Putin: All IT firms should have equal conditions, govt may support

MOSCOW, Dec 22 (PRIME) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that all players of the IT market should be in equal conditions, but the country’s government will think of support of domestic companies.

“I cannot disagree with those who, pointing to the decisions we make in the real sector of the economy – in industry and agriculture – say that we grant Russian market participants the same benefits, and why we cannot do the same here,” Putin, who met with participants of the Internet Economy forum held in Moscow on Monday–Tuesday, said.

“Yes, we agree; we are ready; we will think and act without violating our WTO obligations. I’m sure that corresponding correct solutions will be found.”

Putin also agreed with a suggestion to think of prolongation of a reduced payroll tax for IT companies in 2017. He was told that the volume of software sales soared to 102 billion rubles in 2014 from 28 billion rubles in 2010 thanks to the tax allowances. The tax benefit will cease to exist in 2017, and the forum’s participants asked the president to extend it.

“I completely agree with you, the issue is only how to do it without breaking the WTO rules. We should think about it,” Putin said.

The forum’s participants said that Russian companies of the Internet market find themselves at a disadvantage, because they have to pay taxes and social charges, unlike foreign colleagues that are involved into the country’s trans-border trade.

“Over the recent years, the Internet has solidly entered the country’s daily and business life…Russia is not beyond and will not lag behind the world trends…The Russian audience of the Internet is the largest in Europe with 80 million users, including 62 million users surfing the Internet every day,” Putin said.

The Internet should be engaged as a driver into the modernization of the country thanks to its growing importance and influence.

“The commercial segment of the network is actively evolving. The volume of markets, which are related to the Internet, is at 16% of gross domestic product (GDP). The remote access technology is actively exploited when providing state and municipal services, which brings me a lot of joy, because we initiated it not so long ago and we see progress in this direction,” the president said.

More than a third of municipal and state services were provided in an automated regime in 2014, he said.

Putin also backed up an idea of regulated protection of private data of Internet users, which was proposed by domestic antivirus maker Kaspersky Lab in addition to the safety of personal data.

“It’s absolutely right in the conditions of war on terrorism. We only should do it carefully to avoid interfering in the private life of citizens,” Putin said.

End