CategoryPolicy

How GST will work for software exporters

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GST council has yesterday cleared all the bills required to implement the GST. Finance minister wants to kick-start from July 1 2017. This can be easily achieved is the model laws can be enacted in the current session of parliament. The GST is therefore set become a reality from the second quarter of the current financial year. GST is going to catalyze greater IT adoption. We can see the business...

Place of Effective Management (POEM) of a business

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Finance minister had announced during budget 2016 that place of effective management (POEM) will determine if a company is resident in India or not. Accordingly, this was notified in Finance ACT 2016 as under. The details of what will determine the place of business rules was not decided in the Finance Act 2016. The POEM provisions was supposed to become effective from April 2017. The detailed...

External Commercial Borrowing norms for Startup (ECB)

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What is ECB? External commercial borrowings(ECB) imply borrowing (debt) from a foreign (non-resident) lender. ECB is an attractive financing route as it generally offers access to finance with low rate of interest available from overseas low interest markets. ECBs have been in use by many corporations, PSUS and especially by MNCs setting up operations in India. Who can raise an ECB, from where...

Enablers for Defence Start-ups in India

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Once upon a time, there was an Asian Dragon and an Asian Elephant, both wanting to be self-sufficient in defence technology. But they chose different paths. In Jan 2004 one went out to acquire four retired aircraft carriers for study, along with purchasing foreign aircraft carrier designs; which resulted in this Asian Dragon commissioning their first Aircraft Carrier in 2012. The Elephant...

‘SaaS’ – indirect tax issues in India

It seems there is still time before the Software as a service (SaaS) blooms well in the Indian domestic market. The biggest friction points are relatively low acceptability of online model, lack of quality internet penetration in country side and the unsupportive policy framework e.g. recurring billing, expensive payment gateway solutions and confusing indirect taxation in India. Owing to these...

Lipstick on a pig

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It’s to the credit of policymakers that they have steadfastly refused to kiss this pig called ‘software patents’, despite it being dressed up in the lipstick of ‘innovation’. Lipstick on a pig” is a popular Americanism for making superficial or cosmetic changes that disguise the true nature of a product. The pig in question is the regime of software patents being advocated by some multinational...

‘SaaS’ – the product advantage and need

India has all the potential to lead the world in the SaaS segment, yet the largest number of SaaS companies relocate out of India, for want of ease-of-doing-business. SaaS is one of the major blocks in the emerging Software product Industry of India and it needs urgent attention in this digital economy age. Whether SaaS is a product or service is often debated. From the perspective of integration...

The Dark Secret of India’s Start-up Boom

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The Modi Government has made bold moves on the world stage. Its now time to make one at home! By Mohandas Pai & Sharad Sharma New-age startups are making waves. Flipkart has redefined retail. Ola is changing how we travel by taxis. PayTm is at the threshold of disrupting banks. Forus Health is attacking blindness with gusto. Eko is bringing financial inclusion to millions. Team Indus is on...

Indian Regulator SEBI meets Software Product Startups.

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How often has this happened? An entire team from Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) with its Chairman Mr. U.K. Sinha meeting with Software Product startups in Bangalore to understand their challenges and also provide useful advice by participating in interactive sessions for more than 5 hours. On 19th December, Mr. U.K. Sinha, Chairman of SEBI and his management team, heard the stories...

Tax challenges being faced by the(SPI)Software Product Industry and Budget Recommendations made by iSPIRT.

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With the budget closing in on the industry there are hectic conversations to represent the Software Product Industry in the right manner in the Ministry of Finance. The tax issues both on the Indirect Tax and Direct Tax have been plaguing the Industry for a long time and this hangout addresses the things which need to be done very well. The Indepth Knowledge of  Bharat Goenka (Tally Solutions)...