Global lobbying groups call for delay to India’s new digital tax

NEW DELHI: Nine lobbying groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have urged India to delay a new digital tax that will hit firms such as Facebook and Google as they are battling the fallout of the coronavirus, a letter seen by Reuters showed.

From April 1 India imposed a new 2% tax on foreign billings, or transactions where companies take payment abroad for digital services provided in India. The tax also applies to foreign e-commerce transactions on sites such as Amazon.com.

The tax, inserted into budget amendments passed in March, caught the industry off guard as it was not part of the main proposals India’s finance ministry had presented in parliament a month earlier.