Nasscom welcomes budget's emphasis on enhancing ease of doing business

IT industry body Nasscom has welcomed the Union Budget for FY 26 for its focus on boosting entrepreneurship and improving ease of doing business calling it a positive step forward.

"The commitment to expanding safe harbor rules, both on the threshold as well as on the rate side is very much welcome. These are the good steps forward," said Nasscom President Rajesh Nambiar.

Nambiar noted the government’s focus on innovation and business-friendly policies, which acknowledges its commitment to positioning India as a global leader.

The Budget presentation on Feb 1 also saw the announcement of another round of fund of funds for startups scheme with a corpus of ₹10,000 crore to promote the growth of budding entrepreneurs.

"We welcome the finance minister's announcement on exploring the deep-tech fund. It's actually a fund of funds both an extension of the startup funds by another ₹10,000 crore and also exploring new options for a separate deep tech fund of funds as well,” he said.

In the recently presented budget for fiscal year 2025-2026, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman removed seven tariff rates in addition to the seven tariff rates removed in the 2023-24 budget after which there will only be eight remaining tariff rates, including a 'zero' rate.

"So, both of them align with Nasscom recommendation and will help scale deep-tech startups, potentially creating global champions while addressing India's key needs for whatever we wanted to do," Nambiar told PTI.

This year, the government has rationalized basic custom duty rates, reducing the number of levies to just 8. However, most items have effective duty rates with adjustments to cess to further ease of doing business.

Additionally, a national framework will also be formulated as guidance to states for promoting Global Capability Centers (GCCs) in emerging Tier-2 cities.

“This will suggest measures for enhancing the availability of talent and infrastructure, building bylaw reforms, and mechanisms for collaboration with industry”, Sitharaman said during her Budget speech.

"We have been working with the government on simplifying the international taxation regime overall, especially for our GCCs. Aligned with our own ask, the block assessment for transfer pricing, the block assessment for the GCCs is actually a significant step towards easing compliance for the tech multinationals and GCCs," Nambiar added.

The government has rationalized basic customs duty rates, slashing the number of levies to just eight, but has kept the effective duty rates on most items the same by adjusting cess to further ease of doing business.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman removed seven tariff rates in the 2025-26 Budget. These are in addition to the seven tariff rates removed in the 2023-24 Budget.’

After this, there will only be eight remaining tariff rates, including a 'zero' rate to further ease of doing business.

Before the Budget, Nasscom urged changes to safe harbor rules, expanded use of SEZ reinvestment reserves, and the creation of a central deep tech fund to support startups in India.