Entities Operating In India Must Comply With Local Laws: UK Foreign Secretary Told After He Raises BBC Issue With EAM Jaishankar

United Kingdom Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, who is on a visit to India to attend G20 foreign ministers' meeting, reportedly raised the issue of income tax survey on BBC during his meeting with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

The Income Tax department had in February 2023 conducted survey on Delhi and Mumbai offices of BBC.

According to reports, the UK Foreign Secretary was 'firmly' told that told that all entities operating in India must comply fully with relevant laws and regulations.

After concluding the survey of BBC offices, the Income Tax department had said that the I-T teams have revealed "several discrepancies and inconsistencies with regard to Transfer Pricing documentation".

The I-T department said that during the surveys, it gathered several evidences pertaining to the operation of the organisation "which indicate that tax has not been paid on certain remittances which have not been disclosed as income in India by the foreign entities of the group".

"The survey revealed that despite substantial consumption of content in various Indian languages (apart from English), the income/profits shown by various group entities is not commensurate with the scale of operations in India," it said.