Economy & Business  

Software services sector seeks
boost for domestic market

What is India News Service, 1 July 2004, 2000 hrs

The software services sector wants the government to spend more on e-governance and thereby increase the domestic IT market. Biocon is filing more patent applications since last year in its efforts to become a global biotechnology major. The union cabinet has approved the Central Excise Tariff (Amendments) Bill, 2004. For the Indian economy, growth in 2003-04 has been the best since 1988-89.

The Rs 549 crore bio-pharma company Biocon has filed 88 patent applications in 2003-04 as against 88 in the year before. In 2000, it had filed just nine patents, before moving up to 28 the following year. It has filed for patents not only in the US, but also in countries like Brazil, Mexico, Japan and Russia. Biocon has also formed its R&D strategies for the next 3-5 years and is keen to develop processes for generic pharmaceuticals, biologicals and enzymes for world markets.

The software services sector wants the government to continue existing IT-friendly policies. Industry sources say that merely bringing down excise duty on hardware will not help much in expanding the market. It wants further incentives to set up centres in smaller cities and is seeking better telecom infrastructure in small towns.

The union cabinet has approved the Central Excise Traiff (Amendments) Bill, 2004. This will make way for introducing the 8-digit classification code for central excise. The bill will eliminate problems caused by different classifications and facilitate electronic processing. The bill will bring into practice a common classification code for both customs and central excise and enable smooth data processing. It will also help policy making by enabling collection of more specific data on commodities.

The economy grew by 8.2 per cent in the fiscal year 2003-2004, the best growth recorded since 1988-89. A favourable monsoon contributed to the expansion in farm output. Also, per capita income posted the best growth since 1988-89 at 6.5 per cent.

Overall:

Biocon doubled its patent filings:  The Rs 549 crore bio-pharma firm filed 88 patent applications in 2003-04 as against 28 the year before.

IT services sector demanded more e-governance:  It wants the government to spend more on e-governance to boost the domestic IT market.

Central Excise Tariff Bill was approved: This will eliminate problems caused by different classifications and also facilitate electronic processing.

Indian economy beat 1988-89 growth record: It grew by 8.2 per cent in the fiscal year 2003-2004, the best growth seen since 1988-89.