Managing Director

Pegasystems Worldwide India (P) Ltd.

Fiscal consolidation, inflation and growth will form the core of issues for Budget 2011 and the expectations from Honorable Finance Minister Sri Pranab Mukherjee will be to come up with policies and measures to provide a better balance for the key issues. From an IT perspective, a definitive statement on the extension of STPI scheme under Sec 10 (A) is anticipated. The real benefit of this can be attained when the Tax benefits under this scheme are extended to not just big Corporations but also to entrepreneurs and new businesses. In the current scenario, only those companies located in a SEZ get Tax benefits and I hope, Finance Minister would earmark budget this year and create alternative schemes for entrepreneurs and new entrants, so it provides level playing field for the smaller companies to compete with the established ones. Also, I hope to see PPP model (public-private partnership) being adopted in the education sector as it would establish success and create sustainable growth in long-term. While the governments role could be that of funding the projects, it is the execution ability of the private sector which needs to be banked upon for successful implementation of the model.