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Vol-11 Issue-7, Krishna, February - 2017, Pages-16, `40/-

REACH SOUTH INDIA

Andhra Pradesh l Telangana l Tamilnadu l Pondicherry l Karnataka l Kerala

TECHNOLOGY NEWS MAGAZINE

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Yes, this time most of them said that the bud-get was realistic and not political. This means that the government is looking for real development and not just for voting purpose. We appreciate the deep-rooted changes introduced in the Union Bud-get 2017. The budget further reflects the commit-ments of the Indian Government to truly promote digitalization in the country. This includes allocat-ing Rs 10,000 crore for Bharat Net Project which is dedicated to extending high-speed broadband, Wi-Fi hotspots and Fiber Optic network in India, especially to the rural landscapes, Gram Panchayats and more. Manufacturers of tech and electronic products will also receive a boost, following the announcement of Rs 745 crore funds allocation for the same. When viewed in the light of the upcom-ing GST bill, the entire budget caters to the unique needs of promoting digitalization in an emerging market. Besides, the boost to digitalization is well supported with a host of infrastructural overhauls as well. We appreciate an allocation of Rs 2,41,387 crores for transforming the transportation sector, including ships, rails, and roads. Railways further have a development expenditure of Rs 1,31,000 crores, out of which, the government will be pro-viding Rs 55,000 crores. These changes are going to have a transformational effect, positively influ-encing the advent of Smart Cities in India.

The Union Budget 2017 has seen a host of incentives to boost India’s digital economy. How-ever, the budget has not been a very populous one with incentives for the startup fraternity per se. Reduction of income tax for companies with a turnover of Rs. 50 crore to 25% is a welcome move,

The recent Budget’s focus was expansive, across 10 distinct themes—farmers, rural popula-tion, youth development, poor & underprivileged, financial sector, infrastructure, digital economy, public service, prudent fiscal management, tax administration—a tall order. The Union Budget 2017-18 is a blueprint that has outlined the plans of our government which is on a mission to trans-form, energise and clean India. Here are the top 5 things that are of interest for the channel com-munity. 1) Promoters just being on board and not have 51% voting right for 5 years continuously will create greater value creating and fund flow-ing in will improve. 2) Profit linked deductions now available for 3 years out of 7 years instead of earlier 5 years, this will result in more profit-to-keep and spur invest-ment further. 3) Lower tax, almost 20% lesser than before at 25% IT than earlier at 31%. This will also prompt SME to invest a part of this in technology solu-tions with additional saving. 4) Digital connectivity OFC and vocational training program (STRIVE) to 1.5 Lakh villages can connect 15 crore youth in rural area with busi-nesses like ours which would benefit with lower cost of rural socio-economy and perform server support, remote management service, marketing activity and even software development. 5) Cheque bouncing to invite harsh punish-ments . Currently that is the most impeding prob-lem for an SME to grow.

and will aid many emerging companies. The three-year tax holiday in the first seven years (extended from 5 years earlier) since inception of startups is a measure which will provide some relief to them. Furthermore, the surcharge of 10% levied on indi-viduals earning between 50 lakh to 1 crore, may impact startups in the process of scaling-up, to attract senior talent on their usual cash and ESOP/stocks packages, as the taxation gap over and under the Rs. 1 Cr mark is now practically non-ex-istent. The instant gratification “of being in the 1cr plus CTC and still be in the sub 1 Cr tax bracket” part is effectively eliminated. One would rather demand a fatter, all cash pay-check now! Unfor-tunately, no policies have been announced provid-ing relief for the aspiring Indians in the 10-30 lac bracket while heavier taxation for 50-100 lacs is also a serious “aspiration dampener!”

In addition to the GST Bill, meant at streamlin-ing taxes and costs, is surely going to boost up the morale of the electronic manufacturing industries. However, the problem still does not get solved as we continue to import the material used in the manufacturing from neighboring countries, such as China. The government must focus on bringing in the manufacturers of raw materials i.e. different types of components, parts, open cell etc. in order to truly achieve the dream of MAKE in INDIA. Over-all, the budget seems to be perfect and shows a bright future for manufacturers as well as traders, let’s hope for the best.

Dinesh Shyam SukhaEditor

A Budget To Remember

5 Key Aspects For Channel Partners In The Union Budget

EDITORIAL

EDITOR: Dinesh Shyam SukhaCO-ORDINATOR : SiddhiPRODUCTION & OPERATION: RamayyaPOSTAGE & PACKING: L N ADVERTISING SALES: PhaniDESIGN : Dikshit CREATIVE DESIGNER: MKVSACCOUNTS: Murthy

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NOTE:All products, brands, service names mentioned may be trademarks of their respective owners

EDITED, PRINTED, PUBLISHED AND OWNED BY DINESH SHYAM SUKHA. PRINTED AT PRINT ZONE, 26/20/18, SWAMY STREET, GANDHI NAGAR, VIJAYAWADA - 520 003, KRISHNA, ANDHRA

PRADESH. PUBLISHED AT CELL IT DIGITAL MEDIA, 54-20/3-11, PLOT NO. 3, GURUNANAK COLONY, VIJAYAWADA- 520 008, KRISHNA, ANDHRA PRADESH. EDITOR: DINESH SHYAM SUKHA.

CELL IT, VOL-11, I SSUE-7 4 KRISHNA, February -2017

The Union Budget 2017 is at par with our expectations. We welcome the move by the Financial Minister meant to strengthen the dig-ital infrastructure in rural India, by allocating INR 10,000 Cr for Bharat Net Project. The same is slated to empower over 150,000 gram pancha-yats with high speed internet and Wi-Fi hotspots. While this sets the right impetus for rural India to come online, the government has further taken the steps necessary to ensure optimum level of cybersecurity. We especially appreciate the Com-puter Emergency Response Team to be setup post the budget announcement and dedicatedly mon-itor cyber hacks, ensuring the security and integ-rity of online data. The synergy created by these announcements, along with the efforts of cyber security solutions is going to further inspire new users to come online, aiding India’s transition to a digital economy.

With “Transform, energise, and clean India, that is Tech India” this budget has upped allo-cation for rural, agriculture and allied sectors by 24% has opened scope for increasing investments and yielding multiple benefits. The rapid growth in manufacturing sector is a good sign for over-all economy. The new FDI policy is a welcome move. MSMEs and start ups have all the reasons to cheer with a dip in income tax to 25% for com-panies with an annual turnover of Rs.50 crore. Their grin grows wider with the FM proposing dip in bank lending rates. Incentives such as cash backs, referral schemes on BHIM app is all set to push the use of digital transactions which is yet another reason for MSMEs to move to online business models. The lowering of Income tax would also increase the spending capacity which will benefit the SMEs.

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Mr.Amit Nath Head of Asia Pacific-Corporate Business at F-Secure

Sunil Gupta Founder & Director, ExportersIndia.com

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Mr.Chandra Sekhar Reddy: 9392967676

Vizag: H.No. 48-6-13/8, 1st Floor, Srinagar,Ramatalkies Down, Visakhapatnam-530016.Ph: +91-891-3245454, Mob: 9393993637/9000933427.Email: vizag@quickheal.co.in

Hyderabad: 09346612454, Bengaluru: 080-41211549, Mysore: 9343093175, Mangalore: 9343938847, Chennai: 044-42033045, Vijayawada: 9392967676,

Rajahmundry: 9393993637, Coimbatore: 9364155558, Madurai: 9345045288, Pondicherry: 9381565766, Kochi: 9349379090, Trivandrum: 9388311761, Calicut: 9349379090.

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The Union Budget 2017-18 is extremely pos-itive for the common man, farmers, small and medium businesses and would drive significant growth in Indian economy. Government’s com-mitment to make taxation rate reasonable, tax administration fair and expand the tax base is the step taken in the right direction. The tax relief given by the Government for the middle class tax payers will definitely boost the purchasing power, thereby aiding the overall growth of the econ-omy. The major tax relief given to the MSMEs

We believe that the government has focused on creating an inclusive budget for a transpar-ently governed country. It’s refreshing to see the government calling out digital economy as one of the major areas of focus as this will bring in a more transparent administration, enhancing finances for everyone. The move to incentivize merchants with rebates will accelerate the adop-tion of mobile and digital payment systems in India thus increasing the scope of financial ser-vices to the underbanked. Personally believe that this budget holds a lot of promise for skilling the youth in the country. This is something that various industry bodies including the CII, have always advocated. The fulfilment of the Bharat Net scheme along with schemes tailored for the MSME sector will help contribute to a viable and healthy start-up ecosystem.

The provision to support NABARD in dig-itizing 63,000 primary agro-operatives is a healthy move in order to penetrate rural sectors to achieve its goal of a Digital India. Consider-ing the power deficit situation in the country, the proposal to feed 7000 railway stations with solar energy will help in reducing dependence on conventional energy sources. The almost 1/3rd increase in resource allocation towards Inte-grated Power Development Scheme and Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojna (from INR. 7874cr to INR. 10635cr) is also a step in the pos-itive direction.

The budget gave the smartphone industry a lot to look forward to in the coming year. Govern-ment’s thrust on digitization through its push on Aadhaar-enabled payments will provide impetus to the demand of mobile phones in the country. The BHIM app has already been adopted by 125 lakh people and government’s plans to introduce two new schemes to promote its use will make the concept of a cashless society and digital currency, a reality. In addition to this, proposed extension of the OFC network to 1,50,000 gram panchayats for high speed broadband connectiv-ity and rollout of 4G in the country will create a more digitally inclusive society. The budget was also conducive to promoting domestic manu-facturing of electronics. With a provision of INR 745 crores in 2017-18 in incentive schemes like M-SIPS and EDF, manufacturing of smartphones in India should see a boost. We now look forward

The Tech-India agenda in the budget is a great highlight for the IT companies. We are pleased

We are positive, that the Government’s increased allocation and incentives in schemes like M-SIPS and EDF will provide the necessary push to the mobile and internet manufacturing economy . Also the allocation of INR 10,000 crore in BharatNet provides the much needed boost for the penetration of Digital India into the rural seg-ment, and for strengthening the consumptions of smartphones.

and SMEs with an annual turnover of Rs 50 crore, would enable them to invest in job creation, increase capital expenditure and explore their digital journey.” “The strong emphasis laid on technology in almost all the development areas in the budget reaffirms that technology has been at the forefront of India’s recent economic growth and digital transformation. It has been recog-nized as an important enabler across initiatives ranging from agriculture to skill development to manufacturing and infrastructural development. The Government’s focus on making India a digi-tal payment economy will definitely help compa-nies like HP to contribute in technology adoption in rural and semi-urban areas, thereby bringing the Digital India’ vision closer to reality. We also welcome the Finance Minister’s commitment to introduce and implement Goods and Services Tax (GST) as per schedule and start GST awareness programme from April 1, 2017 for all stakehold-ers.

to the successful rollout of GST this year. Besides achieving standardization of taxation levels and making interstate movement of goods easier, it should also help sellers achieve similar selling prices. This coupled with all the other initiatives will enable us to bring more people under the digital umbrella.

that the budget addresses the last mile connec-tivity issue which was a missing link in the ear-lier plans. Digi Gaon and Bharat Net are positive steps and will inevitably boost IT penetration. Focus on Digital Literacy will act as an enabler for job creation and skill development. Thrust on such initiatives provide an impetus for companies like Lenovo. However, we would expect more proactive measures from the government on ease of doing business as the cost of compliance in India is higher as compared to other countries, because of which large scale manufacturing is not yet shifting to India.

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Rajiv Srivastava, Managing Director, HP nc. India

Peter Chang Region Head, South Asia & Country Manager, ASUS India.

Sunil Khanna, President & MD, India, Vertiv

Arvind.R.Vohra, Country CEO & MD, Gionee India

Rahul Agarwal, MD & CEO, Lenovo India.

CELL IT, VOL-11, I SSUE-7 7 KRISHNA, February -2017

www.asus.in Toll Free No. 1800-2090-365 Sales enquiries: amit_j@asus.com / veena_kabre@asus.comFor feedback, email reachus@asus.com or info_india@asus.com

CELL IT, VOL-11, I SSUE-7 8 KRISHNA, February -2017

The Union Budget 2017 will have a long term impact, it needs to be analyzed further when it comes to the appliances and consumer electron-ics industry. This budget, a lot of impetus has

Fujitsu is enthused by the slew of measures being introduced in Budget 2017. While the move towards an internal ‘borderless’ nation will obvi-ously benefit the nation, as has been discussed in various forums – an emphasis on infrastructure in terms of electrification, digital services, roads etc. will further build on the foundation to India being a world class economy.

ShopClues welcomes the Union Budget, FM & PM have delivered on many of their promises on digitization, push towards formal economy, reduction of Black Money, land reforms, startups, infrastructure development, rural employment & women empowerment. Specifically, what stands out are Bharat Net funding of Rs 10K cr, SMES corporate tax rate cut from effectively 33% to 25%, the abolition of FIPB, increased participation of women in MNREGA etc. All these and more announcements, in my opinion, are steps in the right direction setting up smaller & medium busi-ness to participate more vigorously in the digital & formal economy. Without the active participa-

Budget 2017 is notable first for the fact that the government has maintained fiscal discipline and resisting the urge to come up with a populist budget given the upcoming elections in a number of states. So, this is not a ‘political’ budget, which was a big fear. In more specific terms, the big-gest positive is the continued focus on infrastruc-ture (roads, railway, housing, tier-II airports et al) in general and rural infrastructure (affordable homes, rural electrification) in particular, includ-ing e-infrastructure with the increased allocation to BharatNet (erstwhile NOFN). This will allow commercial activity to expand to the rural seg-ment in a much more efficient manner, if the aim of achieving the broadband connectivity targets by 2018 is actually met.

The continued focus on moving India towards a more transparent and digital economy is encouraging, in order to really capitalize on the long term gains of the painful demonetization exercise. The moves to curb the black economy

gone to rural economy and allocation on infra-structure by the honorable finance minister. From a consumer electronic company point of view we were expecting direction on the upliftment in sup-ply chain and logistics in India. The budget allo-cated towards MSIPs and EPF looks progressive and will surely reduce dependency on imports in the industry. We look forward to the next draft of GST to come forward, however the government’s move on imposing a 2% special additional duty on populated printed circuit boards (PCB) used for mobile phones imported into the country, will provide adequate protection to the domestic industry and give the necessary impetus to Make-in-India under the GST regime.

tion of SMEs India cannot dream to be world’s largest global economy or improve the lot of 1.3 billion people on this planet.

also bodes well for accelerated GDP growth as more of the ‘shadow economy’ becomes visible and integrated into the overall economic activ-ity. In another sign of the fact that the IT indus-try has become quite mature and does not need sops to continue its growth trend (other factors like Trump notwithstanding), there were no overt steps taken – and none expected – for the indus-try, and there is no hue and cry about it. In a sense it is a no-news is good-news story for the sector from a budget perspective.

Budjet Special

`Manish Sharma President & CEO, Panasonic India & South Asia,

and Executive Officer, Panasonic Corporation.

Andy StevensonHead of India, Turkey and Middle East, Fujitsu

Radhika AggarwalCo founder & CBO, Shopclues.com

Partha Iyengar, VP and Gartner Fellow, India

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Vijay Shekhar SharmaFounder & CEO - Paytm

It is a digital economy budget. Government has pushed the digital theme in every area of the budget. Every person from a small shops to con-sumers are pushed towards the digital economy. Tax benefits, incentives to use digital payments and extending loans based on a digital footprint will create a larger merchant ecosystem for dig-ital payments. Incentives for labour intensive sectors including housing, farming and dairy will help SMEs to create new jobs. Focus and atten-tion to bank NPAs, as well as increasing bank capitalisation is great step towards strengthening the financial system of the country. Finally, the income tax rate changes will encourage more people to report their incomes and create a larger tax net for the country. Overall, it is a great budget that will encourage people to move to the formal economy and derive benefits.

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Budjet Special

Ravi RajBrand Head, Director Sales & Support NetRack

This is overall a positive budget, which con-

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stitutes the entire element required for a progres-sive economy. This budget is an extension of the initiatives like digital India and make in India. The focus on infrastructure is a big push for industries, also the supporting schemes to push digitization like installing of POS machines, BHIM app, Aadhar payments as well as initiatives on digital transac-tions will help grow Indian economy. Apart from this, the tax reduction for companies with less than 50cr turnovers is the biggest take away for SME sector from this budget. We are hopeful for early implementation of GST, which will facilitate smooth movement of goods across India.

Anoop Pai DhungatCMD, Galaxy Office Automation

Budget 2017 has traversed along expected lines on issues such as GST, demonetization and payments digitization, outlay for infrastructure sector and more. However, could have certainly been more impactful.

For starters, although there are allocations for agriculture, transportation and rural hous-ing, but budget 2017 fails to assuage concerns and challenges facing manufacturing and indus-trial sectors, technology or even the burgeoning Indian IT sector. Creating employment opportu-nities on a broader scale continues to remains a core need that could change nature of our entire consumption story.

““ Only silver lining I can see is tax incentives for

MSMEs, and liberalization of FDI policy, details of which are yet to emerge. Overall, I would term this a disappointing budget.

Rajarshi BhattacharyyaCountry Head, SUSE

We appreciate the budget announcements and schemes launched under the union budget 2017-18. Overall, it is a balanced and growth centric budget that will drive our country to the brighter side. We respect the decision of addressing basic needs of farmers and bringing employment/job opportunities for our youths, who are pillar of the future. Focus on the infra-structure and rural areas are welcoming deci-sions. It encourages Infrastructure growth and will provide the perfect launch pad towards

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India becoming more IT consuming country The encouragement given to start ups

and tax reduction to MSME is a positive step towards make in India initiative. This will ensure new age organisations to be more globally competitive. India’s GDP will be on the upsurge. The 25% corporate tax cap for companies up to 50Cr revenue is a great step for MSME sector, which will positively benefit more than 90% Indian firms. 50% personal tax reduction for 2L to 5L slab will certainly help the emerging class.

Giving assurance that the effects of demon-etization will not spill over to the next fiscal rather will lead to higher GDP growth is what the public were expecting. The only point we feel was missed or I rather say requires major attention from the Government is Cyber secu-rity. We will look forward for some policies or schemes which can assure secured digital transactions.

Ajay ChhanganiCEO & Co-Founder of RISE INDIA

Ajay ChhanganiCEO & Co-Founder, RISE INDIA

‘The finance minister has taken numerous great moves in union budget’17 like implication 25% tax on companies having less than 50 crore turnover. Also, the setup of 100 international skill development centres and 350 online courses with top faculty would help in energize the youth and accelerate the employment growth of the coun-try. Allocation of 1.84 lacs crores for skill develop-ment for women is the biggest ever initiative on women empowerment taken by Government of India. This budget has many provisions to boost the SME and educations sector and it will create more job opportunities for the youth.

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“Shibu Paul

Regional Director (IN, GCC & SEA ) Array Networks

Pankaj Anand, CEO, Jivi Mobiles

I am overall happy with the budget, the increased focus on cashless economy and move towards digitization is very much appreciable. I will call it a forward looking budget with the bal-anced Tax soaps, IT rebates, focus on rural areas and SME development. Also, the reduction in tax for companies with less than 50cr turnover which will now be placed at 25% is a big win for MSME sector and around 96% of the companies will be benefitted by this major announcement.

We were hoping to get some relaxation in taxes for low end smart phones in lieu of promoting smart devises to the masses which would have enabled them for digital bank-ing and also some packages to

support mobile manufacturing in India, on the contrary increase in duty on PCB will certainly increase the prices of mobile phones.

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Budjet Special

`Overall it’s a progressive budget; it demon-strates the government’s commitment to posi-tioning the economy on an accelerated growth trajectory. At ATC, we are especially buoyed by the continued emphasis and support to initiatives under the Digital India program. Telecom and Telecom infrastructure sector growth will be crit-ical for strengthening the digital payment infra-structure, and for boosting digital payments. As the country’s largest independent telecom infra-structure provider, we believe in the tremendous potential and promise of Digital India, and are committed to supporting and partnering with the Government to ensure the success of the Digital India program. By the end of 2017-18, high speed broadband connectivity, via optical fibre, will be available in more than 1,50,000 gram panchayats, which will allow us link our towers and provide rural broadband connectivity. We are pleased to see that the Government is launching a DigiGaon initiative to provide tele-medicine, education and skills through digital technology. This is very sim-ilar to ATC’s Digital Village program where we

Mumbai-based Trade Association of Infor-mation Technology (TAIT), the premier associ-ation of IT companies, welcomes the reduction of corporate tax for MSMEs and appreciates the big push for digital economy, cyber security mea-sures and its belief in technology for achieving developmental goals. The GST implementation is promising and we look forward to it. The Union Budget 2017-18 has initiated growth and devel-opment of the IT industry.”

Audio, especially on mobile devices, is a highly personal experience and is a form of per-sonal expression and mood. With the increase of demanding lifestyles, audio is becoming an intrin-sic part of this generation’s media consumption. Earlier while television and other visual mediums were the trigger points for consumers, we are now seeing a shift towards passive entertainment consumption. Audio is the only true companion medium that can traverse our entire day; unlike visual mediums in the online and offline world, audio does not require peoples’ fully focused attention to make a lasting impact. Digital audio is considered a premium because of the pas-sion-centric brand safe environment it’s delivered in as well as the enormous amounts of data its consumption produces. Each stream is associated with a time-of-day, location, device brand/model, mobile operator, genre, age, gender, and several other factors. Audio is fundamentally a medium about “top of the funnel” branding instead of clicks and conversions reserved for demand ful-fillment media like Google search ads.

provide self-learning opportunities for children through computer kiosks, as well as digital liter-acy to adults.ATC has generated one of the larg-est FDI investment in the telecom sector in India, over USD 1 billion in FY 2016 alone. We believe that the phasing out of FIPB is the right step and could speed up investment approvals. However, the real test lies in effective implementation; we hope that FIPB will not be replaced by the old system of obtaining multiple window clearances from ministries, for large scale investments.

Vinodh BhatCo-founder, President & Chief Strategy Officer Saavn

Sriram SCo-Founder and Director, iValue InfoSolutions

Amit SharmaEVP and President, Asia, American Tower Corporation

Samir MehtaDirector, TAIT

Saavn announced the launch of programmatic audio advertising in India, the newest addition to Saavn’s extensive suite of advertising technology offerings. This groundbreaking new platform, created in partnership with AdsWizz, automates the real-time buying, targeting, optimization, and reporting of audio ad inventory into a few sim-ple steps. Major brands across India, including Saavn’s current base of over 250 advertisers, can now use relevant data to significantly simplify the process to access and communicate with Saavn’s 20 million unique listeners.

We will call it a balanced budget, which will drive growth with prudence and addressing needs of the poor. The major thrust on Capex growth of 25% should drive demand. The focus on infrastructure and rural areas are welcoming.

As the digitization was one of the core area for this post demonetization budget the promo-tion of BHIM app and plan for Aadhar based pay-ment without mobile is an appreciable initiative. Also, limiting the cash transactions to 3L is a good step which could have been pegged at 1L. The 25% corporate tax cap for companies up to 50Cr revenue is a great step which will benefit more than 90% Indian firms. 50% personal tax reduction for 2L to 5L slab should help the emerging class.

We did not hear much on cyber security with a greater push on the digital transaction, but for the creation of CERT. We still think a lot more focus is required on this front.

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The Union Budget is a fiscally prudent bud-get aimed at fiscal consolidation which should lead to a stable economic growth if implemented in a planned manner. Some announcements like a new metro rail policy, abolition of Foreign Invest-ment Promotion Board are forward looking which will provide necessary policy impetus to investor sentiments. Selective reduction of corporate tax rate for companies below Rs 500 million turnover should be a game changer as far as corporate tax inclusion is considered since this will encourage higher compliance at the lower level of the cor-porate pyramid where percentage of tax leakages is usually much higher. We also welcome the gov-ernment’s efforts and commitment to electrifica-tion program which mentions that 100% village electrification will be achieved by May 1, 2018.

Rajeev SharmaHead- Corporate Services & Strategic Planning,

Mitsubishi Electric India Pvt. Ltd

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INTERVIEWSINTERVIEWS

It was a decision for Ashok to start an IT ser-vices organization in 1996 and thus ended up in formulating the concept of Futurenet Tech-nologies. Even the birth of the organization

doesn’t hold any personal motives- but cater to the needs of the c o r p o r a t e companies. The profile of the orga-n i z a t i o n , a c c o r d i n g to their offi-cial website

reads as Ashok assists customers in aligning IT with their business. “He provides consult-ing services to corporates in areas such as Bul-let proofing IT Infrastructure (High Security & High Availability), blue print for cloud migration including business benefits, cost saving and risk mitigation. He lends his expertise to businesses with capacity to convert business/ functional requirements into bullet proof IT infrastructure and also advices on cyber forensics and informa-tion security”, he concludes.

Today, Futurenet is successfully marching towards its silver jubilee completing 20 years of experience in the industry. Thought leadership resulted many initiatives in Futurenet which eventually resulted in edge over competition. Today Futurenet known as open source & high technical and high service delivery organization.

Wishing Ashok and Futurenet team a won-derful years ahead, V Anand, CEO, Raksha Tech-nologies, says, “Futurenet has carved an unique space in providing solutions on open source solutions and they help organizations adopt

various IT s o l u t i o n s and opti-mize their IT invest-ments and they pro-vide also help orga-n i z a t i o n s to achieve their it goals in an

effective and optimised manner.” Manasi Saha, CEO, Macaws Infotech, a good friend of Ashok terms him a man with a lightning smile , great leader, amazing personality , technically sound,

a success-ful entre-p r e n e u r . ” I could call him an embod-iment of a perfect e n t r e p r e -neur. I wish him all the best for the

future and I hope he will take Futurenet into a different level and the sky is his limit.”

In a quick chat Ashok Lakshmichandran (Ashok) shares his organization journey these days. Edited excerpts.

Futurenet Marks 2 Decades Of Excellence In IT Industry

How were the initial days of your organiza-tion?

It was exciting and tough. We were starving for working capital and managing both the ends was a challenge. Back then, It was my friends and family that helped me through it. Besides that, getting business wasn’t that difficult as there was a need for good service organiza-tion. Keeping pace with growth and customer requirements were the key which we caught on to from the very beginning. We have introduced new services like managed email services, facil-ity management services , remote support etc to fulfill customer need and growing business demands. This helped us grow. With a work-force of just 4 in the beginning, we now employ over 150 people.

What were the key challenges as a fresh organization you had faced?

Working capital , attracting talent and com-petition from established players.

What were the key milestones of Futurenet Technologies in this 20 years?

It’s not a number or a name that we consider as milestone. What leads to continued growth and success matters the most to us. Going by that, I’d say four things.

• We were a profitable company from day 1• Introduced and established services prac-

tices like infrastructure, application & database

• Our ability to retain talents• Long and continued association with key cus-

tomersWhat according to you, are the top 3 things

any IT firm should keep in mind for long run?• Staying relevant in product and services

offering• Attracting and retaining talents• Efficient financial management

List out all the changes you notice in the IT sector compared to Day 1 of yours till 20 years?

Quite a long list! But to mention the most important ones,

– When FN started, it was an era of emerg-ing internet. While it was difficult to even get a 64Kbps then, we see 80-100mbps of internet broadband are available right at our homes.

– The way computing were done has com-pletely transformed from a client server technol-ogy to web 2.0, on premise computing to a cloud computing.

– PCs were predominantly used to access information whereas now, it’s a tap away on our mobile devices.

– The skillset required were primarily on hard-ware (infra space) whereas now, engineers should have knowledge of scripting and coding to get themselves relevant to the current cloud era.

– Information security threats were predict-able because it was limited within organizations but now it is completely unpredictable as threat can come from anywhere.

– Designing IT infra were simple with more predictable loads whereas currently, designing an IT for unpredictable loads like e-commerce por-tals is more complex

In short, we are learning to unlearn to relearn.What are the key mantras of Futurenet Tech-

nologies?Our values are our key mantra. They are Hon-

esty, Integrity, Innovation, Excellence and Care. We keep this in mind during every business activ-ity.

What are the companies CSR activities?We believe in equality and while we are pro-

gressing, it’s still a long way to go before the word loses its need to exist when it comes to progressive change in a patriarchal society. As a contribution and in line with our belief that edu-cation can change lives, we sponsor towards girl education.

A How is the road ahead for the IT industry? What is your company’s plan?

As stated above, we are going through a re-learning process and now creating a new service delivery architecture to scale up to new requirements and global standards.

CELL IT, VOL-11, I SSUE-7 14 KRISHNA, February -2017

ASSOCIATIONS

Following the massive support towards pro-tecting their traditional ‘Jalikattu’ sport, many MSME and SME associations in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry had called for a ‘one-day’ bandh in favour of supporting the movement.

The Confederation of IT association (Con-fed-ITA) announced it will request the members to observe a day bandh announcing holiday

Infotech Software Dealers Association (ISODA) had earlier announced the 7th instal-ment of their marquee TechSummit 7 to be held at Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam between 16th and 19th February, 2017. In the build up to the excit-ing event, the ISODA community has been work-ing tirelessly to onboard technology sponsors, create an interesting agenda, maximize partici-pation and create a buzz around the event.

Rajeev Mamidanna – Chairman of ISODA TechSummit 7 and also the Association’s Vice President says, “This year’s TechSummit prom-

ises to be very interest-ing in that there is a vast variety of technologies on showcase. There are established players look-ing at spreading their partner base and there

are startups that are looking at propagating their ideas to the partner community. The inter-est that technology vendors have shown is tre-mendous.”

The strong foundation of any event of such stature is the agenda and the opportunity for networking. And TechSummit 7 promises to have strengths in both. Says Mamidanna, “While the sponsors present on a myriad of technolo-gies, there will be sessions on life coaching, how to be a successful entrepreneur yet spend time on passion and sharing of experiences that make successful businesses. There is in fact a whole day of activities built into the agenda that will

for their entities to support the bandh. Many channel partner members across the two states directly participated in the peaceful protest to uphold the ban on Jalikattu. Some channel part-ners had allowed a two-day holiday for their organizations to help their employees participate in the protests while some other organizations. The channel partners also distributed food and

be out of the hotel and will give all participating members a good chance to spend some quality time with the technology sponsors.”

ISODA members also vie for the ISODA excel-lence awards that are given away during the TechSummit. This year, already many have sent in their nominations and there is much excite-ment. The award categories are:

ISODA Award for Business Excellence – Win-ner: one award, prize money Rs 21,001/-

ISODA Award for Business Excellence – Upcountry Achiever, one award, prize money Rs 10,001/-

ISODA Award for Business Excellence – Inspi-rational Achiever, three awards, prize money Rs 10,001/- each

The excitement has reached a crescendo with the ticketing already done and everyone waiting eagerly for the event dates to arrive. It is possibly the first time that so many ISODA first-timers are attending the TechSummit. And because of that reason, the excitement is louder.

Manish Goenka, Director ICONS Infocom says: “I have been waiting eagerly for TechSummit 7. After a successful TechSummit 6 at Langkawi, the expecta-tions from the group are even higher this time. Of what I

understand till now, it looks like a great agenda. I am actually very interested to hear from quite a lot of new vendors and hence I am excited at the prospects of new alliances.”

Tamil Nadu, Pondy Partners Observe ‘dawn-to-dusk’ bandh For Jalikattu

ISODA Members To Spend ‘Quality Time’ With Sponsors In TS7

water pockets to all the students participating in the protests.

The mobile retailers association of Tamil Nadu, TAMRRA, has announced that it will extend all forms of support for the protestors across Tamil Nadu.

ITTA-PDY to support Jallikattu, A group of 30 members from ITTA-PDY carry out rallies in sup-port of Jallikattu & the procession from Anthonia-yar Church – Cuddalore main road with a banner denoting “We support Jallikattu” and reached AFT(Anglo French Textile) ground where around 20000 thousand people from different walks of life, students from colleges, schools have been sit-ting and protesting against the band on Jallikattu for the past three days. Besides, ITTA-PDY carried placards with messages supporting Jallikattu and raised slogans against the ban on the traditional bull taming event.

When volunteers of various outfits demand-ing lifting of the ban on Jallikattu took out a pro-cession through the main thoroughfares of the city, We ITTA-PDY have given more than 500 food packets, biscuits and waters to all protesters who were there against the ban on Jallikattu.

Rahul Joshi, Country Manager, Quickheal technologies says, “I have been part of most of the Tech-Summits at ISODA. This is one association I will always cher-ish as I have come back every time with new knowledge of trends, new alliances and new friends. I am excited to part of the 7th TechSummit. More-over, the coverage that ISVs like us get through ISODA is amazing!”

Ashok Kumar, CEO, RAH Infotech says, “we are one the fastest growing value added distributors of India. Some of our alliances are unique and we attribute a lot of our growth to ISODA. The opportunities one gets as a

member of ISODA is tremendous.”Venkata Murthy, Prime Mover, 22 by 7 says:

“TechSummit is an event where System Integrators like us get the opportunity to meet new vendors, form new partner-ships and also meet our col-leagues who help us regularly cover areas which we cannot. I have used ISODA as a platform to service customers where I do not have presence. Every nook and corner of the country is now covered by ISODA partners. And TechSummit gives me the opportunity to meet new members and work out new go to market strategies.

CELL IT, VOL-11, I SSUE-7 15 KRISHNA, February -2017

Three years back GITA made a beginning and on 22nd of January 2017 the association cele-brated its 3rd Anniversary in Wine Merchants Association, Guntur. Masood khan, the CEO of Image Star and Jayanta Praharaj, the regional manager of QuickHeal were the guests of the day. Both the Presidents and members of IT associa-tions from Vijayawada -Vijayawada IT Association (VIJITA) and Bezwada IT Association (BITA) also participated in the celebration.

Guntur is the fourth largest city in the state

by population and the third largest city by area in Andhra Pradesh. The region is identified as a major transportation and textile hub in India. Additionally, the Guntur area economy has an agricultural component that is internationally known for its exports of chillies, cotton, and tobacco.

As Amaravati, the new capital of AP is part of Guntur District; the association GITA is getting more active with monthly meetings to support their members with better business activities. From last 3 years association has been doing many other activities like Cricket and Volleyball Matches, Cycling also, as its very important to take care of our health as our business is basically stress business, said, K Srinivas, President, GITA.

In the occasion, Vijayawada IT Association president Murali said “we are regularly in touch with the AP Government to bring a new IT Com-plex in Vijayawada and soon we may get the results.

Guntur IT Association (GITA) celebrates its 3rd Anniversary

GST for SMEs- A Perspectiveby Sathya Pramod, Chief Financial Officer, Tally Solutions Pvt Ltd

GST isa game changer because it is not just an overhaul of i n d i r e c t

taxes, but the way business is done. Unless you are not on top of your taxes on a daily basis, there is no way you will be on top of your business. Let us examine what this means for an SME and also unorganized businesses.

How do SMEs comply with their taxes today?

At the end of a specified period, be it a month, quarter or a year, a Chartered Accountant(CA)/Sales Tax Practitioner (STP)/Tax Return Preparer(TRP) would either call or send his person over to the business person’s estab-lishment, collect the documents of sales and purchases and on the day the payment is to be made, advise an amount to be paid and manage the compliance process. There is also the man-agement of the assessments, dealing with the assessment officer, providing explanations, etc.

How will things change with GST?GST is a technology led law. Nothing under

this law in terms of compliance can be accom-plished without a stamp of technology. Right from raising invoices to the matching that hap-pens on the GSTN portal for availing input credit to filing returns, making payments, everything is technology led. So, if you or your advisor (CA/STP/TRP) are going to believe that you are going to wade through this without adopting

technology, you are doomed. Unless the busi-ness person can actually monitor input credits and ensure they are gets available, the business

will not be competent. This is not only restricted to the business

but the entire ecosystem the business is part of.

Everyone will need to comply.

What about the unorganized sector?

If you look at the 20L limit for registra-tion and compliance,

what does it exactly mean? A business of 6k

rupees/day which many people in the economy are

into but not necessarily aware that they need to comply. The number of these businesses are roughly 6 million. Unless they efficiently comply, the seamless chain that is the foundation of any value added tax regime would fail, ultimately leading to them closing down. However, if adopted, this would be a huge boost to businesses of every size.

What should be done to prepare and be ready?

There are a few important things which need to be followed to the “T” to ensure a successful regime for small businesses.

Technology- Since technology is the foun-dation of GST, you either adopt it or lose your position in the market. Be it for availing input credit, filing returns or for that matter any part of compliance, technology in terms of choosing

the right software to manage your business is the key.

Transparency- With demonetization extend-ing its tentacles, there is very little that a direct tax officer does not know about your business that an indirect tax officer knows or vice versa. So the more transparent you are, you get the stamp of confidence from your ecosystem and this can enhance your business.

Timelines- Gone are the days when default-ing in filing your returns affected only you. It will now affect everyone in the ecosystem this will lead to you losing your trust in the chain and the risk of going out of business. So time-lines become extremely important and cannot be taken for granted.

Training- Train your employees and get them to understand the importance of compliance and how it directly affects your business. This needs to be looked at from long term perspec-tive and will play a very important role in the smooth operation of your business.

Tax Return preparer- If you chose to out-source your returns, ensure that the TRP under-stands your business and also assists you with the right amount of knowledge and expertise that is needed from him.

Overall, it is a make or break time for busi-nesses and we are at the cusp of one of the big-gest economic changes in the country’s history. The mantra to best manage this change is tech-nology and its successful adoption will be key to compliance and economic growth.

For any assistance on GST & preparation for GST, visit blogs.tallysolutions.com or call 1800-200-8859 (toll free).

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We are excited to introduce our new logo design,

which marries a subtle evolution of Cadyce’s old logo. Our new design demonstrates clear visual change without losing the meaning, heritage, or power of recognition of Cadyce’s logo that has been built up over the past years and means so much to those of us who are a part of the collaboration.

This new look is an important part of Cadyce’s Strategy to the future and helps us signal to the outside world the transformational change that we are embarked on as we reach out and engage much more actively with the global market . We think that our new logo design will provide us with a more consistent brand identity around the world that speaks in a powerful way across all languages and regions. We signal our pride in being a global com-munity united by a common purpose, and our new visual identity also delivers a robust reproduction across digital media that will ensure the brand has even greater impact in the coming years.

The launch of Cadyce’s new organizational identity

RNI NO-APENG/2006/19824

POSTAL REGD. NO.VJ/102/2016-18LICENCED TO POSTING WITHOUT PREPAYMENT No. PMG/VJA/PWPP/16/2016

Date of Printing: 15th Feb, Date of Posting: 20th of Feb , No of Pages:16