Naidu looking for excise cuts to promote hardware

In his bid to provide a solid platform for hardware manufacturing within the country, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has urged the Union government to cut excise duties on computer hardware to help the sector grow and start attracting hardware companies to set up their facilities in the country. 

Addressing the inaugural session of the India IT Forum 2003 (IITF), Naidu said that India had emerged as a major player in the software sector, but lagged behind in the hardware sector.

"We need to push hardware and if policies are one of the major hurdle in doing that then we should work together to get it done soon, otherwise countries like Malaysia and China will get stronger day by day in the arena of hardware. The Union government should reduce the taxation on hardware like personal computers, increase the depreciation rate. This will give a boost to the sector," Naidu said.

Abraham Thomas, MD, IBM India also joined hands with Naidu, saying that the excise rate of 15 percent was blocking the spread of computer hardware in the country. A 100 percent depreciation rate on computers would encourage the corporate sector to upgrade their systems.

Thomas urged Pramod Mahajan, Union Minister (IT and Communications), who was the chief guest at IITF's special plenary session, to intervene with the Union Finance Ministry on the question taxation on software.

Cyber News Service