All Posts by Himanshu Sheth

|In: Entrepreneurship|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Are you an aspiring entrepreneur? Do you have an out of the box idea and you feel this could be huge? Do want to be featured as one of the ‘Top entrepreneurs of India‘? Then, here is your biggest opportunity as Kuberan’s House, a first and one of its kind platform dedicated to the start-up industry; has recently announced the extension of the registration date for one of its biggest entrepreneurship-themed show till 31st January, 2021.

This step was taken to ensure that there is maximum participation across India, especially from Tier 2 and Tier 3 areas. As of now, over 16,000 participants have registered with the maximum entries coming from Delhi-NCR, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat, and Telangana regions. So, if you feel you have an idea that could be a game-changer, then all you need to do is just log onto Kuberan’s House and apply with your idea.

With this show, you have the golden chance to make your start-up dream come true and transform your idea of having your own business into reality. The application process is open to all the ideators, entrepreneurs, aspiring business tycoons, from all the sectors and industries that have innovative business ideas. There are no season winners on the show. In fact every Entrepreneur will be a winner who will get an investment from the best panel of investors and venture capitalists.

The show is segregated into multiple stages. After the first round, the top 500 applicants will be selected and each of them will be awarded the Kuberan’s House fellowship. The second round will have 100 participants that will be selected after another filtering process who will then be part of a Holistic workshop. This workshop will be with the best domain experts from across India. The participants will also receive various perks and value adds for building their start-ups.

Post the workshop and one-on-one mentoring by the KH team, the final 60 startups would be selected to be a part of India’s biggest start-up reality show. A special in-house team of domain experts, business valuators, chartered accountants, etc. has been formed for the screening process. It will be undertaken by the professionals from some of the prestigious institutes across India like IIT Kharagpur E-cell, Bits Pilani Technology Business Incubator, Ent. IISC, TiE Hyderabad, VIT, 100 Open Startups, Rabvik Innovations, Telangana State Innovation Cell, NASSCOM 10,000 Startups just to name a few.

9XV plays an integral role in this stage as it provides training, mentoring, defining and evaluating business model, network support, incubation, and acceleration services. The final 60 startups  will be decided post a thorough screening process which is a three-stage filtering process inclusive of checks of the background, tech specs, financial investment, business model, innovation, and the feasibility of the pitched idea by the participants.

To apply and pitch your idea, please log onto Kuberan’s House website

About Kuberan’s House

Kuberan’s House, a first-of-its-kind platform to source, streamline and showcase innovative start-up ideas from across India will help entrepreneurs especially from tier 2 & tier 3 towns connect to the best investors from across the country, converting most of them into successful business ventures.

|In: startups|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Brigade REAP [earlier coverage here] chose five startups from 122 applicants as part of its 9th cohort of startups who will be part of a program that follows an intensive eighteen-week long cycle to help them unlock value and scale their business. The five startups were chosen from 8 finalists who participated in two jury rounds.

The startups were evaluated based on 10 criteria including innovation, relevance to the Industry, magnitude of the problem being addressed, pedigree of the founding team etc.

Nirupa Shankar, Director, Brigade REAP, said

Since inception, our focus has been to accelerate innovation in the real estate sector and to help deliver and enhance efficiencies both for the industry and the customer. The objective is to help inventors and innovators create sustainable and scalable businesses.

In the past, startups have seen an increase of over 150% YoY growth in revenue, 42% of the startups have raised funding within 12 months of graduating with the real estate industry being actively involved in not just giving business but also investing in many of these startups.

Once the onboarded startup’s progress has been demonstrated, stakeholders clearly identified, business plan firmed up and customer and investor pitches ready, Brigade REAP enables access to customers for potential investors for fundraise.

Final five startups chosen for Brigade REAP 9th Cohort

  • Angirus – Eco friendly technology to make building materials that are made from 100% waste materials for the affordable housing industry.
  • MetroGuild – Convert flat buyers to customers through hyper-personalized relationship building marketing and sales.
  • GoFloaters – Enable individuals and teams to work from anywhere through its wide network of on demand work spaces.
  • Strawcture – Green Building Material – bio panels that convert waste to value.
  • Vision Earthcare – Waste water rejuvenation.

John Kuruvilla, Chief Mentor, Brigade REAP, said

We have a very stringent selection process where the jury evaluates each incoming application based on the nature of the problem, the founding team, whether the company has any early traction and whether their solution is unique.  Our role is to help the chosen startups to sharpen their value proposition, create or re-examine their business plans and pricing models and identify customers.

Brigade REAP has six pillars of engagements with startups that are onboarded including product, technology, business model, people, go to market and scale.

The second jury included renowned industry stalwarts such as M.R. Jaishankar [CMD – Brigade Group], Samir Kumar [MD – Inventus Capital], Vipul Roongta [MD – HDFC Capital], Sanjay Mehta [Founder & Partner – 100x.VC], Ram Chandnani [MD Advisory & Transaction Services – CBRE], Kumar Vembu [CEO – GoFrugal Technologies] and Mohan Parvatikar [Director – Brigade REAP].

Sanjay Mehta, Founder & Partner 100X.VC, said

Real estate is the largest asset class by far, but it is still in the early stages of technology adoption. While I have been investing in diverse sectors, Proptech as a sector is definitely to watch out for. Each of the finalists in REAP’s Cohort 9 are solving very interesting problems – for e.g., startups that are recycling waste to create new building blocks for construction and interiors in a scalable manner.

The final five that were shortlisted should have an exciting 2021 as they get into REAP to scale their product and business offerings.

Visit Brigade Reap for more information on the programme.

|In: startups|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

As India leaps forward to become a digitally transformed nation, the Indian technology start-up ecosystem continues to witness a significant growth trajectory on the back of rapid digitalization and tech adoption. The National Association of Software and Services Companies [NASSCOM], in partnership with Zinnov, a global management and strategy consulting firm, today launched its annual start-up report, titled, ‘Indian Tech Start-up Ecosystem – On the March to Trillion Dollar Digital Economy‘.

With over 1600 tech start-ups and a record number of 12 additional unicorns added in 2020 –the highest ever added in a single calendar year, the Indian tech start-up base is witnessing a steady growth at a scale of 8-10 percent year-on-year growth.

COVID-19 has accelerated digital adoption and the shift to online in the country. This has created new opportunities for tech start-ups that are capitalizing on this opportunity with rapid digital  acceleration and a shift to SaaS-based solutions. Deep-tech is also getting deep-rooted into start-ups’ DNA with 19 percent of tech start-ups leveraging deep-tech solutions to build product competencies for market expansion.

This has led to significant momentum in the deep-tech space with increased interest from Venture Capital firms (VCs) and funding agencies to invest in deep-tech start-ups. 14 percent of total investments in 2020 were in deep-tech start-ups, up from 11 percent in 2019. Further, 87 percent of all deep-tech investments were in AI/ML start-ups, in 2020.

Speaking on the occasion, Debjani Ghosh, President, NASSCOM, said

The Indian tech start-up ecosystem’s performance in 2020 has demonstrated the resilience and can-do spirit of the Indian entrepreneur. The continued innovation, right decision making and strong investor commitment have positioned the Indian start-up ecosystem as a key contributor in accelerating India’s digital economic growth.

With the continued addition of new start-ups, booming unicorns and increased adoption of deep-tech, the ecosystem shows an even more promising future. Depending on headwinds, 2021 promises to be a positive year for Indian tech start-ups – marching steadily towards $1 Trillion digital economy goal.

Pari Natarajan, CEO, Zinnov, opined that

The resilience and fortitude demonstrated by the Indian start-up ecosystem in 2020 was unparalleled and unprecedented. It was about defying the odds with extraordinary innovation and exceptional leadership. 2020 saw start-ups increasingly leveraging and piggybacking on the foundational infrastructure that the government has in place – the India Stack, UPI infrastructure, GST norms, FASTag, etc. – that offers up a unified set of layers with contactless and presence-less digital economy truly coming into its own.

These pillars reached an inflection point in the wake of COVID-19, with start-ups not only innovating on top of these layers, but bringing in the unaddressed and underserved tier-2/3 cities into the larger digital economic inclusion mix. Khatabook, Udaan, etc., are cases in point. In the face of adversity, start-ups have been able to create a flywheel of sustained innovation that will be instrumental in helping the Indian start-up ecosystem achieve escape velocity. 2021 will be the ‘Decade of Collaboration’ where entrepreneurs engaging more with not just their peers but also with the government, corporates, and the manufacturing ecosystem, will catapult India’s dreams of becoming a trillion-dollar economy.

Despite a lower number of total start-up deals in 2020, seed-stage investments are recovering at a good pace as investor activity at lower ticket sizes has increased. Seed-stage funding in 2020 recovered to more than 90 percent of 2019 levels.

Early and Late-stage investments are also recovering steadily. An increase in median deal size is further underscoring investor confidence and a willingness to take big bets. Sectors with COVID-19 tailwinds such as EdTech, BFSI, AgriTech, Gaming, etc., are witnessing a steady increase in first time funding, up from 29 percent in 2019 to 42 percent in 2020, garnering a 14 percent growth in absolute numbers.

In 2020, Indian tech start-ups not only managed to stay afloat amidst uncertainties and rapid experimentations, but also strategically strengthened their playbook by converting the crisis into opportunity. As a result, Indian enterprises’ Digital Maturity has jumped to 55 percent in 2020 from 34 percent in 2018.

Customer experience and retention are back in focus as founders rethink growth strategies in a post-pandemic scenario. There is a steady focus on operating margins to allow growth capital to be used for investments. 50-55 percent of tech start-up founders felt profitability to be given weightage alongside valuation in the future.

Remote working continues to see significant adoption amongst tech start-ups, with around 30-35 percent offering remote roles and 15-20 percent companies having committed to remote work culture, as per NASSCOM tech start-up survey. Further, with rising digital adoption and remote working reducing geographical disadvantages, tech start-ups are expanding into global markets; 28-30 percent tech start-ups are targeting the overseas market for growth and business expansion.

Cross border trade restrictions in 2020 accelerated peer-to-peer collaborations and public-private partnerships, leading to fast and effective knowledge transmission. In fact, as per the survey, 66 percent of tech start-up founders are exploring partnerships post-COVID-19.

Although cautiously optimistic, 2021 promises a return to normalcy for the Indian tech start-up ecosystem. Deep-tech and new start-up hubs will continue to grow at 40-45 percent CAGR. While the investments in 2020 were significantly lower than in 2019, recovery in deal pace and investments is expected to return to 2019 levels, if not exceed in 2021. In terms of total Unicorns, India is on track to have a 50-plus strong Unicorn club in 2021. M&A deals and IPO pipeline are also expected to accelerate in 2021.

However, as normalcy returns for start-ups in the new year, certain proactive measures are required to ensure the continued momentum and growth. These include Government investment in building infrastructure and strengthening policies; Ecosystem collaboration for market access for early stage start-ups; Acceleration of corporate participation; Increasing seed-stage investments for tech start-ups, which is currently less than 10 percent of the total investment received each year; Increase in the share of domestic capital and; Expansion of experienced talent base in the country.

NASSCOM defines tech start-ups ecosystem as active technology product or platform companies incepted in the last 5 years in 2015 or later.

|In: Funding|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

CropIn, a leading global artificial intelligence and data-led agri-tech organization empowering stakeholders to reimagine agriculture with data, has raised US$20 million in a Series C funding round led by ABC World Asia, an Asia-focused private equity fund dedicated to evidence-based impact investing.

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Existing investors Chiratae Ventures, Invested Development and Ankur Capital also participated in this funding round. Other new investors in this round include CDC Group and Kris Gopalakrishnan’s family office Pratithi Investment Trust.

CropIn will use this capital infusion to focus on its global expansion, while continuing to innovate on its ML-based predictive analytics platform, SmartRisk to further strengthen its artificial intelligence capabilities. CropIn is also investing to penetrate deeper in its target markets globally. Recently, CropIn opened an Amsterdam office, and will be hiring local leaders to drive growth in the European market.

CropIn’s data-driven farming solutions enable agri-enterprises and growers to ‘maximize per-acre value’. Its farm data and agronomy management platform, SmartFarm, empowers stakeholders to improve efficiency, productivity, predictability, and sustainability of their crop value-chains. SmartFarm enables agri-enterprises to adhere to food safety standards thereby ensuring farm-to-fork traceability.

The platform helps growers adopt sustainable farming practices to build long term economic viability and resiliency for local farming communities. CropIn has partnered with several global players in agriculture, including development finance institutions and government entities in 52 countries, to drive their digital and sustainability goals.

CropIn’s SmartRisk platform improves underwriting and risk assessment, enabling banks, insurance providers and other financial institutions to make informed underwriting decisions, identify new markets and expand product portfolios to service high-volume low-ticket opportunities.

By analyzing and interpreting farm-centric data for over 388 crops with nearly 9,500 variants across trillions of data points that grow every day, SmartRisk helps achieve high prediction accuracy at a plot-level. It does this by combining computer vision with deep-learning algorithms, on multispectral imagery derived from aerial scouting [satellites and drones], field scouting data, and hyperlocal weather.

The SmartRisk AI has processed more than 160 million hectares of land area, and has the potential to impact 70 million farmers globally in the next 3-5 years. Thus far, CropIn has positively impacted 13 million acres and 4 million farmers through the SmartFarm and SmartRisk platforms.

Smallholder farmers associated with CropIn’s clientele also observed their crop yields increasing by nearly 25 percent in the first year and subsequently experienced optimized yield improvements in the following years, by integrating the recommended advanced agricultural techniques and quality inputs into their farming practices through CropIn’s agri-tech platforms.

Krishna Kumar, Founder & CEO of CropIn, said

The robust, predictive power of digitalization offers tremendous potential for the agriculture industry to leapfrog its many challenges in the coming years. The industry is capturing more data than ever, on everything from agronomy, weather and logistics to market price volatility, which has helped reduce acute data gaps throughout the value chain.

In order to improve yields, optimize production and improve resilience and sustainability, agri-businesses are increasingly relying on innovative agri-tech solutions like artificial intelligence, data analytics, and the internet of things. We, at CropIn, are excited to advance the ‘AI-Culture’ for Agriculture.

Based in Singapore, ABC World Asia invests in companies that demonstrate commitment to generating positive and measurable social or environmental impact, alongside the ability to deliver compelling risk-adjusted returns.

David Heng, Founder & CEO of ABC World Asia, said

Sustainable food and agriculture is a core investment theme for ABC World Asia. The agriculture industry is an important pillar of the global economy, in particular driving Asia’s growth and feeding the region’s rapidly increasing population. The industry now faces challenges more pronounced than before, with the COVID-19 global pandemic highlighting the vulnerability of global food supplies and impacting the livelihoods of many smallholder farmers.

Existing investors of CropIn include BeeNext and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Strategic Investment Fund. Over the last year, CropIn has established an advisory board comprising Barrett Mooney [Chairman of Board at AgEagle], Ranveer Chandra [Chief Scientist at Microsoft], TVG Krishnamurthy [Member of the Board of Directors at Ola], and Dr Iya Khalil [Global Head of the AI Innovation Center at Novartis].

According to Karan Mohla, Partner, Chiratae Ventures India Advisors

As active investors in the agri-tech space as well as in companies pioneering deep-tech and AI, we are truly excited about the innovative models that CropIn is building out in farm management and predictive analytics. In creating and building out a platform for multiple participants in the agriculture ecosystem, CropIn has established itself as a true global leader.

With the leadership of Krishna and co-founder Kunal Prasad, they have built out a tremendous world-class team and advisory board and are on the precipice of achieving massive scale as a global company.

Ambit Corporate Finance acted as the financial advisor to CropIn for this funding round. With this new round of investment, CropIn has raised a total funding of US$ 33.1 million to date.

|In: Technology|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

The year 2020 is likely to be remembered as the year that changed the lives of many of us, all thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic:(. The global pandemic that wreaked havoc on the global economy also resulted in expediting the digitalization process across different sectors and industries. The long-standing digital transformation is the most encouraging result that will come out of the pandemic.

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Remote work became a reality for millions of people across the globe. Cloud computing is helping people and businesses stay connected. Its adoption will increase in years to come and it makes utmost sense to have skills in those areas that will be relevant in the fast-changing technology sector.

Owing to remote working, professionals are finding time to focus on improving their competency by investing time on quality courses. Upskilling has become extremely relevant during the ongoing pandemic [Source]. Developers have a once in life-time opportunity to upskill whilst doing their office work from the comfort of their homes.

Here are some of the top developer courses that will help to stay relevant in the year 2021 [and beyond]:

Cloud Computing

The global cloud market size is expected to grow at a CAGR [Compound Annual Growth Rate] of 12.5 percent during the period 2019 to 2021. Retail and healthcare segments are the biggest contributors to the growth in the global cloud market. Cloud computing has also made significant inroads in the Smart Utilities sector.

An extensive course on Cloud Computing will help you gain an understanding of the nitty-gritty of cloud from both business and practitioner perspectives. Even though you have to play with code on a regular basis, it is important to understand the business case associated with any technology.

Introduction to Cloud by IBM is an ideal course that walks you through the varied aspects of cloud computing. It also digs deep into Virtualization, VMs, Storage, Networking, Containers, and Serverless – the key components of the cloud architecture.

The best part about this free Cloud computing course is that it is self-paced and you get to learn from the brightest minds who have hands-on skills on the technology.

Conversational AI Applications [Chatbots]

There is a high probability that you would have interacted with a chatbot at least once when you are on a banking/e-commerce website. The conversational AI market is growing at a burgeoning pace and the spending on Cognitive and AI systems is predicted to reach $77.6 billion in 2022 [approximately three times the forecast for 2018].

If you are thinking of leveraging chatbots for providing your clients (or customers) with fast and consistent answers across applications; you should give a brief look at Watson Assistant. You can use the cognitive computing power offered by Watson Assistant to build a chatbot without writing a single line of code!

Customer service chatbots are redefining support with AI and the course on introduction to chatbots with a focus on Watson Conversion could be your gateway to gain expertise in the emerging world of conversational AI.

Containers and Kubernetes

When writing blogs for a few of my clients, I got an opportunity to explore the endless possibilities offered by Containers. To start with, Containers are completely different from Virtual Machines [VMs]. I have used Docker Container for Selenium web automation testing and the experience is super awesome! No extra load on the CPU, something which is very much evident when using VMs.

The Docker compose file that uses the YAML format [.yml] makes it easy to spin new containers. Debug variant of container images has VNC Server preinstalled in it, a feature that is useful for web automation testing. When we talk about deploying and scaling containerized applications, Kubernetes immediately comes to mind.

An extensive course that walks you through the essentials of Kubernetes [kubectl commands, Kubernetes objects, etc.], including the ever-expanding Kubernetes ecosystem could be a good place to get started with Kubernetes. The introduction course on Kubernetes and Containers can be further leveraged to run containers, build container images, and more.

Conclusion

The pandemic has put immense focus on upskilling and having the relevant skills are important to stay ahead of the cut-throat competition. Remote working is providing an opportunity for developers where they can take self-paced courses while working on their project work.

Which course did you recently take up and why? Do share your thoughts in the comments section…

|In: Finance|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

What is NAV?

A mutual fund scheme comprises of several units, also called as unit shares. The Net Asset Value or NAV of each such unit is basically its market value. In other words, it is the price at which an investor purchases or sells the units of their mutual fund scheme.

Image Source

When you invest in mutual funds, you would find that several assets are managed under a fund. The Net Asset Value (NAV) of a mutual fund is announced by the Asset Management Company [AMC] on a daily basis, irrespective of the type of mutual funds. Typically, it is mandatory to disclose the NAV of mutual funds on the AMC’s website by evening. This becomes the basis of mutual fund investments for investors the next day.

How is the Net Asset Value relevant to investors?

It is not sensible and advised to base your investment decision solely on the Net Asset Value of any particular mutual fund scheme. Remember that NAVs do not entirely reflect the future prospects of any mutual fund scheme. It is merely the total value of the mutual fund scheme minus expenses and liabilities.

Hence, a higher NAV equals that the scheme investments have prospered too good or the scheme has been around for quite a time. Instead of focusing on just NAV of a scheme, investors should focus on the performance of the mutual fund scheme and the returns generated by the scheme.

What is the difference between Net Asset Value & Market Price of a Mutual Fund scheme?

Investors often blindly assume that the market price and the net asset value or NAV of a mutual fund scheme are the same. However, this is not true. They might be buying or selling the units of a mutual fund scheme at NAV but it shouldn’t be confused with the market price of a mutual fund scheme. The investors decide the share price in the stock market. On the other hand, the investors do not have the power to decide the NAV of any mutual fund unit.

Factors such as entry and exit of investors, company’s potential, demand and supply, etc. also determine the share price of a mutual fund scheme. So, the NAV will always be altered than the market price of a stock.

When an investor invests in mutual funds having a low NAV value, they would be allocated additional units as compared to investments in mutual funds with a higher NAV. This is one of the primary reasons why several investors think that it is better to invest in mutual funds that have a lower NAV. However, what they fail to understand is that the factor that really matters is the difference between the values of the NAV when they are purchased and sold. Thus, an investor shouldn’t be influenced by holding more units in a mutual fund scheme with lower NAVs. Happy investing!

|In: startups|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

In the quest of building a robust startup ecosystem in Haryana, India Accelerator – India’s only institution with Global Accelerator Network has recently entered into an MoU with startup Haryana and the Department of Information Technology, Electronics and Communication [DITECH]. The association strategically creates an ecosystem in the state that stimulates innovation and growth of disruptive startups.

Source

DITECH Haryana has signed a Memorandum of Understanding [MoU] with India Accelerator in the presence of Special Secretary, DITECH, Rajnarayan Kaushik, Chief Technology Officer, DITECH, Mr. Nitin Bansal and Munish Bhatia, General Manager & Partner, India Accelerator.

In the past decade, the adoption of technology has paved the way for innovative startups to emerge in the country. With the newly signed MoU, India Accelerator provides immense support to the startups registered with Startup Haryana through knowledge sharing at different stages of their entrepreneurial journey. It further extends its services free of cost to highly-potential startups thereby, creating a holistic and sustainable ecosystem in the state of Haryana.

Ashish Bhatia, CEO, and Founder, India Accelerator said

Partnership between India Accelerator and Startup Haryana will be a big step to bring Public-Private collaboration to build the startup ecosystem in the state of Haryana. India Accelerator will be helping startups in Haryana by bridging the gap between industry and startups.

The growth of a startup depends on access to capital, strategic partnerships, customer exposure, mentor guidance, and more. As part of the collaboration, India Accelerator provides access to its exclusively designed online program to equip the community of young entrepreneurs with the right knowledge, mentorship, and connections to move beyond the early stage of the startup.

Additionally, it also provides access to a comprehensive platform for every student, professional, or entrepreneur who can set and achieve their personal and professional goals with the help of personalized mentorship programs.

While giving information about ongoing efforts to foster Startup ecosystem in the State, Special Secretary, DITECH, Rajnarayan Kaushik, said

The association between Startup Haryana, DITECH, and Startup Ecosystem Partners will help in creating an ecosystem that stimulates independent thinking and innovative ideas to help Startups in different stages of their entrepreneurial journey in addition to sharing of knowledge/information for promotion of the startup ecosystem in Haryana.

India Accelerator is a formal partner with Global Funds such as Emphasis Ventures [EMVC], SGAN & Global Accelerator Network Venture Funds along with its own network of investors. The startups in the cohort will get access to varied investment options and massive perks by India Accelerator under its membership with GAN like AWS, IBM Cloud, Google Cloud, SendGrid, Zoho, HubSpot, and more.

|In: startups|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Savings and investment platform Sqrrl has collaborated with leading tax planning and return filing platform ‘Quicko’ to facilitate the process of Income Tax Return filing for 14.6 million users. As the last date of filing ITR is approaching, many professionals will rush to chartered accountants to help them out with lengthy and complicated tax filing processes.

As a ‘Do It Yourself [DIY]’ financial planning platform, Sqrrl saw the growing need of consumers in the market looking for a simpler alternative to the otherwise tedious process of tax filing and decided to join hands with Quicko for a seamless platform to assist millions of customers.

By partnering with Quicko, Sqrrl has simplified not only the basic salaried ITR filing process, but also the more complex ones like filing of capital gains tax. Mutual fund investors are often puzzled when it comes to computing and filing capital gains tax. With Sqrrl now, investors can seamlessly file their capital gains taxes as well as their basic salaried ITR. The ITR filing service is a part of their membership called Sqrrl Prime which offers free investing, filing ITR, getting accidental coverage and much more.

Historic data shows that the number of people filing taxes in India is lesser than expected. In fact, over the recent times the government of India has been actively working to increase the tax base of the country. By offering the tax e-filing feature, we aspire to de-complicate and simplify the tax filing processes so that more and more people can file their taxes conveniently.

Under this association, people can log on to https://sqrrl.quicko.com/ to file tax from a wide range of tax filing plans depending on their needs. Individuals can choose the most basic DIY tax filing plan, wherein, for eg. salaried individuals just have to upload their Form no. 16. Once uploaded, all the required data would be extracted from their Form no. 16 and is used in furthering the process. Soon after confirming that all the details are correct, the candidate will be redirected to Quicko. For complicated business-related filing, users can also opt for CA assisted plans.

Commenting on the partnership, Samant Sikka, Co-Founder, Sqrrl said

This partnership with Quicko will especially be useful for those mutual fund investors who often get confused while computing and filing capital gains tax. We have specifically curated an option for mutual fund investors to file the capital gains statement which will be of great help for regular investors in the market.

The aim of this association is to make the tax filing process as seamless as saving and investing, on the platform.

Vishvajit Sonagara, Founder, Quicko said

We are glad to partner with Sqrrl to extend the ease of filing ITR through our platform. Tax filing is often considered as a tedious process, through our partnership we wish to simplify the process of tax filing for the larger group.

Do not miss – Samant Sikka on his startup journey with Sqrrl