⚖️ Budget 2024’s tricky balancing act

The most interesting news selected specially for you! 24 July 2024 [View in Browser]( Hello, You win some, you lose some. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her seventh [Budget]( speech, abolished angel tax in all shapes and forms, bringing a much-needed respite to Indian startups. Besides, the long-term capital gains on financial and non-financial assets will now attract a taxation rate of 12.5%. This brings down the taxation on gains from sales of shares in startups and unlisted entities by nearly 8%—bringing parity with listed shares. The announcement dragged the Indian bourses into the red during the day. The see-saw session saw the NSE Nifty 50 ending 0.12% lower at 24,479.05, while the S&P BSE Sensex settled 0.09% lower at 80,429.04. Among the biggest gainers was the space tech sector, with the Budget announcing a venture capital fund with a corpus of Rs 1,000 crore to expand the [space economy]( over the next 10 years. So were Andhra Pradesh and Bihar, which bagged mega development deals. In a big push for digital marketplaces, the FM reduced the [TDS]( for ecommerce operators from 1% to 0.1% and announced plans to set up ecommerce export hubs in a public-private partnership structure. Nonetheless, the Budget fell short of announcing a detailed [strategy for AI]( leaving India's approach to utilising the next-gen technology's potential somewhat unclear. You can check our detailed coverage of [Union Budget]( here. [ICYMI:]( No Budget is complete without a meme storm! Peak Indian Twitter (oops! X) moment! In today’s newsletter, we will talk about - India’s commitment to upskilling - Boosting MSMEs through credit - Focus on natural farming Here’s your trivia for today: Who presented India’s first-ever Budget? Union Budget India’s commitment to upskilling The latest Economic Survey indicated that a large portion of India's youth were unemployable as they lacked the necessary skills that industry requires—a problem Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman set out to address in her Budget. Industry stakeholders lauded this year’s Budget, which earmarked Rs 1.48 lakh crore for education, employment, and skilling, and introduced a package of schemes to train the incoming workforce and help first-time employees. Bolstering employment: - The FM announced a package of five schemes and initiatives to facilitate employment, skilling, and other opportunities for 4.1 crore youth over a five-year period, with an allocation of Rs 2 lakh crore. - The government will launch a comprehensive scheme to provide internship opportunities in 500 top companies to one crore youth in five years. However, the government should allow all employers to benefit from the scheme, believes Shantanu Rooj of TeamLease Edtech. - Sitharaman also announced financial support for loans of up to Rs 10 lakh for higher education in domestic institutions, as well as a planned revision to the Model Skill Loan Scheme to facilitate loans up to Rs 7.5 lakh with a guarantee from a government-promoted fund. [Read More]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Union Budget Focus on natural farming Union Budget allocated Rs 1.52 lakh crore for the agricultural and allied sectors to boost productivity and promote natural farming. According to Sitharaman, one crore farmers across India will be initiated into natural farming supported by certification and branding in the next two years. Towards organic agriculture: - This year's Budget allocation with a focus on natural farming could benefit small and middle-scale farmers, bringing them under an organised set-up, says Satyajit Hange, Co-founder of Two Brothers Organic Farms. - The industry also lauded the government’s push towards ‘atmanirbharta’ for oil seeds such as mustard, groundnut, sesame, soybean, and sunflower as announced in the interim Budget. - The implementation of digital public infrastructure (DPI) within three years will ensure that farmers and their lands are comprehensively covered, leading to better resource management, believes Sat Kumar Tomer, Founder and CEO, Satyukt Analytics. [Read More]( --------------------------------------------------------------- From the CapTable Breaking free: The rise of independent educators in the post-Unacademy era When Akanksha (name changed), a renowned teacher in UPSC circles, closed her laptop at 11PM on July 30, 2023, she breathed a sigh of relief. She had just delivered her final lecture for edtech unicorn Unacademy. The previous three months, she recounted, involved working 16-18 hours a day. Her salary was also relatively meagre, especially given how teachers on platforms such as Unacademy often earned crores of rupees during the boom days of the pandemic while working significantly fewer hours. Akanksha is among hundreds of star teachers who either quit the company due to the rapidly changing policies of the SoftBank-backed edtech platform or were let go by the company as it sought to stem its bleeding. Its losses for the year ended March 2023 stood just north of Rs 1,000 crore. Like Akanksha, many of these educators have started their own tutoring businesses. Some have already racked up millions of subscribers and tens of millions of views on their YouTube channels, which serve as a funnel to attract students to their paid offerings. Individually, most are still small. Collectively, they pose an existential threat to established edtechs. Key Takeaways: - Unacademy, once known for its roster of star teachers, ditched many such teachers to cut costs amidst a wider edtech slowdown - Many of these star teachers have now started their own edtech platforms and are using platforms like YouTube and Instagram to attract students - While individually their businesses might be small, collectively, they represent a major threat to the expensively assembled empires that Indian edtechs have built - Success for these star teachers, though, is far from guaranteed, with them having to overcome various operational challenges as they compete not just with edtechs but each other [Continue Reading]( --------------------------------------------------------------- News & Updates - [Meta AI:]( Meta is releasing Llama 3.1, the largest-ever open-source AI model, which it claims outperforms GPT-4o and Anthropic’s Claude 3.5 Sonnet on several benchmarks. CEO Mark Zuckerberg now predicts that Meta AI will be the most widely used assistant by the end of this year, surpassing ChatGPT. - [No deal:]( Wiz ended talks with Google parent Alphabet on a proposed $23-billion deal, where the Israeli cybersecurity startup would have become the US tech giant’s largest-ever acquisition. Wiz CEO Assaf Rappaport said it would now focus on an IPO and growing the business to generate $1 billion in annual revenue. - [Air show:]( The UK’s Farnborough Air Show generated deals at list prices worth $50.8 billion across its first day. Airbus performed a public display of its soon-to-launch A321XLR for the first time since it was certified, as airlines eagerly await deliveries of the long-haul narrow-body jet later this year. Here's what else we have for you Native Teams is making seamless cross-border payments a reality for India’s freelance workforce In association with Native Teams Cross-border payments inspire dread in the most seasoned freelancers. Native Teams, a UK-based work solutions platform, is taking the pain out of the gain by offering a seamless suite of flexible and hassle-free payment solutions to help Indian freelancers who work with a global client base. [Know More]( Did you know? Who presented India’s first-ever Budget? Answer: James Wilson. The Scottish economist presented the first Indian Budget 160 years ago in 1860. We would love to hear from you! To let us know what you liked and disliked about our newsletter, please mail nslfeedback@yourstory.com. If you don’t already get this newsletter in your inbox, [sign up here](. For past editions of the YourStory Buzz, you can check our [Daily Capsule page here](. [Feedback]( [Unsubscribe]( [Newsletters](