Aug. 25 – A rural business process outsourcing (BPO) policy was announced last Wednesday by the Tamil Nadu government that would give economic incentives for BPOs opening in rural areas.
“Tamil Nadu being a major Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Hub and with the ICT industry now expanding to Tier II, Tier III cities, and towns and indeed into villages in Tamil Nadu, it is indispensable to have a comprehensive Rural BPO policy to increase employment in the rural areas of state,” the government said in a statement. Read the rest of this entry »
Aug. 2 - India’s Central Board of Direct Taxes announced it would extend income tax return filing from July 31 to August 4.
All returns, whether done electronically or not, as long as it is given on or before August 4 will be considered on time. The extension was announced after reports that the e-filing computer system encountered technical difficulties and stormy weather prevented some taxpayers from filing their returns. Read the rest of this entry »
Aug. 2 - The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is slated to release its final consultation paper on the country’s plan to change from analog to digital broadcast signals by December 2013 next week.
“All the industry players have welcomed the regulation by TRAI on digitalization and we are expecting to release the final consultation paper on the same by next week,” TRAI Chairman J. S. Sarma said during a Confederation of Indian Industry conference last Friday. Read the rest of this entry »
Jul. 30 - The Directorate of Telecommunications has made changes to the the unified access service license (UASL), reflecting heightened security concerns.
Equipment suppliers must now disclose business details and allow their manufacturing facility to be inspected. Moreover, they are obliged to reveal design, development and supply chain details as well as allow hardware and software inspections when the equipment is procured. Read the rest of this entry »
Jun. 25 – India will exempt tax on services that deal with low-cost housing construction, power distribution, services within ports and airports, selected tournaments and championships, foreign travelers in transit and those flying to and from the northeast starting July 1.
“Repair of ships or boats or vessels belonging to the Government of India, including the Navy or the Coast Guard or the Customs, but does not include government owned public sector undertakings,” the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) said as to the services exempted from tax. Read the rest of this entry »
May 31 –Representatives from leading Indian and Chinese businesses and establishments signed several progressive memorandums of understanding today on the sidelines of Indian President Pratibha Patil’s visit to Shanghai.
Chinese and Indian delegates from top companies and institutions like Aargus, GMR Energy, Infosys, SEPCO, Wipro, and Shanghai’s Fudan University were in attendance, among many others.
India’s Wipro Technologies, one of the largest IT related companies in the country, was able to sign an MoU with Chinese officials from the city of Changzhou, in Jiangsu Province. The Indian company will establish a hydraulic cylinder manufacturing center and an accompanying research and development facility in the east China city. Read the rest of this entry »
May 3 - Finance ministry officials called for reforms to India’s tax structure for services like shipping, aviation and telecom to make them competitive.
In a working paper titled, “Policy for India’s Services Sector,” finance ministry senior economic adviser H.A.C. Prasad and additional economic adviser R. Sathish said that the government should rationalize the tax structure in the shipping industry, which pays 12 direct and indirect taxes currently.
Taxes like corporate tax, minimum alternate tax, dividend distribution tax, withholding tax on interest paid to foreign lenders, wealth tax, VAT, lease tax and service tax raise the effective tax rate of around 2 percent under the tonnage regime to around 9 percent. Read the rest of this entry »
Apr. 22 - India is forecast to become the biggest direct-to-home market globally by 2012, based on an annual study made by information services provider Media Partners Asia (MPA).
The Indian market is expected to surpass the U.S. market in terms of size with its projected subscriber base expanding from 17 million last year to 45 million by 2014 and 58 million by 2020. The country’s pay-TV industry sales will be worth US$18.5 billion in 2010 and US$12.1 billion by 2014. Read the rest of this entry »
Apr. 20 – On the eighth day of India’s ongoing auction of third generation (3G) licenses, bids increased by an estimated 73 percent from the original base price set by the government to Rs.60.7 billion, or about US$1.36 billion.
“Earlier, I said the auction could fetch Rs. 30,000-35,000 crore, but now I am optimistic that it may go up,” Communications and IT Minister A. Raja told The Business Standard. The auction is forecast to bring the government at least US$8 billion with the process lasting several weeks. Read the rest of this entry »
Mar. 30 - The government has cleared 23 foreign direct investment proposals amounting to more than Rs.23.25 billion, or about US$510 million.
The highest FDI proposals came from broadband services provider Tikona Digital Network followed by components maker Bharat Forge and medical device maker Opto Circuits. “The Union Government has approved 23 FDI proposals amounting to approximately Rs.2,325.21 crore,” according to an official statement. Read the rest of this entry »
