Acer India expectations from the new government
Quote from Mr. S. Rajendran, Chief Marketing Officer, Acer India on his expectations from the new Government in the IT industry:
The new government needs to deliver a lot on expectations. Most importantly, the government must ensure that growth rate is back on track, touching a figure of 7 – 8 percent. Right time-bound decisions need to be taken to reignite economic growth. And it should usher in an environment of ‘making it easy to do business in India’ to both domestic and international players.
While the Indian population has access to innovative computing devices running on cutting edge technology, we still lag behind in internet penetration and broadband connectivity. Convergence and broadband technologies have been recognized world over as the key technologies for economic growth and development. Also, the next generation network and broadband technologies greatly influence business productivity, social transformation, and bridging the digital divide.
A 10 per cent increase in mobile penetration can increase the GDP by 1.5 per cent. Presently the internet penetration in the country is a meager 10 percent, we need to scale it up to at least 20 percent in the next two years, to leverage the benefits of IT connectivity and increase the GDP. Also the broadband connectivity (> 2 mbps) must be allowed to become pervasive through development of the broadband infrastructure.
For the growth of the PC industry, the government needs to look at ways and means of boosting growth. And at the same time remove impediments that is crimping the pace of doing business: some of the key issues are abolishment of the inverted duty structure under which the finished goods are taxed at lower rates than raw material; simplifying BIS compliance through a self –declaration process with a robust surveillance system post sales of devices; and reinstating the simpler ad valorem method of import duty computation (with the dynamics of IT and the reality of supply chain lead times affixing MRP labels at the time of shipment from origin is impractical ).
It is imperative that our economic environment is conducive to attract investment towards manufacturing: here the focus should be on emerging technologies like 3D printing, foldable display, wearable device, and efficient power devices like batteries. To enable this, the government must enable a stable and favorable policy framework for both domestic as well as international players.
India needs better governance, an encouraging economic and regulatory ecosystem, empowered and decisive bureaucracy, and time bound implementation of policies. Political stability without retrospective actions and transparency in interactions with citizenry & industry are important signals that we are anticipating from the new government. Investor-friendly policies and proactive governance will go a long way in making India an attractive destination for investment. The long pending introduction of GST reforms will be a welcome move and will spur economic growth.
