Face of Nation : As she presented the government’s first full year budget for its second term, Finance Minister Niramala Sitharaman announced that the “angel tax” levied on monies raised by startups in excess of their fair value—a contentious issue over the last couple of years—would be eased.Entrepreneurs would no longer face scrutiny by the income tax authorities, and a mechanism for e-verification of angel investors and their source of funds would be put in place, the finance minister said in her speech.
In a further boost to the ecosystem, Sitharaman revealed that while startups presently don’t have to disclose their share market value to Category-I alternate investment funds (AIF), this has now been extended to include Category-II AIFs such as real estate funds, private equity funds and funds for distressed assets.“This has been a pain point for startups and investors for some time now,” says Padmaja Ruparel, president Indian Angel Network. “The fact that it has been addressed tells me that she [Sitharaman] is listening, which is most
