The Outliers

cut announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in September is not turning out to be the silver bullet the government thought it was. The decision, under which the government offered companies a tax rate of 22 per cent if they did not avail of incentives or exemptions, has been unable to enthuse many big names of India Inc. “At present, for Infosys standalone, the India effective tax rate is less than 25 per cent. We are close to 23-24 per cent. So, I think at the moment, we are staying in the current regime. We will start evaluating as we look ahead through the next few years, but for now, we’re continuing with the existing tax holiday regime,” Salil Parekh, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, said in an analyst call after the company’s second quarter results. Infosys is not alone. For many, the move to cut the basic corporate tax rate from 30 per cent to 22 per cent (after adding surcharge and cess,