Shares of five information technology firms fell by 1.78% to 3.59% as some anticipated tax sops for the IT sector were not announced in the interim general budget.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, currently in charge of the finance ministry, presented the interim budget today, 16 February 2009.
At 14:04 IST, the BSE IT index was down 2.72% at 2,114.53. It, however, outperformed the Sensex, which was down 3.29% at 9,317.41.
TCS (down 1.78%), Infosys Technologies (down 2.69%), Wipro (down 2.88%), HCL Technologies (down 3.68%), and Hexaware Technologies (down 3.59%), slipped.
The information technology (IT) and information technology enabled services (ITeS) industry had anticipated the interim budget will extend the Software Technology Park of India (STPI) scheme beyond 2010. But there was no such announcement
Units situated in software technology parks falling under the scheme's umbrella are eligible for a 10-year income tax holiday, in addition to other benefits.
India's largely export-oriented software sector's fast pace of growth has been crimped by the economic slowdown in the US, which accounts for more than half of the sector's export revenues.
Earlier this month, the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) slashed its software and services export target for the year ending March 2009 to about $47 billion, a growth of 16-17% and slower from an earlier target of 21-24%.