Companies should also focus on the 'I' in PIC

[SINGAPORE] Rather than focusing on just automation and training, companies should use more of the other qualifying activities in the productivity and innovation credit (PIC) scheme, said participants at a post-budget roundtable organised by Canon Singapore in collaboration with The Business Times.

The other four activities - which include the acquisition and registration of intellectual property, research and development, and approved design projects - will help businesses to innovate and be different, instead of having incremental productivity advances from the first two activities, they said. PIC has a total of six qualifying activities.

Said Abhijit Ghosh, corporate tax partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers Singapore: "There is really high value-added stuff out there in the last four buckets. We don't see much action there, and the question we should be asking is: Why not?"