Need for early Amendment of DTAA Regulations to Stop the Double Taxation of Indian IT Firms

· Both sides acknowledge the need for an early ratification of Ind-Aus ECTA

· Australia to look into visa related issues of Indian students and tourists

Minister of State (MoS) for Commerce & Industry, Ms. Anupriya 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. Ms. Patel held a meeting with the visiting Deputy Premier of Western Australia, Mr. Roger Cook in New Delhi on 13 July, 2022, in which she emphasized that the amendment of DTAA regulation is a very important issue which was agreed under the Ind-Aus ECTA (India Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement).

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 with Western Australia on a range of issues pertaining to various sectors including education, critical minerals, agriculture, energy, tourism, mining technology etc. Ms. Patel said 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.

Both the sides acknowledged the need to expedite the ratification processes for early Entry into Force of the Ind-Aus ECTA for mutual benefit of both the economies, in particular, the businesses. Discussions also explored on market access issues relating to certain commodities such as potato, okra, gherkins, pineapple, onion etc. in Australian market and also on 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.

Indian and Australian side 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, tourism etc. and there is need to work together for result oriented outcome.