In the second budget of the Narendra Modi government, Hon’ble Finance Minister Arun Jaitley focused on boosting growth, building infrastructure and controlling prices. Hon’ble Minister pledged, “change, growth, jobs and genuine, effective upliftment of the poor,” while emphasising development of roads, power, ports, and housing. The Budget aims to kick-start the investment cycle, and has aimed at structural changes that are likely to help drive investment on a sustainable basis. While the Government has stuck to 3% fiscal deficit of GDP, it aims to meet the target only by 2017-18. The total additional public investment is planned to be Rs 1.25 lakh crore, of which Rs 70,000 crore would be capital expenditure from budgetary outlays. The Union Budget also proposed measures to curb the flow of black money and has committed to simplification and rationalisation of the taxation structure. In another step towards growth, the Finance Minister announced reduction of the basic corporate tax rate by 5 percentage points to 25 percent in the next four years. The document highlights the announcements made in the budget specific to IT sector

1. Union-Budget 2015-16 focuses on digital transformation and a favorable business ecosystem for
bolstering Make in India
• Allocated INR 150 cr for the launch of Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) to focus on encouraging
R&D and Make In India
• Allocated INR 1,000 cr to incubate IT start-ups, aimed at raising capital, incubation facilities in
centres of excellence, funding for seed capital and growth
• The National Optical Fiber Network (NOFN) will be expedited under the Digital India
Initiative. A plan is introduced to provide high-speed 100Mbps broadband connectivity to 2.5
lakh gram panchayats by December 2016
• Proposed to reduce the rates of basic customs duty to minimise the impact of duty inversion
and to promote domestic manufacturing
• Proposed to reduce the rate of income tax on royalty and fees for technical services from 25
per cent to 10 per cent to facilitate technology inflow to small businesses at low costs
• Proposed amendment of the provisions of section 80JJAA to provide tax benefits for
employment and skill development
Information Communications & Technology