Top e-comm firms to gain from start-up policy

The government's ‘Startup India’ policy would be benefiting a lot of established entities in the segment, too, say observers. That includes the likes of Snapdeal founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal, Paytm’s Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Flipkart’s Sachin and Binny Bansal and even Tata Group chairman emeritus Ratan Tata, who's invested in more than a score of start-ups.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the policy last month. Snapdeal, Flipkart and Paytm founders have alsoinvested in several budding start-ups. Ratan Tata has put money in 27 of these so far.

 “For older start-ups, these investments (in other start-ups) is a way of gauging and tackling the next big threat. They also get to understand and learn from other start-ups and these investments might also help their primary start-ups in operations at a later stage,'' said Saurabh Srivastava, co-founder, Indian Angel Network.

Also, any benefit to a company they've invested in positively impacts the investor, he said. Among other things, policies around easier exits for companies and investors will help these players reap profits.  

“The beneficiaries of that buyout will have some capital gains from the transaction and those if re-invested in the fund of funds the PM spoke of would not attract any tax. I believe those are the things that would help us immensely,'' said Sanjay Sethi, co-founder and chief executive, Shopclues. The largest impetus to the start-up system in India will come from incentives such as redeploying the capital into the next start-up, he said.

NURTURING INNOVATION
List of start-ups investments

• Ratan Tata has invested in 27 start-ups
  Prominent names include Snapdeal, Paytm, Ola, Xiaomi, Urban Ladder
• Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal have invested in 19 start-ups
  Prominent names include Ola, UrbanClap, LetsVenture, MadRat Games, Bewakoof
• Vijay Shekhar Sharma has invested in 8 start-ups
  Prominent names include DealStreetAsia, InnerChef, Applied Life, ZAPR, Milaap
• Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal have invested in 11 start-ups
  Prominent names include Tracxn, Inshorts, SpoonJoy, Applied Life, MadRat Games

For big companies that have set up their own start-up incubators, the policy offers them a host of benefits.

“I think it helps from a perspective that the time to register a company, issues related to fundamentally setting up an organisation structure and the government smoothening it for start-ups helps us as well. Ultimately, for us, the companies we are incubating are on the verge of becoming new start-ups,” said Jagdish Mitra, chief strategy officer at Tech Mahindra. The company plans to bring out the first of its incubated start-ups within the next quarter or two.