Cellular and basic telecom companies in India will no longer be able to import telecom software without paying any import duty. This will have a retrospective effect forcing companies to pay the prevailing rate (23 percent) of all imports made after August 1997. With this the government expects to net an additional $91m through duties on telecom software imports. Software for telecom, medical and other applications is not exempt from duty though software containing encyclopedias, games and books will be eligible for the exemption. This directive is expected to upset the plans of cellular and basic telecom companies which had assumed zero custom duties on their software import requirements.
