UK tax cut to help Indian cos

Aims to attract foreign investments into the country which will, in turn, create jobs

The British government is planning to reduce corporate tax by 1% to 20% from 2015 will benefit Indian companies like Tata-owned JLR and Corus, Birla’s Novelis and Essar’s Stanlow refinery.

All these companies have a significant presence in the UK.

The British government has decided to reduce the corporate tax to attract foreign investments into the country which will, in turn, create jobs.

The tax will be reduced from April 2015.  Officials of theIndian companies operating in UK said this move will help them to cut costs.

The operations of the Indian companies in UK are making losses due to high cost of labour and falling demand. In fact, CLSA has recommended that Tata Steel should look at the option of selling shares of Corus in the UK as the operations are making huge losses.

Similarly, Novelis—a Birla group company—has decided to move its plant from Britain to Hirakud in Orissa due to high cost of operations including high wages there.

Birla executives say any tax break will help them to invest more in UK to expand capacity.