Obama’s tax proposals won’t affect Indian firms: HCL chief

NEW DELHI - US President Barack Obama’s recent announcement on tax crackdown on companies outsourcing to overseas firms will not affect the Indian IT sector, an industry official said here Monday.

‘It will impact only American companies. It is being misunderstood largely. However, we still need to study its impact in the future,’ HCL chairman and chief executive Ajai Chowdhry told reporters on the sidelines of a business conference.

Regarding the slowdown in India, he said: ‘The first signs of recovery are already being seen. Though it is still a tough period, we need to maintain a positive outlook.’

Elaborating, Chowdhry said: ‘The two market indicators - Sensex and manufacturing - are showing positive signs, which indicates that we are in a good position.’

He, however, admitted consumption was still subdued, and attributed it to the lack of credit available in the market, which drives growth.

‘Government buying is still low and needs to pick up so that the market stabilises a bit,’ the HCL chief executive said.

‘However, if we look at the GDP of Singapore which is minus 6 percent and that of India which is at 6 percent, we are still in a very good position,’ Chowdhry added.