Hindu Coverage of the Budget

Budget focussed, balanced: GTech

Special Correspondent

Thiruvananthapuram: The Group of Technopark Companies (GTech) has lauded the Union government for presenting a “focussed and balanced” budget, aimed at putting the country back on the growth trajectory.

In a press note issued here on Friday, GTech said the budget allocation for infrastructure, agriculture and health sectors would ensure the sustainable growth of the economy. Hailing Finance Minster Pranab Mukerjee for fiscal prudence in containing the fiscal deficit to a new target of 5.5 per cent, GTech felt that this would send a positive signal to investors on India’s economic outlook.

GTech welcomed the proposals like changes in the income tax slabs, surcharge reduction to 7.5 per cent, maintaining status quo on service tax, implementation of the Uniform Direct Tax Code and Goods Services Tax (GST) by April 2011 and simplification of the refund of the accumulative credit to exporters in the IT and the BPO space. However GTech expressed disappointment over the increase in MAT (Minimum Alternate Tax) from 15 per cent to 18 per cent. This increase in the MAT would hit mid-size IT companies.