Indian Budget 2006-07 on IT & Telecom Sector

IT & Telecommunication

• - 8 per cent excise duty imposed on packaged software sold over the counter. The customised software and software packages downloaded from the Internet, however, will be exempt from this levy.
• - Full exemption from Excise Duty on the prices of DVD drives, flash drives and combo drives.
• - Re-imposition of excise duty at 12 per cent on computers. Duty will be the eligible for full input tax credit.
• - 16 percent excise duty of 16 per cent imposed on set top boxes.
• - Reduction of customs duty from 15 per cent to nil.
• - The ministers bring a bill in the Parliament to amend the Indian Telegraph Act to extend financial support for cellular telephony in the rural areas.
• - The telephone density touched 11.75 per hundred people at the end of January, as against a meagre 5 per hundred just a few years back.
• - A national e-governance plan to be launched to give a boost to the computer hardware industry. 25 projects in mission mode to be launched in 2006-07.
• - A number of services to be brought online, in a web-based mode, including applications for house sites, ration cards, filing of police complaint and copies of land records.
• - A new policy to be introduced shortly to make India a preferred destination for the manufacture of semi-conductors and other high-tech IT products, including manufacturing of semi-conductors.