As Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee gets ready to present the Union Budget for 2009-10, the IT/ITeS industry is hoping for major reforms, especially in taxation.
The appointment of Nandan Nilekani as chairperson of the Unique Identification Authority of India is widely seen as an example of the government's inclination towards IT. Moreover, the government has increased the estimated allocation to the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology to Rs. 19,432 crore for 2009-10.
In a conversation with CXOtoday, Hanuman Tripathi, CEO and MD of Infrasoft Technologies, said that the government should maximize the sops that were given in previous budget. "India is living in euphoria, post the return of a stable and popular government. The downturn of western economies is still to see a reversal, which is likely to continue to cause a set back to the Indian economy," he said.
According to Tripathi, mid-sized companies are increasing their contribution to the software exports consistently needs to be analyzed and encouraged. These companies are being forced to take up large IT spaces in far flung SEZs in order to stay within tax benefits are expecting too much out of them. "During the current global outsourcing business scenario, the Indian IT and ITeS companies are facing massive risk of business and employment loss and erosion of share holders' worth that could affect the national GDP," he said.
Tripathi believes that over the over last 10 years, the IT industry has returned many a times bigger economic benefit to the country. If India wishes to promote next generation multi billion companies, and work towards staying a global leader in IT services, it has to support the mid-sized companies of today, he said.
Change is the only constant goes the well worn adage. Well, we too, here at CXOt...