India offers stable and non-adversarial tax regime:FM

Allying fears of global investors over taxation issues, Finance Minister P Chidambaram has said that India offers a stable and non-adversarial tax regime besides a fair and just dispute redressal mechanism.

Chidambaram, who was on a two-day official visit here, said that steps being taken by the Indian government with regard to taxation were in tandem with the international best practices.

"A developing country needs resources, especially tax revenues and I have stated that our policy is stable tax rates, clarity in the laws, a non-adversarial tax administration, and a fair and just dispute redressal mechanism," he said in an interview to Arab News.

When asked about the apprehensions of investors that new ways were being worked out to get more taxes from them, Chidambaram said he did not see any reason for such concerns.

The Minister, however, added that in certain aspects the steps taken by India with regard to taxation mirror the concerns being actively discussed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Global investors had expressed concern over the decision of the Indian government to set aside the judgement of Supreme Court in the Vodafone case through a retrospective amendment to the tax laws. The governent, however, is trying to find a solution to the vexed tax issue.

The Indian government is trying to revamp the direct and indirect tax regime by replacing the existing laws with the Direct Taxes Code (DTC) and Goods and Services Tax (GST).

On slowdown in Indian economy, he said that "India today is the third largest economy in terms of GDP on PPP terms."

India, he further said, benefits greatly from domestic demand from a growing young population and emerging middle class.