From Budget 2023 expectations to chatGPT's impact on future of work, here are our popular stories of the week

Every week, catch up on the best long form stories from Forbes India. Often peppered with our binge-worthy podcasts, videos or infographics too. Image: Shutterstock


1) Budget 2023: Expecting respite
Mere days are left before Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presents the Union Budget for FY24 in the parliament. India's economy is gradually recovering from the blows dealt by the Covid-19 pandemic and everyone is hoping for a budget that will not only boost growth and investments but also reduce some burden off of taxpayers' shoulders. Simplifying taxation and tariff structures, bringing parity in tax rates, identifying sunrise industries for tax exemptions, lowering the tax burden in capital markets and easing compliance requirements are some of the top expectations. Will the finance minister manage these expectations? Experts weigh in. Read more
 
2) Budget 2023: Perks before polls?
2023 promises to be a busy political calendar with several important state elections, including Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh. These will set the stage for the 2024 general elections. But will that affect the Union Budget? Analysts believe that it will be a tight ropewalk for the government to balance populist measures and announce reforms that may boost investments as this is the last full-year Union Budget before India goes to polls in 2024. Read more


 

3) Budget 2023: Sunshine for crypto winter?
2022 was the year to forget for cryptocurrency stakeholders worldwide. Bitcoin and Ethereum prices fell nearly 60 percent in the year in a risk-averse environment; stablecoins TerraUSD and Luna collapsed; by the year-end, the FTX exchange had filed for bankruptcy after a bank-type run. On the homefront, trading volumes at some of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges plunged by nearly 90 percent due to high taxes. The tax regulations of 2022 have resulted in trading volumes worth Rs 32,000 crore shifting to overseas exchanges last year. With Budget 2023 on the horizon, stakeholders still weathering the crypto winter, hoping that crypto, as an asset class, will start to get parity with other assets such as stocks, gold and bonds. Will the government budge? Read more 
 

Discover

1) Will government cut taxes to spur growth in FY24?
Simplification of taxation and tariff structure, bringing parity in the tax rates, identifying sunrise industries for tax exemptions, lowering tax burden in capital markets and ease in compliance are some top-of-the-list expectations from Budget 2023. The government is expected to specifically focus on new-age industries while critical sectors like infrastructure and healthcare may continue to be on the radar. So, is there any scope for further cuts in corporate tax? How can the government make the new tax regime attractive? What about taxation benefits for MSMEs and PLI schemes? Nasrin Sultana speaks to Neeru Ahuja, Partner, Deloitte India, to decode and simplify this over-complex tax structure. Listen here

2) Rahul Garg of Moglix on Startup Fridays
With Moglix, Rahul Garg not only managed to solve a problem for the manufacturing business but also made his company a unicorn. In this episode of Startup Fridays, the founder and CEO of Moglix talks about what's next for the company, which he says is knocking on $600-700 million in revenue. He also talks about his love of solving not just difficult problems, but difficult and large ones, which feeds his entrepreneurial decisions. Aspiring founders must understand this, and prepare for the long haul—from the existential challenges of the early years to facing the question 'can you scale profitably,' later on, he says. Listen here

3) Balancing act
Being a gen-next entrepreneur can be a boon and a bane. In this episode of Forbes India's Leadership Mantras, Nadia Chauhan, joint managing director and CMO of FMCG company Parle Agro, talks to Divya Shekhar about the lessons she learnt growing up around a business as a child, how she deals with conflict, how her travels informed her business decision, and why the 10-rupee price-point continues to drive the beverage business. Watch here


4) Changing the future of work
Much has been said about how ChatGPT could generate everything from exam essays to computer code. But Sam Altman, the founder of OpenAI, which made ChatGPT, tweeted that “it’s a mistake to be relying on it for anything important right now.” In time to come, however, the technology behind ChatGPT—generative AI—will be used for things such as drug development, sentiment analysis and improving search functions. Forbes India’s Varsha Meghani explains how ChatGPT will change the future of work. Watch here