The general budget for the year 2012-13 will be presented in couple of hours and we will be reporting the telecom and digital media components live. In the meantime, here are some pre-budget expectations from companies in the digital media and telecom sectors. COAI: In its pre-budget memorandum, Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has asked for CENVAT credit of central excise duty to be be made available to towers and shelters; to exempt the service tax on the earnings of distributors from distribution of telecom service; to classify OFC (Optic Fibre Cables) under tariff chapter heading 85, attracting Nil rate of basic customs duty, since it is a vital telecom infrastructure component and a key component for the NTP 2012 objectives; It has also asked the government to introduce a new section to deal with tax deduction at source by the telecom operators from the discounts offered to distributors; seeked appropriate clarification on the service tax applicability in Jammu & Kashmir, so as to avoid dual levy of tax on service in lieu of general Sales Tax being paid on specified services in J&K and requested the government to delete Rule 114B(g) of the Income Tax Rules which mandates the requirement of quoting the PAN number at the time of registering a mobile connection, since it acts as an inhibitor to expand services to low end or rural subscribers. Bharti Airtel: Bharti Airtel has seeked for the grant of 'infrastructure sector' status for telecom business, which would make it easier for the telecom operators to get funds easily. Read more at Business Standard DoT: Department…
