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The following are the pre-budget expectations of Mr. V. Balakrishnan, CFO, Infosys Technologies Ltd.
- The Government should come with a clear action plan on how it intends to reduce the budget deficit. A clear plan in this direction will help to bring in comfort on the fiscal situation of the country.
- There needs to be a clear direction on the implementation of the direct tax code, implementation of GST and the status on the new companies bill. These are big ticket reforms but currently lack direction.
- Investment in infrastructure, and the creation of a fast track court to settle all land issues which would enable faster execution of projects.
- There should be greater focus on job creation.
Specific to the IT industry, we believe that the following will be positive developments for the industry:
The STP tax holiday should at least be extended to smaller companies whose group turnover is less than Rs1bn. While the larger companies have the ability to manage it well, there is a case for extending this benefit for smaller companies.
Software exporters should be exempt from paying service tax. The current regime of paying the tax and getting refund from the government is cumbersome and is prone to delays due to unnecessary disputes.