As the Indian Government continues to go focus on make in India, Tech giants are expecting high from tech-savvy government in the Union Budget 2016-17. Key expectations are focused around, delivery centres in both central and state government; and need to address the inverted duty structure.
Macroeconomic Woes: S.Rajendran, CMO, Acer India, said that the expectations ride high for the Union Budget 2016 as this is the second full-fledged budget of the government. The government needs to demonstrate concrete actions to revive investment, increase growth and generate employment which will impact the industry. “We are hoping that the Government will unveil the Union Budget 2016-17 with a pragmatic recognition of macro-economic woes and a thrust towards structural reforms,” he said.
Rajendran further said that one of the primary things the government should do is to adopt IT for citizen facing services and delivery centres in both central and state government.
SAD (Special Additional Duty): Manish Sharma, Managing Director, Panasonic India said that India has the potential to develop and manufacture electronics hardware for the global markets and gain higher global share besides meeting the country’s future requirements in the converging areas of information, communication and entertainment.
He also said that, “Firstly, there is a need to address the inverted duty structure. Budget 2015 extended SAD (Special Additional Duty) exemption on import of certain products for use in manufacture of IT hardware. However, Appliance and Consumer Electronics (ACE) manufacturers still face the same issue as the value addition in this sector, for several products, is quite low and results in an inverted duty structure.”
“The industry was excited with government’s efforts and intent for increasing manufacturing in India but the new FTP is a setback to industries exploring export opportunities. Also it will compel the EMS companies to relocate to other countries which will impact the initiative of “Make in India”,” Sharma said.
