Budget 2024 | Incentives for start-ups, ONDC expansion: What Paytm’s Vijay Shekhar Sharma expects from Union Budget

One 97 Communication also known as Paytm, founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma expects the focus to be on digitisation and start-ups getting support from the upcoming Union Budget 2024, the founder told ANI during an event on Saturday, July 6th.

“I want the government to support them (small businesses), give them some incentives or in a way bring some advantages for them, digitisation should get support in the budget, start-ups should get support,” said Sharma when asked about his expectations.

The fin-tech founder also highlighted his expectations from the Government of India to focus on enhancing the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) platform and amending the overall e-commerce policy in the country, as the initiative aims to become the platform for small traders in India.

“My expectation from the Government of India is to promote ONDC further because ONDC is in a way becoming an e-commerce platform for the small traders of our country, so we should talk about the creation and amendment of the overall e-commerce policy and about the enhancement of platforms like ONDC which have been created by the Government of India,” he said.

Vijay Shekhar Sharma focused on the infrastructural developments done by the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) government since 2014, The last decade has led to increasing connectivity of roads and airline infrastructure, and the focus has shifted to the Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities for upcoming businesses and developments, he said.

“I believe this is a very important year for our dream of building a $5 trillion developed India because now we are seeing the pendulum swing in one direction,” said Sharma.

Vijay Shekhar Sharma breaks silence on Paytm employees quitting jobs:

The fin-tech startup founder when asked about the high attrition rate in Paytm said, “All is well and all is rocking.”

This comes after Paytm was in the spotlight in June 2024 about alleged claims of the company forcing employees to unlawfully resign without severance pay. Ex-employees of Paytm filed complaints with the Ministry of Labour and Employment demanding a fair and formal termination process for the same, reported Moneycontrol.

Many existing employees faced job cuts and attempts at bargaining for a pay cut remained unsuccessful at that time, according to multiple media reports.