Bisher erhielten Bildungsanbieter in Indien, die mit der National Skills Development Corporation (NSDC) oder dem National Council for Vocational Training (NCVT) arbeiten, Steuererleichterungen. Ab April 2013 wird sich das ändern. Weiterhin von Steuern ausgenommen bleiben Anbieter, die in den jeweiligen Berufsbildungsräten der Bundesstaaten (vocational training councils) registriert sind.
The Budget has set an ambitious target of skilling nine million youth in 2013-14 but it has raised the effective cost of training for students by bringing vocational education providers associated with the National Skills Development Corporation under the service tax net.Budget impact: Vocational training fees to be taxed from April, institutes under state bodies spared
Such education providers will be liable to pay an effective tax of 12.36%, including 3% education cess. The previous Budget had put training firms working with the National Skills Development Corporation or the National Council for Vocational Training into the negative list for service tax. But the Finance Bill of 2013-14 has omitted NSDC's training partners from the negative list.
Training institutes affiliated to state governments' vocational training councils have, however, been exempted from service tax.
"The (Budget's) fine print for some reason removed the exemption of service tax for National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) partners. We are in the process of trying to restore this exemption," NSDC chief executive and managing director Dilip Chenoy has informed stakeholders. Chenoy has welcomed the host of measures announced by the finance minister to raise the job-readiness and employability of youth.
There are 95 firms involved in training youth under the aegis of NSDC, a not-for-profit public private partnership firm set up by the ministry after Finance Minister P Chidambaram announced its creation in his 2008-09 Budget. The corporation has been assigned the task of training around 30% of India's target to skill 500 million people by 2022 by fostering and funding private sector skill development initiatives.
The imposition of service tax will lead to a hike in fees for students opting to improve their skills through NSDC partners such as Gram Tarang Employability Training Services, which trains people in Maoist-affected areas.
Professor Mukti Mishra, chairman of Gram Tarang, said that the decision to take training providers out of the negative list for service tax reflected the haphazard approach of the government towards skill development.
"The government wants to cash in on India's demographic dividend and train 500 million youth by 2022, but taking away service tax exemption just a year after it was granted sends a different message about its attitude," Mishra said.
Chidambaram's Budget speech had, in fact, lauded the NSDC for having done good work while adding that a lot more needed to be done. "We have set an ambitious target of skilling 50 million people in the 12th Plan period, including nine million in 2013-14. We have to pull out all stops to achieve this objective," the finance minister had said.
The prime minister's skills advisor and Tata Consultancy ServicesBSE 0.24 % vice-chairman S Ramadorai has indicated that the government is unlikely to meet its skilling targets for 2012-13. Just 14 lakh people had been trained in the first ten months of the fiscal, compared with the target of 85 lakh.