The Special Economic Zone tax bonanza will end, if the Budget proposals pass in their current form. Barring this, the Budget does not have any nasty surprises for companies.
Highlights:
The corporate surcharge has been lowered from 7.5% to 5%. That reduces the effective corporate tax rate from 33.2% to 32.4%, which is a nice, even if small, relief for Indian companies. The new rate will be 30% plus a 5% surcharge, which works out to 31.5%, and after adding the education cess of 3%, it works out to 32.4%.