US treasury secretary asks India to build steady tax regime

MUMBAI: India has to move quickly to capitalise on the global trend of large corporations wanting to diversify manufacturing away from China, United States Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin reportedly said Saturday.

Secretary Mnuchin met some industrialists at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai. One of the industrialists at the meeting told ET Magazine that Mnuchin said India should do “something right” to make the most of the situation . Among the things that Mnuchin reportedly would like to see is a consistent taxation regime and lower trade barriers.

The meeting with Mnuchin was attended by Chairman of Godrej Group Adi Godrej, Chairman of Mahindra Group Anand Mahindra and Chairman of RPG Enterprises Harsh Goenka.


According to Mnuchin, Goenka said, the view in the US government was that India should work towards becoming a $10 trillion economy, setting our collective target much higher than the $5 trillion that is talked about now.

He expressed some concerns on discriminations faced by international retailers operating in India and praised the electronic payment system that has developed in India. “The US seems to see the Indian economy with much more optimistic lenses than us,” Goenka said, and added that in Mnuchin’s views, the current slowdown was not much of a worry, as long as the growth gradient keeps moving upwards.