NEWSLINKS
BUDGET 2000 LIVE!
BUDGET ON REDIFF
D&B BUDGET SPL
ECONOMIC SURVEY
RLY BUDGET
BUDGET: RUN-UP
BUDGET PROCESS
BUDGET HOTLINKS
Y2K BIZ FEATURES
INDIA & THE WTO
GOVT&ECONOMY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
COMMENTARY
CREDIT POLICY
BUDGET 1999-2000
USEFUL INFO
ARCHIVES
SEARCH REDIFF

The Rediff Budget Jury/Balu Doraiswamy

'Duty cuts will facilitate the setting up of vendor hubs'

This budget is not a breakthrough one for the infotech industry, but it has a number of remarkable and encouraging points. For one, the opening up of venture capital and FII investment will result in investment in the IT segment, which will not only create jobs, but also spur technology sales.

Secondly, the budget provides incentives for local manufacture, and this is good news.

The extension of Special Additional Duty on traded goods offsets the reduction in duties, and there is not much change expected in these prices. However, the budget will provide an advantage to those assembling and manufacturing systems within the country.

The reduction of duties on processors, memories, CD-ROMs and some other components to zero will facilitate the setting up of vendor hubs within the country, and this will provide flexibility, reduced time-to-market as well as inventory reduction.

The duty reductions themselves will result in an estimated 3-4 per cent decrease in prices to the end-user.

Compaq, which has a manufacturing facility in India, sees an opportunity to expand the production capacity within the country.

Balu Doraiswamy, managing director, Compaq India, spoke to M D Riti in Bangalore.

Budget 2000 Live! | Budget on Rediff | Dun & Bradstreet Budget Special | The Run-up
Budget Process | Budget Hotlinks | NDA Government & Economy
Ministry of Finance: Economic Survey 1999-2000 | Budget 2000 document

Tell us what you think of this Budget 2000 coverage