Vendors give thumbs up to budget 2010

"We are glad that the FM has unveiled the roadmap for GST with a definite
date for implementation, which will be April 2011. Unification of the rate on
excise duty and service tax has been a step in the right direction towards
implementation of GST. The rate of service tax as well as that of excise duty
will now be 10 percent. This will also help mitigate the issue of CENVAT
overflow for manufacture of IT products in the country. We have welcomed the
setting up of the Technology Advisory Group under the chairmanship of Nandan
Nilekani for monitoring effective IT implementation in projects of National
eminence."

Vinnie Mehta, Executive Director, MAIT

"This year's budget is aimed at a positive direction. The impressive growth
of the manufacturing sector in the third quarter of the current year has
reinforced that the economy is reviving but we need to move ahead with caution.
With the continued support from government on stimulating the economic recovery,
the industry will be able to strengthen itself further. The Technology Advisory
Group for Unique Projects (TAGUP) is a recommendable initiative of the
Government and a step closer towards e-governance. In addition, for MNC's,
simplifying the FDI policy would help to improve the overall investment
environment. For the common man, the reduction of customs duty, central excise
duty and special additional duty in certain goods and commodities critical to
SMEs and SMBs will be beneficial for the Indian household. The tax slab for the
personal income and investment will also give a boost to the average mid-level
income group."

Andrew Horne, MD, Xerox India

"This year's budget was mostly a calm budget for the IT industry. The good
part is that it reflects a strong flavor of social inclusion signaled by the
focus on development fund and allocation for the education segment. This is a
welcome move and bodes well for uniform social growth. The attention to
infrastructure development is a continued note in the budget bouquet, and one
that has shown results already."

Rajesh Janey, President-Sales, India & SAARC, NetApp

"The Government was in an unenviable position to withdraw some of the
stimulus to reign in the fiscal deficit, so some not so popular decisions were
expected like increase in excise duty. However the good thing is that the
increase is not as steep as the drop, so in that sense yes it has met the
expectations. It was expected that the Government will announce some benefits
for users of green technology, besides just solar panels. Either the green
products should have had some concessional/lower duty or corporates adopting
proven green standards/compliance should have been given some tax benefits. This
would have encouraged higher/faster adoption of green technology amongst
end-consumers."

Jayesh Kotak, VP-Product Marketing, D-Link India

"Given that the industry is still in a recovery mode the tax incentive should
have been extended. The rolling back of excise duties may affect sales. There
has been no proposal to abolish Special Additional Duty (SAD) across products
which is discouraging. We are glad that the roadmap for GST has been finally
unveiled, which is very critical for creating a single-India market. We hope for
better involvement and engagement of the Government with the industry, as the
finer details of the GST is worked out."

Rajan Sharma, GM, GIGABYTE India

"Our FM has done a commendable job of partially withdrawing the stimulus by
balancing it with various schemes which should accelerate GDP growth. The focus
on the rural economy with substantial and higher allocations will more than make
up for the slack in demand, if any, due to the marginal increase in the excise
duty rate. This budget will lead to an increase in the feel good factor which is
believed to play an important role in increasing the demand of consumer
products. It is very heartening to note that the cost of mobile phones will come
down and will further boost demand and encourage local manufacturing. I am
disappointed, however, by the lack of adequate attention to promote the local
manufacturing of IT hardware and to increase domestic consumption of PCs. I feel
that the economy now requires for inclusive growth not only inputs in
agriculture and rural infrastructure but also in IT literacy and IT
infrastructure."

Ramesh A Vaswani, Executive Vice Chairman, Intex
Technologies India

"We are delighted that the Finance Minister has recognized the key role our
industry can play in driving technology led inclusive growth across the country,
apart from directly contributing as an employment generator and foreign exchange
earner. According to the announcement of the Technology Advisory Group under
Nandan Nilekani, automation of central excise, GST and commercial taxes will
enable the vision of citizen centric governance. Our industry will partner with
the government to drive inclusive growth within India, while continuing to be
the leader around the world in IT and business process solutions."

Pramod Bhasin, Chairman, NASSCOM

"The Union Budget 2010-11 is largely positive and continues to focus on
growth. Taking GDP to double digits can be felt throughout the budget proposals.
The continued thrust on agriculture, infrastructure and rural development will
unlock much of the economic growth potential in the medium-term. Along with
maintaining the focus on broad-based growth, the budget has also addressed
concerns on the fiscal deficit front. Allocation of Rs 1900 crore for UID
program is going to create huge opportunity by image creation and archiving. On
the personal front the tax relief is going to make huge savings for those whose
annual income is below 8 lakh. As you know we have large number of people who
are in this category in India and it is going to open up more buying for CE and
IT products for home."

VP Sajeevan, Director-CSP, Canon India

"For the IT industry, the best news has been the special additional duties,
where companies were first paying and then claiming. This process has now been
scrapped. In the packaged software area, earlier we used to have double
taxation, now only a one time tax will be charged which is a welcome move.
Surcharge has been reduced from 10 percent to 7.5 percent which means rate of
direct tax will come down and this will give companies resilience to absorb some
of the not so good aspects of the budget. This includes countervailing duties
and fuel prices which have been increased, thus, forcing freight cost to surge
but the drop in surcharge will give companies some cushion without passing on
the burden to consumers."

Alok Bharadwaj, Senior VP, Canon India

"The budget this year would have a broad appeal in India, with a significant
focus on inclusive growth and development at all strata. The emphasis on
infrastructure development in both urban and rural is highly visible and
welcome. It is heartening to see the significant rise in the allocation towards
social welfare. The 'National Clean Energy Fund' will position India as a
leading force in finding ways to combat the imminent energy crisis. It will also
simultaneously encourage research and technology projects in the clean energy
space. The proposed provision to simplify the FDI (Foreign Direct Investment)
model followed in India is also a welcome move. With the noble intention of
spurring R&D across sectors, this budget paves the way for tax reforms on
in-house R&D expenses, and also on contributions made towards scientific
research to associations, colleges, universities and other institutions. While
research and development gets a leg-up, higher education and corporate tax
reform waits for its turn. The UIDA took the lead among e-infrastructure
initiatives, and broadband roll-out and major e-governance projects still need
to be addressed."

Naresh Wadhwa, President and Country Manager-Cisco
(India and SAARC)

"Budget 2010 is the first budget after the global crisis. Overall the budget
was well balanced and responsible. Various projects and schemes announced by the
government will see increased role of IT as an enabler towards more inclusive
growth. The FM has also given us a clear direction on the roadmap for GST with a
definite date for implementation-April, 2011. I am sure that the various
measures announced today will go a long way to ensure proper focus on taking
core sectors like education, healthcare, social security, rural development,
national security and banking to the grass root levels. Further to this,
deduction on in-house R&D has been increased to 200 percent from 150, which will
definitely help put back focus on R&D. IT will play an important role in driving
these nation building initiatives across sectors."

Ajai Chowdhry, CEO and Chairman, HCL Infosystems

"The Finance Minister has given us a pragmatic forward looking budget that
provides clarity to business. We appreciate the clarification on Section 10AA
and the Direct Tax Code, implementation date. The changes to the personal income
tax are very beneficial to all professionals and is in line with overall
simplification theme."

N Chandrasekaran, CEO and MD, TCS

"We are pleased at the earnest effort to introduce GST from April 2011. The
continued focus on deployment of Information Technology for mission mode
projects like commercial taxes augur well. Increased budget for the UID and the
formation of the Technical Advisory Group under the able leadership of Nandan
Nilekani is laudable. We are also happy to see significant enhancement in
funding for education and rural and urban infrastructure, which will drive
demand for IT."

Manoj Chugh, President, India and SAARC, EMC
Corporation

"In the current circumstances, our FM has done his best. The policies
announced today will help social sector spending that is bound to kick start the
economy. Measures like these will create liquidity, and bring money back into
circulation. The Unique ID project is a much needed and long overdue project
which can dramatically change the way citizens interact with various government
and non-government institutions by bringing greater transparency and
accountability. Government should invest in appropriate data mining solutions to
leverage the tremendous amount of data which could be utilized very effectively.
The UID project has the potential of boosting e-governance in the rural areas by
enhancing projects such as CSCs and improving the overall interaction between
citizens and government. Any increase in e-governance projects creates a
potential for organizations such as ours"

Ramkumar Subramanian, VP-Sales and Marketing, AMD India