NEW DELHI: Inaugurating a two-day seminar organized by Nasscom on IT-enabled
services, the Minister for Information Technology, Pramod Mahajan, announced
several sops for the sector. These include single window clearances for
IT-enabled services located in STPIs, income tax exemption on IT-enabled
services, setting up a working committee for women in IT-enabled services, and a
promise to lobby with the Finance Minister to set up a venture capital fund for
IT-enabled services during the next budget.
Speaking at the inaugural session Nasscom president Dewang Mehta said,
"We welcome the government's decision to support ITES (IT Enabled Services
Units) through income tax exemption and single window clearance at STPIs. Pramod
Mahajan's assurance to meet all other demands that have been outlined in
Nasscom's Action Plan for the ITES sector will be critical in realizing the true
potential of the sector."
When it was brought to the Minister’s notice that the benefit of tax
exemption was not available to the industry, he said, "If the Finance
Minister has assured in the Parliament on ITES being tax exempt under 10A/10B
until 2010, then I will take up the matter with the CBDT. And, in the next two
weeks try to enlist the categories of ITES companies that would be exempt."