As mentioned in my post on the Union Budget FY 2013, I
would like to share these 2 Open Letters, addressed to Mr. Finance Minister, in
response to the Budget. The reason I picked these two is that they offer very
different vantage points; one is from the perspective of a student, and the
other is from the perspective of a tech-entrepreneur. Both letters provide good insight on the kind
of impact the Budget's proposals would have on everyone, and how this Budget, just like all its predecessors, is not a proactive one.
1. Why I didn’t like the budget: A
student’s view of Budget 2012
Dear Finance Minister,
I hated hearing that long budget speech
of yours. Who wants to know if there was an increase in the paddy yield? All I
cared about was going to the US, getting a foreign degree and making some
money. But do you care?
You are now giving my parents second
thoughts about sending me abroad. So what if there’s no service tax on
pre-school and high school education? That’s in India. Of course I am not
bothered!
You increased the service taxes on all
other things from 10 percent to 12 percent. This obviously means my father has
to pay more for my GRE tuition and TOEFL tuitions.
For all you know, he might just decide
to keep his money in his savings account for it to grow; as you announced that
will give him higher income tax exemptions on it and maybe he’ll send me to a
college in India. That’s not what I want.
He’s already talking about reducing my
pocket money and now you have given him good reason to do that.
The education loan I would take to
study abroad won’t come cheap. On top of that, eight years is all I have to repay
back the loan. Eight, just eight? Couldn’t you, our finance minister, increase
it to 10 years, at least?
Yes, I know you are allocating funds to
research centres in India, but I still want to go abroad to study.
You promised to ensure better flow of
credit to us, by proposing a Credit Guarantee Fund. But when will that be set
up? I want to go abroad the next year as soon as my I am done with high school,
but this ‘credit thing’, I am sure, will not be set up so soon. The way India
functions it will take another five years. Can you promise you will set it up
this year?
You also proposed to set up more
schools in rural areas. Ok, I understand development. But what about women’s
development? Girl child education and all that? Nothing.
No easy loans even for the girls, while
the interest rates will continue to remain at par with the boys.
And even if I forget education abroad
for a moment, what about that bike that my father was supposed to give me next
month? You’ve made that expensive too. And now that will have to wait too.
Sincerely patient,
A student who did not like your budget
2. Mr. FM, why don't you ever think of
entrepreneurs?
Dear FM,
I looked you up on Facebook but
found a cold 'page'. I checked on Twitter, but came across some fake ids. I
searched on Linkedin but you don't seem to be there. I gathered that I can't
hang out with you on these internet-mobile places I hang out in, because you
probably don't visit them!
Let me come to the point. I read your
budget speech with interest (all 14,234 words of it). Amidst your Pacific Ocean
of words, I found:
The word 'Startup' mentioned 0 times.
The word 'Internet' mentioned 0 times.
The word 'Mobile' mentioned 2 times.
The word 'Entrepreneur' mentioned 3
times.
Now, the word 'Farm' is mentioned 16
times and the word 'Agriculture' is mentioned 18 times. Sir, let me share with
you some interesting trivia. In another country, a couple of years ago, an entrepreneur created
a new agricultural community that invited farmers from all over the world.
The address of the farm was the
Internet. The place was 'Farmville'. Believe it or not, this Farmville 'thingy'
generated `300 crore of revenue in the first year. About 5 crore farmer
'players' signed up! When the Haiti earthquake struck, this community actually
garnered money and sent it to Haiti. To cap it all, the company, Zynga (that
started this virtual agricultural business), is actually listed on the stock
exchanges and is currently worth Rs 5,000+ crore!
Sir, just pause and think if Zynga was
created in India. You, sir, would have earned juicy service taxes, revenues
from corporate taxes, even would have a nice new age listed company on our
otherwise boring bourse. The point I am making, is that new age businesses of
the internet and new age entrepreneurs like myself, deserve a bit more
attention from you. Because we attract venture capital, we employ people,
we generate revenue, we pay our taxes and sometimes, even sell our companies
and bring the money home!
Sir, I don't like wearing suits and
ties; or coming to meet you in Delhi. But I can request you to help us in a few
critical issues, on behalf of the Internet, entrepreneurial community.
Consider These Two Examples:
A month ago, a team of four young
entrepreneurs came to meet me. In a couple of minutes, I figured two things
about them:
i) They came from families that a
decade ago, would have never dreamt that their children would be graduates,
speak fluent English and earn more money than their fathers ever did, all at a
young age.
ii) This quartet was smart. I mean
really smart. Smarter than anyone I had ever met!
This was a goosebumpy moment for me. It
signalled that the 'Indian Dream' was working. Despite all our odds, we were
producing local 'chaap' Einsteins! These four friends told me that they were
quitting their jobs and becoming Internet entrepreneurs. And they presented an
idea to me that blew my mind. They wanted me to mentor them, and I readily
accepted. I felt it was a 'Googlesque' moment (what may have transpired when
Google started up).
A week later, I got an SOS from one of
them. They wanted to acquire a web domain (a site name) that was available on a
foreign auction site since it was critical to their business. They requested I
help them. I readily agreed. What transpired is something I want to bring to
your attention.
To buy the domain, I needed to transfer
about $1,000 to a German company. They accept only 'PayPal' payments, but PayPal is
not available in India. When I wrote to the Germans they were flabbergasted!
They said, "PayPal 'is' the global payment platform for small
transactions".
But I had to tell them the Indian
government had severe restrictions in letting them operate here. I begged them
to allow me to wire the money to them. They agreed. When I started the
transfer, I realised that it was 'impossible' for a startup to manage the process
using the Indian banking processes! I had to sign some 8 forms, get my CFO and
his team to 'solve some major paperwork crosswords' and also pay for
certification charges.
Finally, I did get the domain, but
trust me, on their own, this hot start up would never have made it. The
over-regulated and complicated banking laws of India would have killed this
'google' in-the-making even before they started up.
After many years, I was able to woo a
senior gaming expert in the US to join me. All he wanted was independence and
esops. I gave him independence on day one, but the procedures to carve out
esops for a foreign national to be employed by an Indian company became a
mystery that would make even Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code look like an amateur
essay! It took a good four months to solve the riddle, and I went through hell
to keep Mr Gaming Rockstar motivated. He liked me and hung on, but now he is
really nervous about India and its laws.
Sir, the number of do's, don'ts,
regulations, forms, certifications, validations, permissions, etc that small,
startup internet companies require to comply with, kill our energy, excitement
and enthusiasm to grow. We need special treatment.
Let me say, that we are like delicate
flowers. We need special farming rules to grow. Give us those, and I promise
you, when we bloom, your treasury will be full. Not just with revenues but also
the scent of a new and fresh Indian Industry!
(The writer is a digital entrepreneur)
