Role of IT sector crucial to promote e-governance: FM

FM meets tech leaders in first pre-Budget talks; industry seeks favourable ecosystem

The heads of India’s information technology sector gathered at the Raisina Hills on Wednesday for their first ever pre-Budget meet with Finance Minister (FM) Arun Jaitley. Infosys chief executive Vishal Sikka; Wipro Chief Financial Officer Suresh Senapathy; TCS Executive Vice-President Pheroz Vandrewala; HCL Chief Financial Officer Anil Chanana; Nasscom president R Chandrasekhar, along with e-commerce captains Flipkart’s Sachin Bansal; Snapdeal’s Kunal Behl; InMobi’s Naveen Tewari and several others came together for this meet.

“This shows the importance of the sector not only as foreign exchange contributors and the largest private sector employer, but also the fact that today, we have become central to the economy,” said R Chandrasekhar, president, Nasscom.

Among the sector’s suggestions is to offer incentives for setting up data centres in India to ensure data security. Industry players asked the FM to create a favourable ecosystem for entrepreneurs, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and large companies to flourish in India. Naveen Tewari of InMobi and Flipkart’s Bansal said they had received several offers from other countries to set up business there.

The SMEs and technology start-ups need an environment of constant nurturing, including access to funds, incentives to support operations and a simplified compliance framework. On the other hand, large enterprises require stable policies and predictable regulations to continue its global journey.

“The FM has asked us to get back to the ministry with two things. First, he has asked us to come up with a proper definition of a start-up, so that incentives can be targeted. Second, collate and provide recommendation on angel funding in India. He has also asked us to provide the details of competitive tax regime for product companies in other countries,” added Chandrasekhar.

Jaitley said the sector was important in promoting the inclusive and sustainable growth of the electronics, IT and ITeS sectors and enhancing India’s role in internet governance. “The success of the ‘Digital India’ initiative will necessarily rely on the IT sector for design, deployment and its continued success. Realisation of ‘Make in India’ is inseparable from ICT (information and communications technology) sector. Modern manufacturing relies on IT for efficiencies and innovation leading to ‘know-why’ of products and processes,” said Jaitley.

iSpirt, a think tank for the software sector, also gave its recommendation. It said it is important to exempt software products from all direct and indirect taxes for five years (till 2020). The sector also insisted that there changes need to be made to the procurement policy of the government’s ICT needs. “The prevailing conditions and prerequisites for participating in government programmes are onerous, and not all past experiences have been favourable. There is an outstanding amount of Rs 4,000 crore to Rs 5,000 crore that needs to be addressed. Further, SMEs face stiff barriers in the eligibility criteria related to past experience, which needs to be revisited,” said Chandrasekhar of Nasscom.