Manufacturers Association of Information Technology on Tuesday demanded that excise duty should be halved to eight per cent to provide necessary tax incentive to the languishing sector.
The association representatives who met Finance Minister Jaswant Singh to press their demand ahead of the Budget also wanted depreciation rate to be increased to cent per cent from the present level of 60 per cent and withdrawal of four per cent Special Additional Duty, Vinnie Mehta, ED, MAIT said.
Mehta said even though the FM declined to comment on specific demands, he had assured the delegation of some assistance to boost the sagging fortunes of the sector.
"The finance minister assured that the government would extend full support to the sector and it would take all possible steps to ensure growth of the domestic IT market and the hardware industry," he said.
A high profile hardware industry delegation under the aegis of MAIT led by former Union minister and sitting MP Ananth Kumar, comprising industry leaders from HCL, Intel, IBM and Wipro discussed the contentious issues the high cost of PCs with the finance minister.
"There is no good in India being in the forefront in software and a laggard in hardware. India has also to attain global presence and competence in the hardware sector as it is crucial to national competitiveness," Mehta said quoting the finance minister.
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