Pune gets new octroi from June 6

Pune

May 19, 2008

The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) announced that come June 6, 2008, the
reduced octroi rates of three percent on all computer goods would be effective.
Earlier this year, The DQ Week had reported PMC's decision to increase octroi
from three to seven percent on all imported goods, including computers and their
peripherals.

PMC had at that time said in a statement, “As computers are imported from
other foreign countries, we have come to a conclusion to increase octroi on
computers and its peripherals from three to seven percent, so that we can
protect the interests of local manufacturers.” It was then that Computer Media
and Dealers Association (CMDA) made several representations to PMC to reduce
octroi to three percent.

The much-debated tax system is the backbone of PMC's income, as seen in the
draft annual budget for 2008-09. The corporation has estimated an octroi income
of Rs 754 crore for the ensuing year, which is 37 percent of PMC's total income.
In 2007-08, it collected Rs 560 crore by January 2008.

Expressing his views on the recent announcement, Sushil Kulkarni of Phoebus
Technologies said, “A reduction in octroi by four percent would increase our
customer base, as customers would be motivated to buy computer goods that will
now be available at a lower cost.”

Agreeing with him, Parag Kulkarni of Openview Technologies said, “Reduction
in octroi would get us more revenue and customers. The reduction will stabilize
and regularize the market to a great extent.”