No more retrospective taxes in India: PM Modi

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SME Times News Bureau | 14 Nov, 2015
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that India will no longer resort to retrospective taxation, while acknowledging that such steps were adversely affecting the mood of existing and potential investors.

"There were a number of regulatory and taxation issues which were adversely impacting on the sentiments of foreign investors. We have taken very decisive steps to remove a number of long pending concerns," the prime minister told the Indo-UK Business Meeting late on Thursday.

"We have clearly articulated that we will not resort to retrospective taxation and demonstrated this position in a number of ways. This includes not going for imposition of minimum alternate tax on foreign portfolio investors," he said.

"We want to make sure our tax regime is transparent and predictable. We are also keen to see that genuine investors and honest tax payers get quick and fair decisions on tax matters," he said at the at historic Guildhall, the city's ceremonial administrative centre for several centuries.

The prime minister said as the result these steps, not only have the sentiments for the inflow of foreign investment turned positive, but inward equity has also actually goone up by 40 percent in the year thus far, compared with the corresponding period of last year.

This apart, he said, Ernst and Young has ranked India the most attractive investment destinations for greenfield projects and so have USA's Foreign Policy magazine and Frost and Sullivan. "India has also jumped 16 places on the World Economic Forum’s global competitive index," he said.

"In just 18 months, we have successfully restored the credibility of India in the eyes of global players."