Billing pushes software industry to Pondicherry

It's destination Pondicherry for software industry when it comes to
billing, as a lot of partners are moving there to help their reseller network
benefit from the non-VAT regime.

Attracted by the favorable tax policies of the state when it comes to
billing, the software reselling industry is focusing towards establishing its
presence in Pondicherry. Whether it is New Delhi- based Softmart Solutions,
Aditi Computers or Kolkata- based Chabria Infotech—all have their presence in
Pondicherry so that their set of reseller community can benefit from the tax
benefits there.

“We have already started our office at Pondicherry because the state is
giving a lot of encouragement to the software industry for the past two to three
years now. Since, there is no VAT in the state of Pondicherry, this is certainly
helping at least 50 percent of our resellers when it comes to billing,”
informed, Alok Gupta, CEO, Delhi-based Softmart Solutions.

IT in Pondy Distributors: Ingram Micro and Redington Big IT companies: Red Hat, Wipro and HCL Central Sales Tax: For non Pondicherry partners 0.5% PCST with C form and 10% PCST without C-Form Local Sales Tax: For Pondicherry partners: 0.5% PGST (No form required; shipping/packing/handling charges extra)

Similarly, Delhi-based Aditi Computers have also opened their office in
Pondicherry and ditto with Kolkata-based Chabria Infotech. “We have just
opened our office there about a month back and we have three people at this
office. Today, there are a lot of resellers who work with us and who are not
based in New Delhi. This will certainly help them as Pondicherry does not have
VAT as of now,” explained, RK Singh of Aditi Computers.

It is interesting to note that sometime back, the same situation was
prevalent in Gujarat also. Most of these companies had their offices in
Ahmedabad when the state had a non-VAT regime. Experts in the industry believe
that Pondicherry is also moving towards a VAT scenario but it will take sometime
for the state to fully implement it.

“I don't think that it makes a big sense to go towards Pondicherry now. I
think within a period of two or three months, the state will also move towards
VAT, than we will have to look for other options,” said a prominent software
reseller based in Bangalore on the condition of anonymity.

However, the question topmost on the minds of most resellers is as to what
will happen when the government of Pondicherry plugs in to VAT? Well, resellers
always have the option of moving to states like Uttranchal or Goa, which are yet
to implement the VAT regime. Hence, don't be surprised if software resellers
start dotting the shores of these states in the near future.

Zia Askari New Delhi, May 19