For more than four decades, only four cities, Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai, let a salaried employee claim House Rent Allowance (HRA) exemption at 50% of salary. Everywhere else was capped at 40%. The Income-tax…
Unit Economics 101: The 6 Numbers Investors Stress-Test in Indian Startups (2026) I have sat on the founder's side of enough fundraising conversations to know the exact moment a pitch changes gear. It is not…
If your business ever bills goods to one address and ships them to another, a quiet change to the E-Way Bill system is about to become unavoidable. GSTN has deferred two new functionalities from 15…
If your startup is finally turning profitable, Section 80-IAC of the Income-tax Act, 1961 is the single most valuable relief on the table: a 100% deduction of business profits for three years. The Finance Act,…
Every June, a quiet sorting happens inside the Income-tax Department. Most returns filed in the previous year are left alone. A small set is pulled out for complete scrutiny, and for those taxpayers the next…
Most founders treat vendor payment timing as a cash-flow decision. For one category of supplier, it is now a tax decision. If your startup pays a registered micro or small enterprise beyond the statutory window,…
If you hold a Director Identification Number (DIN), the rule you have followed every year just changed. DIR-3 KYC, the annual director identity confirmation, is no longer annual. The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has moved…
Two depreciation regimes now sit on either side of one date. The Income-tax Act 2025 has been in force since 1 April 2026, yet the tax audit your finance team is closing this season, the…
The Income-tax Act 2025 replaced the Income-tax Act 1961 on April 1, 2026. For founders and finance leaders running cross-border transactions, the practical question this filing season is simple: when you file Form 3CEB in…
Key Takeaways A cap table that reconciles in Excel is not the same as a cap table that survives due diligence. Six structural issues commonly hide inside what founders describe as "clean". The most expensive…
