Sweden seeks simplified access to the Indian market

At the 18th session of India-Sweden joint commission for economic, industrial and scientific cooperation, the two delegations identified sectors such as telecommunications, sustainable urban transport and road safety, traditional medicine and food science technology as areas where potential for cooperation between the two countries. However, the Swedish side pushed for a favourable corporate tax and dividend repatriation regime for their companies present in India to have greater access to the market.

“We are discussing single-window for investments, which helps us to avoid reopening the same doors across different states. For some of us it is a crucial opportunity to simplify our access to the market. Another important area is the area of taxation. Corporate tax and dividend repatriation is very important for companies that invest heavily. There can be improvements in this area to allow some of us to bring back the profits through the investments we make. We’ve also discussed a few incentive mechanisms that can simplify the way of achieving this,” said Paolo Colella, Ericsson’s head of India region, and Swedish Chamber of Commerce India’s board member. Colella was speaking at the launch of Sweden-India Business Climate Survey.

An official government statement said that the deliberations at the meeting reviewed the current state of ongoing cooperation in fields such as trade and investment, micro small and medium enterprises, environment, education, health, renewable energy, among others.