“There is work ongoing with a number of economies, including the U.K., on intellectual property (IP) rights and modernisation in an effort to improve Indian protocols,” Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal has mentioned.
Responding to questions from a gathering of Indian-origin chartered accountants (CAs) from the U.Okay. Chapter of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) on the conclusion of his London go to on Wednesday night, the Minister – a professional CA – lined a spread of subjects together with IP rights and company tax to environmental, social and company governance (ESG).
He mentioned the method to harmonise with worldwide requirements is excessive on the federal government’s agenda as a result of integrating with world considering on requirements and IP is vital for the fast-paced progress of the Indian economic system.
“With the UK we are working on IP rights or IP modernisation. Our effort is to improve the Indian protocols around intellectual property rights and areas associated with it, but I feel it will have to be a little more gradual process,” mentioned Goyal.
“Similarly, we are working very actively on quality standards in India. The BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) for non-food products and FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India) on food products are trying to develop standards. Wherever it’s possible, we are trying to harmonise also with international standards. But it’s not possible in everything…we are roughly at about 90 per cent of our standards harmonised with what is generally accepted standards,” he mentioned.
“But I can assure you we are conscious that if we have to develop our economy at a fast pace, we’ll also have to integrate ourselves with the world thinking on standards, on intellectual property. Though it may be a process, we are moving very rapidly and hoping to become a preferred destination for other countries. So, it’s very high on our agenda,” he added.
The minister forecast that over the subsequent three or 4 years, Indian requirements shall be seen as world class and accepted internationally.
While he veered away from any direct reference to the continued India-UK free commerce settlement (FTA) whereas “negotiations are on”, the minister talked about that the problem of switch pricing was among the many issues that had emerged as a part of efforts to seek out wider options within the commerce talks.
“There is no written rule or unwritten rule that any one geography or one set of people are honest and the other set is dishonest… so transfer pricing will remain an issue by issue, case by case subject and there can’t be a one size fits all,” he mentioned.
Asked concerning the company tax ranges in India, the minister was clear that India’s charges have been at a comparable stage having been decreased considerably within the final 9 years.
“We have been successful through G20 in getting the world to bring in a minimum corporate tax of 15 per cent,” he famous.
Goyal, who was within the UK on a three-day go to which coincided with the eleventh spherical of FTA negotiations with the UK, met his British counterpart Kemi Badenoch to construct momentum behind the method. The Commerce Ministry issued a press release following the assembly to say that “considerable progress was achieved during their frank and open discussions on various difficult issues”.
