India to apply 5 pct withholding tax to offshore rupee bonds -official

MUMBAI (Reuters) - India will apply a 5 percent withholding tax to offshore rupee bonds for foreign investors, in line with the rate applied to domestic debt, Manoj Joshi, joint secretary at the finance ministry, told reporters on Tuesday.

The clarification comes amid some confusion about whether the withholding tax also applied to offshore debt. India had cut the tax for debt investments to the current rate from 20 percent in 2013, which will remain in effect until July 2017.

(Reporting by Suvashree Dey Choudhury; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)