The government may extend the income tax holiday for small IT companies beyond 2009, IT and Communications Minister A Raja said today. Exemption from paying income tax for IT companies is to end in 2009."I have met Prime Minister (on the issue). PM is inclined to give some relief.... We are of the view that small enterprises should not suffer. The matter is under consideration," he told the Rajya Sabha during the Question Hour.Raja said he had also met Finance Minister P Chidambaram on extending tax break for another 10 years but the "Finance Minister had some reservations."The extended tax breaks should not go to big and flourishing companies that have already utilised the previous tax breaks, he said, but did not specify when a decision would be taken.Raja said the slowdown in the US economy has so far not had any overall significant direct impact on the growth of the Indian IT-BPO sector. However, the depreciation of the US dollar over the past year has added significant margin pressure on the IT industry.Raja said industry body NASSCOM does not have any information on reduction in salaries in the IT industry but there had been indications that the annual increments to employees may be slightly lower.
