The system of state support for IT exports may be revised
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The Ministry of Digital Development and specialized associations are discussing the creation of a new self-regulatory organization (SRO), which will include IT companies with export potential, its level will be assessed using a special methodology. In the future, such companies will be able to count on government support for supplies abroad. Currently, financial mechanisms to support IT exports are not in effect. Experts fear that the SRO will be used to form a narrow circle of companies that in the future will be able to participate in preferential lending programs for foreign customers of domestic IT solutions announced by the Ministry of Digital Development.
Kommersant got acquainted with the letter from Deputy Head of the Ministry of Digital Development Andrey Zarenin dated October 11 to the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Economy. Judging by the document, the ministry intends to limit the circle of companies that will be able to receive state support for the export of software and radio electronics.
In particular, applicants must be members of a certain SRO “IT Exporters of Russia”, which has yet to be created.
The founders will include a number of specialized associations: ARPP Domestic Soft, Russoft, Association of Computer and Information Technology Enterprises, Association of Electronics Manufacturers and Developers and others.
In order to become a member of the SRO and count on “priority government support for the export of products and services,” an IT company must meet a number of criteria listed in the appendix to the letter. These include having export experience, proven experience in international logistics, etc. In addition, it is proposed to create a “list of products with export maturity.”
The Ministry of Digital Development explained to Kommersant that the initiative will help systematize data on the readiness of Russian companies to launch products on foreign markets, “export support tools will be adapted in accordance with them.” Presumably, the association will begin work in 2024, Oleg Kravchuk, director for work with foreign and strategic projects of the Security Code, clarified to Kommersant.
Measures of state support for the export of IT products were included in the second package of support for the IT industry, adopted in September 2021. They envisaged partial compensation for the costs of Russian developers for marketing products abroad, the launch of mechanisms for financial support for the implementation of software on the infrastructure of foreign customers, and also the launch of the institution of “digital attaches” – lobbyists promoting domestic products in other markets. The executors, in addition to the Ministry of Digital Development, the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Industry and Trade, are the Russian Export Center (REC), RFRIT, etc. In fact, of the listed measures, only “digital attaches” appeared.
According to Kommersant’s interlocutor close to the Ministry of Digital Development, financial measures to support IT exporters were not launched because REC and RFRIT did not receive funds for this. In October, the head of the Ministry of Digital Development, Maksut Shadayev, said that the possibility of subsidizing preferential loans for foreign customers of domestic IT solutions was only being discussed.
Executive Director of the Domestic Software Association Renat Lashin notes that the association’s members positively assess the idea of the emergence of an export SRO, “it will allow, on the one hand, to create a single window for receiving support, and on the other hand, to filter out companies that do not currently have significant export potential.” The head of another large industry association considers it logical “in the context of a limited state budget to introduce criteria for companies that can receive support.”
However, Kommersant’s interlocutor in the IT market emphasizes that in a number of industry associations “there are disagreements” regarding the establishment of an SRO. “The listed criteria may create an unnecessarily high entry barrier for small companies and startups, which will deprive them of the opportunity to receive government support,” he notes.
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