Patel calls for DTAA amendment on offshore income of Indian companies
Indian and Australian Ministers have acknowledged the need to expedite the ratification processes for early Entry into Force of the Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) which was signed on 2 April 2022.
Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Anupriya Patel and Deputy Premier of Western Australia Roger Cook discussed the trade pact during their meeting in New Delhi on 13 July 2022.
The Ind-Aus ECTA for mutual benefit of both the economies, in particular, the businesses.
Patel has stressed upon the need for an early amendment of the regulation pertaining to Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement to stop the taxation on offshore income of Indian firms providing technical support.
She emphasized that the amendment of DTAA regulation is a very important issue which was agreed under the Ind-Aus ECTA.
The Ministerial discussions also explored on market access issues relating to certain commodities such as potato, okra, gherkins, pineapple and onion among others in the Australian market and possible technical collaboration for increasing yield for agricultural products in India.
The two leaders emphasized on outcome-oriented actions leading to gains to citizens of both the countries, in particular, each other’s businesses. They deliberated on various important avenues of cooperation and target-oriented actions on specific sectors.
Both the countries laid emphasis on complimentary schemes and expertise available with them to develop new avenues by leveraging Western Australian expertise in areas like agri-tech, water management, energy efficiency, renewables as well as Indian expertise in commodity analytics, information technology, mobile applications etc.
Further, both the sides agreed to work towards having extensive engagement in activities relating to legal mineral mining, extending technical cooperation and expertise sharing and work towards a smooth resilient supply chain.
The Indian and Australian sides noted that there are significant opportunities which exists to strengthen cooperation in sectors like critical mining, education, agriculture, mining and mining equipment, technology sectors, energy and tourism. There is need to work together for result-oriented outcome.
On the concerns related to delay in issuance of visa for Indian students, the Australian side agreed to look into the ways to facilitate early processing and issuance of visa for Indian students pursuing higher studies in Australia and similarly for the tourists.
The two sides also exchanged views on significant opportunities to strengthen the cooperation between India and Western Australia on a range of issues pertaining to various sectors including education, critical minerals, agriculture, energy, tourism, mining technology etc.
Patel noted that the bilateral relations between India and Australia have undergone transformative evolution in recent years and there is enormous scope for cooperation in various fields and improving the existing level of bilateral trade and investment. fiinews.com
