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I am keen to see what the Government is planning to do to help Indian companies fight the ill-effects of an imminent US recession. With stagflation possibilities and downward movement of US interest rates, I expect some backlash on outsourcing and stiffening of the rupee vis-À-vis the US dollar. The Government should enable Indian companies to remain competitive by helping them reduce their own costs in such a scenario – reducing tax rates, ma king US dollar borrowing easier, reducing service tax (to help Indian companies use more outsourced services) and providing incentives for export would help Indian companies compete effectively over the short to medium term.

Service tax base rate should be maintained at 12%, as already the burden is already heavy on end consumer and outsourced service providers find themselves not competitive.

At present service tax is charged at 12% on commercial rentals which is hurting a lot of small companies, who are already forced to pay inflated commercial rentals in most parts of India. The commercial property rentals should be exempted from service tax.

Srikanth Velamakanni,

CEO, Fractal Analytics

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‘Job guarantee scheme for all rural districts soon’

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