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News >> Technology >>
IT industry hails union budget
By siliconindia
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Monday, 28 February 2005, 20:30 IST
BANGALORE: Heads of various technology companies have hailed the budget presented by finance minister P. Chidambaram today.
Rangu Salgame, President, Cisco Systems, India and Saarc said the budget is a progressive and balanced from the economic perspective.
The government's decision to increase teledensity across all villages by 2007 will positively impact connectivity, helping rural Indians to be a part of the digital revolution. The revision in duties, particularly the exemption of customs duties on ITA bound items is likely to be welcomed by CIOs of Indian enterprises, which are aggressively increasing their IT budgets this year to make them globally competitive. In addition, the measures aimed at augmenting growth in sectors such as SMBs, textile and manufacturing will have a positive effect on the overall economic development of the nation."
While Arun Kumar, President and Managing Director, Flextronics Software Systems Limited said the budget was progressive aimed at balanced growth across various sectors. The thrust on infrastructure will not only address the developmental needs of the country but also send the right signals to foreign investors.
The focus on SMEs in IT, pharma and manufacturing is a good sign. Recognizing IT's contribution as a job creator is a positive endorsement of the achievements of this sector and hopefully, the government will address some of the areas that might constrain growth in this sector."
Ravi Sharma, President Alcatel, South Asia, said the budget is in the right direction in making India a manufacturing destination for telecom equipments. This will surely make India a dominant player in the world for both manufacturing and services for the Telecom sector.
Synopsis India Pvt Ltd managing director Pradip Dutta said the budget is aimed at satisfying CMP, which is necessary considering our diversity. The countervailing duty on IT hardware would raise prices, further affecting PC penetration and Internet density. However on the positive side, I am encouraged that government will invest in infrastructure of major cities that would stimulate growth in a citizen-friendly manner.
Ashok Soota, Chairman and Managing Director, MindTree Consulting said the best point about the Budget is that its top priority is infrastructure, which is also the biggest weakness of the country. I am happy that for Bangalore, in particular, the metro railway will receive central support. Better infrastructure is the only need of the IT industry to further improve its impressive growth in global markets.