Mr FM, When will GST roll out?

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Ahead of Union Budget, India’s hardware industry body the Manufacturers' Association of IT (MAIT) has sent a wish-list comprising seven demands to the finance ministry. Above everything, the Association wants an investor-friendly regime and clear timeline for GST rollout in the country.

As the ICTE industry is expected to reach $125 billion by 2014, MAIT feels the government should take a series of initiatives to facilitate growth and jobs creation opportunities. It also demands expansion of indigenous manufacturing.

Dr Alok Bharadwaj, president, MAIT, said that the country needs to focus on domestic manufacturing that would eventually create more jobs and could help accomplish national mission on employment. MAIT believes that the sector can create 27.8 million jobs by 2020.

“The upcoming Union Budget 2012-13 should be growth and investment friendly and can facilitate stability in the industry,” Bharadwaj said. The Association strongly feels that stable environment is the key for stakeholders.

The MAIT memorandum to the finance ministry includes seven recommendations. These include removal of 4 per cent special additional duty (SAD), abolition of MAT, withdrawal of MRP-based assessment of IT products, implementation of GST and correction of double taxation in annual maintenance contracts.

MAIT ED Sabyasachi Patra said that there is a need to remove disabilities afflicting the entire ICT manufacturing ecosystem so that IT imports don’t exceed the country’s oil imports. “Investors fear policy changes, which is a key challenge and it needs to be addressed,” he added.

The industry body is also optimistic about government’s ambitious national optic fiber network (NOFN) and believes that finance schemes should be rolled out for  economically-weaker sections for PC purchase.

As a responsibility towards environs, the Association has also extended its charter and goals. MAIT said that they will launch e-waste information exchange portal soon that could help recyclers and vendors to get suitable information about safe disposal mechanism and collection centers.