India back on investor radar: India Inc. Interview with Indias Finance Minister

India back on investor radar: India Inc. Interview with Indias Finance Minister

Indian finance minister Arun Jaitley wrapped up his first official visit to the UK recently on a high note. Besides a flurry of meetings with politicians, including UK Prime Minister David Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne, he held detailed talks with Britain's investor community to reiterate the Narendra Modi led government's resolve to ensure ease of doing business in India.India Inc. spoke to the senior Cabinet minister and probed him on key issues like retrospective taxation in reference to the recent $1.6-billion tax dispute involving UK-based oil major Cairn Energy and the contributions of global Indians towards India's growth story.How would you describe the investor sentiment in Britain There's a huge amount of enthusiasm about India. People are looking for areas to invest in India. India is back on the radar of investors, we had fallen off from there earlier.I held a series of conferences with investors, including one organised by the UK India Business Council (UKIBC), one at the London Stock Exchange and a conference of institutional investors organised by JP Morgan.The investors also closely scrutinise every step (taken by the government) on two grounds - whether you are able to incrementally move in the direction you have promised or are you taking any movements in the contrarian direction. And, I think we are moving in one consistent direction.The second fact is whether obstructionism able to halt you or are you able to overcome it. So far, we've surely been able to overcome it.Has the Cairn Energy tax dispute overshadowed this enthusiasm When the new government had come in, I had stated the policy of the new government that it would not move in the direction of any retrospective legislation on tax issues. Two, any fresh notices or new action will ordinarily not be done and if any assessing officer wants to take any such action, he'll require the clearance of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT).As far as earlier notices and legacy issues are concerned, they'll have to be sorted out through a due judicial process. We've stuck to that word. And, wherever in the earlier issue the judicial process has decided some issue, as recently in some cases they have, we have accepted that. For instance, we accepted whatever the courts decided in the case of Vodafone and Shell.That remains the declared position of the Government of India. Any assesse, if he has any grievance against what I call the 'legacy issues' of the previous government, they have the due process to resort to.Will the tax regime be further reformed We are trying to rationalise taxes, lower taxes and introduce a non-adversarial and fair system of taxation.There is a raging ideological battle between reform and obstruction. The government is fairly determined. The roadmap for us is very clear. We need a lot of investment in India and we need to ease the process of doing business in India and therefore slowly we are introducing changes in that direction.Is the India-UK relationship on a firm footing India's investment here and the UK's investment in India are quite strong and improving. Of course, trade ties are becoming stronger. There are not too many outstanding issues.The UK is the biggest major investor in India in the G20, with India investing more in the UK than it does in the rest of the European Union combined. There is a huge amount of interest that all British leaders have with regard to what is happening in the Indian economy as far as the reform process is concerned.The passage of the Insurance Bill in the Rajya Sabha on the eve of my visit here couldn't have come at a better time.What role does the global Indian Diaspora play The India-UK partnership is furthered by a very strong 1.5 million British Indian community, which has come into this land, adopted it as its own and probably will go down as one of the most extrovert communities anywhere in the world.The Diaspora is in a unique position. It has become a very powerful and dominant force in this country with the proud privilege of being both British and being India.

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