Telangana: KTR Rao writes to Union Min Ravi Shankar Prasad seeking relief for IT sector

Telangana's Information & Technology Minister KT Rama Rao wrote to Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Friday, May 1 asking for help in sustaining the state's IT sector and creating safer workplaces in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic. Rao put forward the request to provide relief to the SMEs in the IT sector in coordination with the Union Ministery of Finance.

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Rao asks for reliefs for SMEs

The letter read, "The IT Industry in Hyderabad employs over 6 lakh people and as a result of COVID-19, there seems to marginal or no impact on the larger companies. However, SMEs in the IT sector have been hard hit and there have been some layoffs. To help them recover quickly and continue through this distress and severe cash flow issues, expedite IT and GST (CGST and SGST) refunds. For any Income Tax dues at or below Rs 25 lakhs to MSMEs for the year 2018 -19, release the whole amount immediately. For any Income Tax dues above Rs 25 lakhs, on a slab basis, release 50% of the accumulated TDS credits as per 26 AS."

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"In the initial days due to confusion, a lot of companies paid several crores of rupees under various heads a later they got clarity on ways of payment & adjustments. Recently Finance Minister said any such dues will be cleared in 30 days but this needs to be expedited. If they are not cleared, they should be made available at least as credits to be used for future GST payments (sic)," Rao continued in the letter.

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