US commerce secretary promises tax reforms, woos India Inc Close.

MUMBAI: US commerce secretary John Bryson today invited corporate India to invest in his country, and promised a more investor-friendly tax regime.

"Reform is happening in the American tax code. We have one of the highest statutory corporate tax rates for any country and that has only become more complicated since the 1980s. We are lowering the corporate tax from 35 to 28 per cent," Bryson said.

He was speaking at a CII-organised investor meet here. He is accompanied by a 16-member business delegation.

Noting that India has been a source of FDI flow into his country, the secretary said: "We renewed our bilateral commercial dialogue. Work has been initiated for a bilateral investment treaty which will not only help India attract investment in areas like infrastructure, but also help Indian companies investing in the US."

Last September, Tata Chemicals started a joint venture in the US and recently, HCL started a unit in Washington DC, he said.

He also said that India's growth has led to increased demand for US products, with US exports to India growing from under USD 4 billion in 2001 to over USD 21 billion last year.

"America has reciprocated with the US receiving USD 36 billion worth goods and services from India last year. With your aggressive plan of investing USD 1 trillion in infrastructure alone and over 600 major projects, we want our partnership to deepen further for mutual profit," he said.

Earlier, CII president and Tata Steel vice-chairman B Muthuraman said CII recognises that trade and investment is a two way street. "We want to make this street between India and US into a superhighway and CII strongly supports businesses conducive to the growth of business in the both the countries," he said.

Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com