MUMBAI: Finance minister Jaswant Singh has ended his budget speech. Service tax has been increased from five per cent to eight per cent, even as 10 new items have been brought under the purview of the tax.

Singh, however, made no mention of what the industry sees as absolutely necessary for the smooth rollout of conditional access systems (CAS) - reduction in duties on the import of set-top boxes.

Tax holiday for research & development companies extended. More R&D in alls sectors, including media, may get a fillip.

The five per cent surcharge, slapped on corporate tax last year in the interest of the nation's security, has been halved to 2.5 per cent.

Pre-recorded audio cassettes will be fully exempt from excise duties.