Budget mixed bag for IT, start-ups: Nasscom

The union budget for 2016-17 was a mixed bag for the Indian IT industry and start-ups, as its proposals were less than expected with caveats, the industry's apex body Nasscom said on Monday.

"The budget is a mixed for the technology and services sector, as clarification and simplification boost business and more technology adoption in governance is a step in right direction," the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) said in a statement.

On the Start-up India action plan the government unveiled in mid-January, it said caveats could be a dampener and more needed to be done to promote the nascent sector.

"In the backdrop of global economic volatility, there are unmet expectations on policy announcements that enable ease of doing business for our sector. The budget partially covers our wish list on policy bottlenecks, including ease of business, nurturing start-ups, products and e-commerce sector," Nasscom chairman B.V.R. Mohan Reddy said in the statement.

Terming extension of section 10AA for SEZ (special economic zones units till 2020 a positive outcome, he also said imposition of MAT (Minimum Alternative Tax) on startups would not allow the full impact of benefits to be realised.

On Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's stress on leveraging technology to transform India, Nasscom president R. Chandrashekhar said the initiatives in the budget would help to implement Digital India programme and provide effective citizen services.

"The government should build a public-private partnership model for technology adoption across small and medium businesses, land record modernisation, Aadhar adoption and procurement platforms. We will address procedural issues that impact the sector," he said.

Nasscom, however, regretted that the budget did not address its plea on removal of dual levies on software products; domestic investors facing higher tax rates due to angel taxation and higher long-term capital gains tax and transfer pricing issues related to safe harbour margins.