Committed to Tackling Offshore Tax Issues
NEW DELHI: India and the US on Thursday committed to take the renewed India-US partnership forward through “shared effort and progress for all” when Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Jacob J. Lew, US Secretary of the Treasury, met in the Capital for the Fifth Annual India-US Economic and Financial Partnership.
Through a joint statement both the sides wanted to take their economic engagements to a new level.
The two sides discussed at length the recent economic and financial developments in India and the US and the global economy at large.
During their discussion both India and the US agreed to provide a conducive tax environment to enable a friendly investment climate.
“We are committed to share our experiences in tackling offshore tax evasion and avoidance. We affirmed our shared commitment to fostering an enabling tax environment and expressed our satisfaction at the progress made in resolving tax disputes,” the joint statement said.
Secretary Lew commended the Jan Dhan scheme to provide universal access to banking services for stronger and equitable growth in India. “We agreed to collaborate through technical assistance for furthering financial inclusion to India’s poor.”
Finance Minister Jaitley underscored the need to build a broader set of financing opportunities for entrepreneurs and firms, including a more vibrant corporate bond market.
Cooperation at global level is needed to check money laundering, Jaitley said, adding that the issue of India becoming a part of Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), which will lead to automatic exchange of information between the two countries, were discussed at the meeting.
Reserve Bank governor Raghuram Rajan was also a key participant at the meeting alongside the US delegation accompanying Secretary Lew.
