West Bengal seeks STP benefits for IT cos like Infosys

KOLKATA: The West Bengal government has urged the Centre to restore the benefits earlier available to units located in software technology parks ( STP), to rope in companies such as Infosys that have been alloted land in the state to develop such facilities.

"Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has spoken to Union Commerce Minister Anand Sharma urging him to restore the income tax benefits which were available to STP units, but withdrawn later," state Commerce, Industry and IT minister Partha Chatterjee told here today.

Chatterjee said both the commerce and the IT ministries would have to jointly decide on the issue.

Although Infosys was given 50 acre at Rajarhat for setting up its first development centre in West Bengal, the firm was insisting on getting SEZ status, which the state was not keen to consider due to political reasons.

Instead, the state government was toying with the idea of looking for STP benefits.

"One Infosys official met me yesterday and I told him that the state has asked the Centre to restore the benefits formerly available in STP units," he said.

Units located in STPs were given income tax benefits under sections 10A and 10B of IT Act by virtue of which their export profits were not taxed and utilised for expansion.

Infosys official Niladri Misra said that they had received a proposal from the state government in this regard.

The other option given was to locate the Infosys unit at any of the existing SEZs in the state.