The Hindu Business Line : IT firms vie to offer VAT software

WITH the State Governments and their respective commercial taxes departments taking to VAT-related technology infrastructure, it is now the turn of IT service providers to target companies and traders with customised software packages.

Not just several domestic companies, large corporations such as Microsoft, Oracle and Acer have custom-designed and localised their software to suit the business demands.

On the Government infrastructure side, large systems integrators such as TCS, have partnered with States such as Andhra Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir to develop VAT software.

With over 21 States agreeing to implement VAT regime, Oracle India, at its India development based in Hyderabad, has taken to localisation to meet the software requirements of enterprises.

With more than 250 enterprise users, the development team has created the software to meet VAT compliance issues.

Hardware and software provider, Acer, has announced its move to offer VAT-compliant Tally 7.2 software bundled with Acer desktops, notebook and servers targeting small and medium-sized businesses segment.

This bundle offer from Acer will be available during the Tally Mela across 11 cities.

Commenting on this initiative, Mr S. Rajendran, General Manager, Consumer Products Group, Acer India, said: "We have focused our efforts this year on empowering the Indian consumer with the latest technology. The next step of this vision is to tap a growing SMB marketplace with value-added products and targeted initiatives. This association with Tally is in line with this vision to grow the market and empower it with Acer technology."

Microsoft India recently announced the rollout of its end-to-end VAT-compliant solution, AdVATage, aimed at the SMB segment in Hyderabad.

An eight-city event seeks to offer a VAT-ready accounting solution from Microsoft independent software vendors and partners, Wings, Trio and Matrix.

This is presented with hardware server from Microsoft System Builder Partners and the Microsoft Small Business Server 2003.

Mr Rajeev Mittal, Director, Small and Medium Solutions and Partners (SMS&P), Microsoft India, in a statement said: "With the nearing VAT regime, it is imperative that SMBs build efficiencies by adoption of VAT-compliant IT solutions."

He added: "There is a pressing need to educate businesses in this segment on the fundamentals of VAT and how they can leverage IT to integrate VAT-enabled accounting solutions with their existing IT infrastructure."

Not to be left behind, scores of domestic software companies are entering the fray. While there is no official estimate on the VAT software business potential, the market is certainly promising.

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