OECD deal to rev up digitisation, says FM Nirmala Sitharaman

In meet with US CEOs, Sitharaman says India offers a spectrum of opportunities to businesses

After the G20 finance leaders on Wednesday endorsed a global tax deal that calls for the elimination of unilateral digital services taxes, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said this will help address the challenges arising from the digitalisation of the economy. This will also help deal with base erosion and profit shifting issues, she said.

On the global economic recovery, she told her G20 counterparts that ensuring equitable vaccines for all is key but it faces a significant challenge. In her remarks at the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meeting, held on the sidelines of the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, Sitha­raman said for the global economic recovery, it is essential to keep up the support, bu­ild resilience and enhance productivity and structural reforms. 

These “should be our policy goals,” Sitharaman said at the in-person meeting of the Fourth G20 FMCBG.

Participating in the discussion on climate change, the FM emphasised that considering the varied policy spaces and different starting points of countries, the centrality of climate justice based on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and principles of the Paris Agreement would be critical for taking forward discussions towards successful outcomes.

Earlier, the FM met executives of top American companies and apprised them of various flagship programs of the Modi government under Atma­nirbhar Bharat, saying India offers a “spectrum of opportunities” to investors and business firms.

Prominent among those who attended the meeting were Milind Pant, Amway CEO; Vivek Lall, Chief Executive of General Atomics; Octavio Simoes, president and CEO of Tellurian; Chris Ripley, president and CEO of Sinclair Broadcasting Group and S V Anchan chairman of Safesea Group.