New Delhi: US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti on Tuesday criticised India's corporate taxation and labelled it an "opaque" system. The American envoy opined the taxation practice acts as an encumbrance for the US companies which are willing to invest here. "Opaque corporate tax practices are still a barrier to too many (US) companies that want to be here...": Garcetti said during the "Strengthening Indo-US relations in Amritkal-Aatmnirbhar Bharat" event in Delhi. The event was also attended by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.
According to Garcetti, foreign investment redirected from China was not flowing to India at a fast enough pace and added that American companies wanted to invest heavily. He praised the "Atmanirbhar Bharat" policy-- a mission started by the Government of India in May 2020, towards making India Self-reliant-- but added India should not treat the policy as a "fortress". During his speech, he categorically emphasised that India needs to change its export policies if it wants to achieve its goal and stressed how India's trade deficit with the US is $40 billion.
"We want to see FDI from China shift here, but FDI isn’t flowing into India at the pace that it should. Instead, it’s going to Southeast Asia in countries like Vietnam," he opined.
Garcetti accuses China of spying
Further, in a veiled attack on China, he accused Beijing of spying on citizens by using telecommunications channels-- a claim he didn't give any proof of. "We have to decide these standards together. It’s exciting to see this happen- 4G, 5G open RAN Network. Can we define that in a way that’s very different from our main competitor in the world who wants to use telecommunications to spy on its citizens and also spy on others around the world,” he claimed.
Garcetti stressed that the US and India, being the two greatest democracies, can show the world what it means to be moral leaders at a needed moment. "There are dictatorships in the world and there are democracies. The US and India, as the two greatest democracies, can show the world what it means to be moral leaders at a moment when we need it," he said at the USC-India Innovation Summit earlier."
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