Hope for a good budget 2013: Lakshmi Narayanan, Cognizant

NEW DELHI: Expressing hopes of a 'good' budget 2013, Lakshmi Narayanan, Vice Chairman of Cognizant said that stability and consistency are required so that businesses can plan on a three-five year basis.

In an interview to ET Now, Narayanan said that he expects the coming year to be 'good' for the IT industry. Commenting on Nasscom's projection of 12-14% growth in IT exports, Narayanan said that it was a good considering the overall global economic situation. Keeping in mind the performance and improved guidance for the industry, he hopes for some positives as the year goes by.

Nasscom in its FY 14 outlook said the industry is set to touch $87 billion next fiscal by growing at 12-14 per cent, a tad better than the current fiscal.

Exports from the industry are estimated to have grown 10.2 per cent to $75.8 billion this fiscal, it said.

Nasscom has asked Finance Minister P Chidambaram to rationalise taxes in Budget. Nasscom also wants the government to provide sops encouraging investment and promoting the culture of entrepreneurship.

The information technology sector's wishlist for the Budget includes more spending on nation's cyber security and infrastructure as well as exempting hardware components from import duties.

While software industry body Nasscom hopes the government will spend more on IT-led development initiatives, hardware grouping Manufacturers Association of Information Technology is looking for more tax exemption.