India has again taken up the 1983 Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement with Mauritius to plug revenue leaks owing to foreign investors taking the Mauritius route to reduce tax liability.
Currently, foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows in India are seeing a dip. A World Economic Forum global competitiveness index published some days ago has downgraded India further; we have lost 10 places in three years and now rank 30 places below China. Does not more FDI create jobs, increase economic growth and also generate new revenues?
Can we today afford to make India even less attractive for FDI? Our all-powerful finance ministry should engage in improving clearance procedures and tackle the thickets of over-regulation that dissuade both foreign and domestic investors, instead of pursuing the chimera of lost revenues.
Kishan S Rana New Delhi
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