These changes affect trading costs for investors and F&O traders
Buyback Tax changes
Share buybacks will now be taxed as capital gains instead of deemed dividends. An additional buyback tax applies: 22% for corporate promoters and 30% for non-corporate promoters.
The Orange Economy-Skilling Budget Jumps 62%
the government is setting up AVGC (Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, Comics) Content Creator Labs in 15,000 secondary schools and 500 colleges. The government increased the skill development budget from ₹6,100 crore to ₹9,886 crore.
Key initiatives:
- ITI modernisation with ₹6,140 crore
- Animation, VFX, and gaming labs in 15,000 schools
- National Institute of Hospitality for tourism training
- University townships near industrial corridors
If you’re struggling to find trained employees, this might not solve your problem immediately. But it signals where the talent pipeline will come from in the next 3-5 years.
Digital Infrastructure Gets a Massive Push
Foreign companies setting up data centers in India to serve global customers will pay zero tax until 2047. That’s a 21-year tax holiday.
Why does this matter for your startup?
More data centers mean better cloud infrastructure. Faster servers. Lower latency. Cheaper hosting costs. If you’re building a SaaS product, an AI tool, or any tech-heavy business, this improves your operational environment.
Microsoft, Google, and Amazon are already investing billions. This policy will accelerate that investment.
Liquidity: A Push on TReDS
If you’re running a B2B business, manufacturing components, supplying goods to large corporates, or providing services to enterprises, you know the pain: waiting 60, 90, sometimes 120 days for payments while your suppliers demand cash upfront.
The government has identified this choke point and is making four concrete moves through TReDS (Trade Receivables Discount System), which is essentially an invoice financing platform:
- Mandatory for big buyers: CPSEs (Central Public Sector Enterprises) must now use TReDS for all MSME purchases, setting a benchmark. If the government is doing it, private corporations will follow.
- Credit guarantees on TReDS: The government is linking CGTMSE (Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises) to invoice discounting on TReDS, meaning you can get credit guarantees to reduce lender risk.
- GeM-TReDS integration: Government e-Marketplace (GeM) will now share purchase data with TReDS financiers, so lenders can see your sales to government and offer cheaper, faster financing.
- Secondary markets: TReDS receivables will now trade as asset-backed securities, creating a secondary market that improves liquidity and settlement speed.
What this means in practice: faster cash conversion, lower financing costs, and breathing room to grow without constantly chasing payments
Clean Energy Opens New Doors
The energy transition is creating new business opportunities.
Budget allocations:
- Renewable Energy Ministry: ₹32,915 crore
- Carbon Capture (CCUS): ₹20,000 crore over 5 years
- Nuclear Power: Customs exemptions extended till 2035
- Battery Manufacturing: Duty exemptions on raw materials
If you’re building cleantech, EV infrastructure, or energy storage, government support is now more accessible. The customs duty relief on battery materials alone could improve your unit economics significantly.
Agriculture Goes Digital
Farmers aren’t the only ones who should pay attention here.
Bharat-VISTAAR is a new multilingual AI tool that will give farmers personalised advice based on their location, crop, and soil conditions.
For agritech startups, this creates both competition and opportunity. Competition because the government is offering a free alternative. Opportunity because it legitimises the space and brings millions of farmers online.
The government also announced support for high-value crops like coconut, sandalwood, cashew, and cocoa. If you’re in the agri value chain, these crops might be worth exploring.
Manufacturing Gets Real Capital
While services have dominated India’s growth story, this budget tilts toward manufacturing, and startups in manufacturing will feel this shift.
The Electronics Components Manufacturing Scheme has been scaled from ₹22,919 crore to ₹40,000 crore.
The India Semiconductor Mission 2.0 is also launching, moving beyond just chip fabrication to include semiconductor equipment, materials, and IP development.
If you’re a hardware startup or design house, this creates an ecosystem where capital goods, testing facilities, and trained talent become accessible domestically.
There’s also ₹10,000 crore for container manufacturing, a scheme to build globally competitive capacity in a sector critical for logistics startups and manufacturing exporters.
For MSMEs in textiles, chemicals, and other clusters, the government is investing in reviving 200 legacy industrial clusters through infrastructure and technology upgrades. Older manufacturing hubs with outdated equipment get a second life, bringing down your entry costs and operational overhead.
