1st February, New Delhi. The interim budget for 2024-25 has proposed to extend the tax benefit offered to startups, sovereign and pension funds, and certain investment units housed in GIFT City’s International Financial Services Centre (IFSC), by one year until March 31, 2025.

“Certain tax benefits to start-ups and investments made by sovereign wealth or pension funds as tax exemption on certain income of some IFSC units are expiring on 31.03.2024. To provide continuity in taxation, I propose to extend the date to 31.03.2025,” Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman said in her budget speech.

Announced in the Union Budget 2017, the scheme offers a 100 percent tax rebate to eligible startups on profits made for three years in a total time frame of 10 years of operations. However, the startup’s turnover should be less than ₹100 crore in any of the previous financial years to be eligible.

Under the scheme, startups can carry forward their losses incurred during the said period to the next financial year, when they can set the losses off against income. Source: BL.