The Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, on Saturday, praised the Central government's decision to reduce the base corporate tax rate to 22% from 30% as part of stimulus measures to revive slowing economic growth. The corporate tax was reduced by 10% points and the effective tax rate has become 25.17% after considering surcharges and cess, this compares to a 34.94% effective corporate tax rate currently. The Commerce Minister is on a two-day visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to attend the meeting of 7th India-UAE High-Level Task Force on Investment. He is also going to unveil the 'India Pavilion' at the World Expo 2020 in Dubai.

Piyush Goyal’s statements at World Expo 2020 

The Union Minister congratulated the PM and FM on announcing the change in tax rates. He said, "I congratulate Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for taking these bold decisions which will take India forward and make it go ahead on the path of progress. India now offers bigger opportunities and a tax regime which makes it very competitive in the world. What India now offers is almost unparalleled in the world. Firstly, we offer the corporates a big domestic market which countries like the UAE do not have and then such liberal tax structures which are almost unparalleled in the world.” The Union Minister also said that the negative minded people have always pulled India back. Some negative minded people will oppose it but it is the same thought process which denied the people of electricity, toilets, and even banking facilities," he said.  

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Tax Slash – a fillip to growth 

On Friday, Piyush Goyal supported Nirmala Sitharaman’s introduction of the tax cut and said that this measure will give a necessary fillip to the economy. He said at an event that, “Finance Minister's announcement on slashing corporate tax will give necessary fillip to the economy which we've been hoping for. We have had a series of measures and today's measures are the largest." He also added that the foregone revenue of ₹1.45L crores will benefit corporates. Piyush Goyal was hopeful that, businesses will be able to take benefit of these measures to spur growth. “These measures will help in making India a better investment destination. The announcement on tax will help companies like Coal India, Infosys, and Wipro,” he said. 

With inputs from ANI

Read: Government: Corporate tax cut to cost exchequer Rs. 1.45 lakh crore

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