Doel
Mr. Sudip De, Director at Doel International Pvt Ltd., a company providing innovative ICT, Mobility & CE products & services to organizations and end users, gave the following recommendations focusing on the recent demonetization initiative.
• Since the entire country’s current mantra is a cashless economy, the major focus should be on digital literacy. While many people are well versed with the gizmos, there is still major public who depend on others when it comes to digital transactions. Efforts need to be put in order to edify people, especially in the rural areas of India.
• Few more aspects which should be the area of concern and improved are better connectivity in the process of electronic payments and access to newer technologies for the rural population.
• Initiatives such as Digital India, Demonetization are good initiatives and can fuel the growth of our GDP at the rate of 8 to 8.5%.
• GST implementation should be mandatorily done from 1st April 2017. India’s Financial Fiscal should be adjusted to Jan – Dec as like other countries”.
• Timeline for GST rolls out, import duty stabilization and income tax slab ideation will be few more key expectations we are looking at this budget.
• Import duties to be adjusted to enable Indian Manufacturers enough leeway to engage more and more brands.
eScan
Mr. P G Lakshminarayan VP – Finance, eScan, a leading Anti-Virus & Content Security solutions and company, forwards the following recommendation:
• Union Budget 2017 is being greatly anticipated keeping the vision of the government towards making “Digital India” and “Smart cities” projects a great success.
• Looking forward to the budget to provide positive support in terms easing of taxes on these products to make it competitive for every Indian.
• It is expected on part of the Government to cut the tax rates and spend more on infrastructure development, and honor its fiscal deficit commitments.
• Apart from offering the IT and Electronic manufacturers of India or ‘Make in India’ product as the first preference of choice for the government projects which would encourage the entrepreneurs of India to expand and create more job opportunities.
element14
element14 is part of the Premier Farnell group of businesses, a global technology leader in the high service distribution of technology products and solutions for electronic system design, production, maintenance, and repair. Here are the inputs are given by Mr. Ravi Pagar, Regional Director – South Asia and Asean at element14:
• No additional tax or surcharges under GST regime.
• Create a special fund to provide finances for Electronics manufacturing and R&D industry at global rates.
• Customs Dept. should execute “Always Open” clearance process for faster movements.
• Suspension of ‘Integrated Goods and Services Tax’ at the point of import.
- Single window clearances and facilitation to attract more FDI for electronics manufacturing in India.
- Solar power equipment (like solar invertors, UPS, charge controllers) should be brought under “zero” VAT/CST regime similar to solar panels, all across the country; 80 percent accelerated benefit should be extended to individual taxpayers as well for installing rooftop solar systems and other solar energy equipment
• Programs such as Digital India, smart cities and Skill India require the creation of technological infrastructure that will need budgetary support. A policy framework for industry and SMEs in particular that encourages innovation and adoption of technology can boost the Make in India initiative.
• Reduce corporate tax rate for small and medium businesses engaged in IP-centric businesses.
• Corporate income tax rebate for large companies that invest (equity) in small and medium businesses engaged in product design and development.
• Tax rebate on the purchase of electronic system level design platforms and tools—which constitute a significant capital expenditure for electronic design projects.
• The Government should also focus on encouraging Fab-less Semiconductor Companies, who are doing high-end research and development work in India, to help them continue to grow and develop their base here since this is the core skill for enabling intellectual property which is the key building block for the semiconductor industry. It is also important to set up a seed fund to encourage entrepreneurs in the Fab-less semiconductor space and actively invest in start-ups. There is lot of opportunity waiting to be tapped for semiconductors in the Government projects such as low-end laptops, e-passport, and smart cards etc.
