India is in the process of reforming its taxation regime to make it internationally compatible and non-adversarial, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Friday.
"We are trying to present a taxation regime, which is internationally compatible, which is non-adversarial. If the investors find Dubai and Singapore is in the region and more compatible than us, then they are going to beat us in the competition," Jaitley said while unveiling the regulations for the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) here.
"We have succeeded in ending the mood of despondency. We have opened the doors and inspiring people within and outside to invest in India. There is a distance that we have to cover," he added.
With the IFSC coming up at the Gujarat capital, the state is trying to become the hub for financial services "which was earlier attributed to Mumbai", the finance minister said.
The IFSC is designed to attract financial services business sector that is currently going to exchanges outside.
Market regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India had on Sunday last approved a new set of norms for setting up of stock exchanges and other capital market infrastructure in India's IFSC in Gujarat's GIFT City.
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"Stock exchanges and clearing corporations would be provided concessions for setting up ventures in the IFSC. All existing exchanges would be allowed to set up their subsidiaries in the IFSC under the relaxed regimes," SEBI chairman U.K. Sinha said after a meeting of the board.
The BSE and NSE have already signed MoUs for setting up international exchanges at Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City).
Under the new regime, rules and regulations differ and are more relaxed from those applicable outside the IFSCs.
The move is expected to generate an estimated Rs.1,334 crore per day -- or Rs.200,000 crore per year -- worth of trading in rupee derivatives that currently goes to exchanges outside India.