‘Japan Plus’ team set up to fast-track investments

India is clearly moving fast to provide extra comfort to Japanese investors and fasten hasten investments from that country.

Close on the heels of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Japan, the Government on Thursday set up a special management team – “Japan Plus” – to facilitate and fast track investment proposals from Japan.

The mandate of Japan Plus team runs through the entire spectrum of investment promotion –research, outreach, facilitation and aftercare.

It will be responsible for providing updated information on investment opportunities across sectors, in specific projects and in industrial corridors in particular.

The Government has also now set up a core group chaired by Cabinet Secretary on India-Japan Investment Promotion Partnership (IJIPP).

This core group will ensure that investments as envisaged in IJIPP are facilitated in various sectors and opportunities of investments and technology transfer are fully exploited.

Japan Plus team – set up by Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) – has representatives from the Indian Government and METI (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry), Japan.

Japan Plus will be coordinated by Kenichiro Toyofoku, an official from METI and comprise four Indians and two Japanese officials.

Bilateral pact The Indian tax authorities will soon sign a bilateral advance pricing agreement (APA) with their Japanese counterparts, said Revenue Secretary Shaktikanta Das.

This will send a strong signal about India’s commitment to reduce transfer pricing litigation and uncertainty in its tax systems.

This will be the first ever bilateral APA to be signed by India after it launched the programme in Budget 2012-13.

“The APA between the tax authorities of India and Japan have been finalised in respect of a Japanese company. It will be inked shortly,” Das said. However, he declined to name the company.

5 agreements The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has so far signed five unilateral APAs with different companies in India.

M Laxminarayanan, Managing Partner-Tax, Deloitte, Haskins & Sells, said that Japanese investments are going to come in a big way into India.

“If APA is decided between India and Japan in mutual interests, then it is one thing that will be behind them (Japanese investors). This is because transfer pricing is the biggest challenge multinational companies are facing in India,” he said.

Aseem Chawla, Partner, MPC Legal, a law-firm said that a bilateral APA involves a foreign revenue authority as a party to a contract agreeing that the transfer pricing methodology is correct.

“To avoid potential double taxation, it is ideal that an APA is concluded on a bilateral basis between competent authorities of two countries.”

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