Budget signals drive for higher growth: TCS

Bangalore, July 10 (IANS) The maiden budget of union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has signalled the new government's intention to drive the next generation of reforms and put the country on a higher growth path, a top TCS official said Thursday.

"The finance minister's maiden budget signals, both in sentiment and policy, the new government's intention to drive the next generation of reforms and swiftly put India on a higher GDP (gross domestic product) growth path," Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) chief executive N.Chandrasekaran said in a statement from Mumbai.

Lauding Jaitley for providing impetus and incentives to pursue growth in key sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing and infrastructure, Chandrasekaran said the budget has spelt out its commitment to public-private partnerships (PPP) to drive investment and encouraged retail savers to invest more in debt and equity.

"The finance minister has acted positively to develop quality higher education and encourage skill development programmes," he noted.

For the multi-billion dollar Indian IT sector, the budget has provided clarity on transfer pricing and offered a collaborative framework to minimise future disputes, he said.

"Above all, the government has signalled that we will see lot more reforms across sectors soon. This is a positive start to a long term process," he added.

Presenting the budget for 2014-15 in the Lok Sabha, Jaitley said the government would support software product start-ups.

"A national rural internet and technology mission for services in villages and schools, training in IT skills and e-kranti for government service delivery and governance scheme will be soon launched," he said, adding Rs.500 crore would be allocated for the initiative.

To bridge the divide between digital haves and have-nots, he has proposed to launch a pan India programme "Digital India", which would ensure broadband connectivity at village level, improved access to services through IT-enabled platforms, greater transparency in government processes and increased indigenous production of IT hardware and software for exports and domestic consumption.