Budget 2018: This is what the technology sector wants from FM Arun Jaitley

Ahead of the announcement of Union Budget 2018, Tech Industry leaders share their concerns and demands

Key issues

• Newer technologies such as artificial intelligence, cloud, etc, are changing the rules of the game for incumbent IT players 

• Impact of new regulations such as H1B, GDPR could result in higher deployment costs as well as increased compliance costs 

• Convergence in online-offline business models in the e-commerce sector, largely due to heightened competition

What industry wants

• Adjustments to past years’ income emanating from APAs should be recognised as income of those years itself

• Equalisation levy should be treated as tax on income and be eligible for tax credit in a foreign country to the overseas online ad businesses 

• Extend the exemptions granted to STP units in relation to procurements,as before the GST roll-out 

• Tax collected at source (TCS) under the GST has been suspended till March 2018 for e-commerce companies. This provision should be removed, given their onerous compliance obligations

• Mechanism for entering into an advance agreement (akin to APA) with tax authorities for eligibility of tax holiday claim should be introduced

PwC POINT OF VIEW

Sandeep Ladda, Partner Leader Technology Sector, PwC India
Weighted deduction under section 35 (2AB) for R&D activities should be extended to companies engaged in development and sale of software or providing IT services, including to technology start-ups, thus making a case for India to be the intellectual IT hub for global markets.  Further, as e-way bill rules are expected to come in to force soon, a simplified and smooth framework should be implemented, which will go towards enhancing the ease of doing business index. Lastly, the corporate tax rate should be reduced from 30% to 25%, as promised earlier, especially given the recent cut in corporate tax rate by the US from 35% to 21%.

Amit Sinha  COO, Paytm Mall

“The Centre has made great progress in formalising economy through the GST, Aadhaar, among its many other landmark initiatives. I hope this Budget enables us and small businesses to reap the benefits of this formalisation of economy. Encouraging lending, based on the GST data, can be one such step towards this direction. I also believe that developing a policy framework and allocating budget to enable small value lending, without excessive documentation, can further help small businesses”