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Informist, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026

--BUDGET: Tax holiday to cos till 2047 for cloud svcs from India data centres  

--BUDGET: Moot 15% safeharbour for cos related to Indian co for data centres 

--BUDGET: To provide safe harbour to electronic makers at 2% profit margin 

--BUDGET: To exempt tax on toll manufacturers providing capital goods 

--BUDGET: Moot exemption from MAT for NRI paying tax on presumptive basis 

--BUDGET:No tax on non-India income for foreigners staying in India for 5 yrs 

MUMBAI – Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Sunday outlined a series of steps the government would undertake to attract global businesses and investments. The centre has proposed a tax holiday till 2047 to foreign companies that provide cloud services to customers globally by using data centre services from India, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said while presenting the Union Budget. However, these companies will need to provide services to Indian customers through an Indian reseller entity.

In case the company providing the date centre service from India is a related entity, the governemnt will also allow a safe harbour of 15% on cost. The finance minister also announced a safe harbour to non-resident Indians providing component warehousing in a bonded warehouse at a 2% profit magin.

To boost toll manufacturing in India, Sitharaman said the government would provide a five-year income tax exemption to NRIs who provide capital goods, equipment or tooling to any toll manufacturer in a bonded zone.

"I propose to provide exemption to global (non-India sourced) income of a non-resident expert, for a stay period of 5 years," Sitharaman said as the government aims to attract global talent to work in India. The government would also provide exemption from Minimum Alternate Tax to all NRIs who pay tax on a presumptive basis.  End

Reported by Nandini Sinha

Edited by Pankaj Aher

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