America
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in New York
1-3) New York (United States): Union Minister for Finance, Corporate
Affairs, and Information and Broadcasting Arun Jaitley arrives at the
New York Stock Exchange in New York, US on June 18, 2015. (Photo:
Mohammed Jaffer/IANS)
4)
New York: Union Minister for Finance, Corporate Affairs, and Information and Broadcasting Arun Jaitley and Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi at the Waldorf Astoria New York in US on June 18, 2015. (Photo: Mohammed Jaffer/IANS)
Jaitley assures foreign investors on reforms, tax regime
New York, June 18 Finance Minister Arun
Jaitley has assured foreign investors on their concerns about the speed
of India's reforms process, as well as about an adversarial tax regime."Concerns
that the process of reforms must expedite, which we are trying to do.
Concern at the stability of policy, which has been assured because the
government's movement is in one direction," Jaitley told reporters here
on Wednesday after a visit to the New York Stock Exchange.
"Investors are certainly looking forward at India in order to make large amount of investments in India," he said.
The
finance minister, accompanied by a high-powered business delegation, is
on a 10-day visit to the US to foster bilateral ties.
Jaitley,
who in his 2015-16 Budget, exempted foreign insitutional investors
(FIIs) from paying minimum alternate tax (MAT) with effect from April,
also said there are concerns about India's taxation regime.
Even
after his announcement on exempting FIIs from paying MAT on capital
gains earned by them, the Income Tax department sent notice to at least
90 foreign portfolio investors.
With the uncertainty created by
MAT, foreign investors sold Indian shares and bonds of around $630
million on May 6, marking the biggest single-day sale since January
2014.
Jaitley expressed satisfaction that foreign direct investment (FDI) went up by 39 percent last year.
"Almost
by the day we are getting proposals both through the direct route and
also through the Foreign Investment Promotion Board route," he said.
As
many as eight past presidents of the Federation of Indian Chambers of
Commerce and Industry (Ficci) as well as current head Jyotsna Suri are
part of Jaitley's delegation.
Ficci and the US-India Business
Council (USIBC) will facilitate meetings with CEOs, business leaders,
investors, and representatives from the US industry and Indian-American
community.
A business delegation comprising senior members from
Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) will also be joining the
finance minister.
The CII said in a release that among the
various meetings being coordinated during the delegation's visit,
discussions are being organised with pension funds like CalPERS,
CalSTRS, University of Stanford Endowment, University of California
Endowment, San Francisco Employees Retirement Fund and others as well as
investment companies like Capricorn Investment Group, Think Investments
and others.
Jaitley's US itinerary during the visit, ending on June 25, embraces New York, Washington and San Francisco cities.