In the wake of the apparent reluctance of certain countries and jurisdictions in sharing tax related information pertaining to tracking black money and money laundering activities, India will seek a multilateral platform for automatic exchange of such data at the two-day meeting of G-20 finance ministers in Paris starting February 18.
Ahead of Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's departure for Paris on Thursday, an official statement that overcoming tax evasion would require close co-ordination between all countries on a multilateral basis.
“There is need to develop an effective multilateral platform for automatic, spontaneous and requested exchange of information,” the Finance Ministry statement said while noting that India — as decided by G-20 leaders earlier — would soon come out with a “toolbox of counter measures” to tackle such non-cooperative jurisdictions which do not share tax related information. India is of the view that since some countries are yet to conclude Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEAs), the G-20 should consider classifying such nations as “non-cooperative jurisdictions.”
India has regretted that some countries continue to distinguish between ‘tax fraud' and ‘ tax evasion' and this helps in deliberate concealment of wealth for the purpose of tax evasion. “...therefore, there is need to encourage countries to remove this distinction in order to help efforts of government authorities in pursuing tax cheats who have parked funds outside the country,” the statement said.
Coordinated approach
On the broader economic perspective, India will insist on a coordinated approach at the G-20 ministerial to deal with the global problems, which include rising food prices, disruptive capital flows and fragile economic recovery.
The first meeting of the G-20 ministerial with France in the chair is being held at a time when rising commodity prices have led to high food inflation in many countries and threaten to push 44 million people below poverty line in developing countries, according to a World Bank report.
Apart from rising food prices and erratic capital flows, the G-20 ministers, the statement said, will focus on other issues such as policy framework for a strong, sustainable and balanced growth, reform of the International Monetary System (IMS) and indicative guidelines for quantifying global imbalances.
Mr. Mukherjee will be a lead speaker along with Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty at the ministerial which is slated to open with a presentation on the global economy by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). During his stay in Paris, Mr. Mukherjee will have a meeting with his French counterpart Christine Legarde and deliberate on bilateral and multi lateral issues.
