Debadutta Upadhyaya
Budget 2017 is aimed at more inclusiveness by broadening the tax limit, which in turn is going to have a positive rub-off effect on the home-ownership front. We do hope that lending rate cuts would follow suit, thereby solidifying the demonetisation drive. More home ownerships would bode well for companies like ours that are engaged in helping people outsource their home chores, starting from the simplest of cleaning services to niche ones like interior decoration and painting.
While this is all good, what the government really needs to look into is simplifying the Service Tax complexity. The regime should be made more business-friendly for marketplaces like Timesaverz that are engaged in organising home service providers. We do hope that the digitalisation drive would get discipline into the tax declaration process, thereby removing the sole burden and liability from the marketplaces only, with no back-to-back tracking to the last entity in the chain.
Infrastructure development is another area that is going to have a positive effect on on-demand economies, especially the home improvement sector, as the newer developing areas would open up opportunities for companies like ours that are engaged in the business of organising hyper-local services. We are particularly excited about the democratisation of the employment process, as more and more skilled and semi-skilled people take the entrepreneurial route and cash in on tech-enabled platforms to earn their livelihoods.
At Timesaverz, India’s first on-demand home services company, these are exciting times as the need for organised home services go up, and the drive towards cashless economy helps in overall operational efficiency.
The author is founder and CEO of home services startup Timesaverz. ')}
