Every year, the IAMAI, the body representing mostly large Internet and Mobile VAS companies in India, submits a document to the Finance Ministry, requesting certain sops. Every industry body does it, but it's rare that a request from the Internet and Mobile VAS businesses are entertained. At the end of the budget announcement today, we'll check if the government has taken into account the following demands. In any case, it is indicative of what the industry wants: What The Internet & Mobile VAS Industry Want (Note: We'll be reporting the telecom and digital media components of India's 2010-2011 Budget announcement live.) -- 100% Depreciation For Broadband Equipment (PCs, modems, routers) in the first year. -- Profits that accrue to web hosting enterprises based in India should be partially exempt from the income tax by at least 50% for the next 5 years. -- E-Commerce Sales Tax Waiver For 5 Years: but within limits to be prescribed by the Government. We think it's unlikely that this will happen; why would the government want to create a different tax structure for offline retail versus online, and hurt India's massive offline retail market which is probably the second largest employer in the country? However, if an implementation of GST is announced, this might help bring some sense of sanity to the situation of different taxes in different states. -- Broadband Allowance: All corporations, whether public or private, should be allowed to give a Rs. 6,000 per annum allowance to employees for broadband services access at home, which is removed…
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