India signs double taxation avoidance treaty with Hong Kong

India and Hong Kong today signed a double taxation avoidance agreement (DTAA) that seeks to improve transparency in tax matters and help curb tax evasion and avoidance.

The agreement between India and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) of the People's Republic of China was signed by Indian Ambassador to China Gautam Bambawale and Hong Kong Finance Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po in Hong Kong, a press release from the Indian consulate in Hong Kong said.

The agreement on the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income will stimulate flow of investment, technology and personnel from India to HKSAR and vice versa, prevent double taxation and provide for exchange of information between the two contracting parties, the press release said.

It will improve transparency in tax matters and will help curb tax evasion and tax avoidance, it said.

Bambawale is visiting Hong Kong, a Special Administrative Region of China, for the first time after he took over as envoy to Beijing last year.

He called on Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, Chief Executive of Hong Kong and met various other officials.

He also spoke on India-China relations at an event hosted by the Hong Kong Centre of Asia Society.

Hong Kong is a leading economic hub of Asia which reverted to Chinese rule in 1997.