FM-speak on IT || Impact on the IT sector || Sectoral Impact

Budget 2003: SMEs can win too
Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the software sector can be major revenue earners and job creators, provided the government protects them and industry body Nasscom offers financial help to promote SME interests, says Sameer Kochhar in his analysis of Budget 2003-04

A balanced budget for the IT sector
In his Budget speech, Finance Minster Jaswant Singh acknowledged that the IT industry is India’s success story and expressed the need to not just maintain its momentum of growth but continuously encourage it. Mani Bharadwaj of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu delves into the provisions behind this sentiment, and analyses what they all really mean for the industry. While the overall impact is positive, the widening of the service tax net and the increase in the quantum of service tax could prove to be a bit of a dampener

Budget underscores importance of govt-industry partnership
The Indian IT industry was cautiously optimistic about Budget 2003-04, Union Finance Minister Jaswant Singh’s first-ever Budget. While Singh did not disappoint the industry, there are some grey areas that still need to be addressed, especially on the indirect tax front. Srinivasa Rao of Ernst & Young analyses the Budget and explains how it positively impacts the industry, as well as brings out the issues and areas that have been ignored

Stop looking for goodies from the government
In a societal analysis of Budget 2003, Mohandas Pai of Infosys applauds the thrust on the social sector, but warns that higher allocation for primary education and greater tech penetration is still elusive and emphasises that citizens need to look at the long term future of our nation when it comes to Budget expectations