India to cut corporate tax to 25% over four years

Mumbai: India will reduce tax on businesses to 25 percent over four years from a current 30 percent, with a view to boosting spending and job creation, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Saturday, when presenting the government`s full-year budget.

India`s corporate tax of 33.99 percent, including various surcharges over the base rate, was higher than Asia`s average corporate tax rate of 21.91 percent in 2014, and a global average of 23.64 percent, according to consultant KPMG.

Some local companies had hoped that the budget would reduce their tax liabilities to help them kickstart investments badly hit by the Indian economic slowdown in the last couple of years.