Upper House passes law scrapping retrospective taxation amid walkout

Parliament on Monday approved a Bill scrapping the controversial and contentious law brought in by the UPA in 2012 to tax companies retrospectively. The Taxation Laws (Amendment) Bill, which got Lok Sabha’s nod last week, was passed by Rajya Sabha through voice vote.

But passage of the Bill was marred by a walkout by the entire Opposition, a move that drew scathing criticism from Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

The Bill proposes to amend the Income Tax Act, 1961, to effectively end all retrospective taxation imposed on indirect transfer of Indian assets if the transaction was undertaken before May 28, 2012. Sitharaman hoped the law will be “appealing enough” to foreign investors since it puts an end to the “ghost which we have been carrying…from 2012”.