instability on the strategic, political and economic fronts. 

On the investment front, Sitharaman said that there is a conspiracy to send a message that India is not safe for foreign investors and that Indian institutions cannot guarantee security to foreign investments.

“There is a conspiracy to send a message to the entire world that India is not safe for investors. This is not good. Rumours are being spread that Indian institutions cannot guarantee security to foreign investments, which is really a sad situation,” she said. 

This development comes against the backdrop of the finance minister making a flurry of announcements during her Union Budget 2024-25 speech for the startup ecosystem. 

These announcements include the abolition of angel tax, reduction of the tax deducted at source (TDS) for ecommerce platforms to 0.1% from 1% earlier, and an additional cut in basic customs duty (BCD) rates on several mobile phone parts, among others. 

Additionally, Sitharaman also announced a 1000 Cr VC fund for the spacetech sector and a credit guarantee scheme for the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the manufacturing sector. 

Contrary to these supportive announcements, the centre slashed the budget allocation for incentivising digital payments in the fiscal year 2024-25 (FY25) by over 42% to INR 1,441 Cr.

It is pertinent to note that the government on July 29 informed the Parliament that the over 1.4 Lakh startups registered with the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) have created over 15.5 Lakh direct jobs in the country. 

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