India Revamps Bilateral Investment Treaty for Investor Friendliness

New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday announced revamping of model Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) to make it investor-friendly.

Presenting the 14th consecutive Budget under the Narendra Modi government since 2014, Sitharaman also said Jan Vishwas Bill 2.0 will be introduced to decriminalise more than 100 offences with an aim to promote ease of doing business for industry.

She said that a revamped central KYC (know your customer) registry will be rolled out this year.

The finance minister added that the country's regulations must keep up with technological innovation and the Centre will update norms made under old laws.

Requirements and procedures for speedy approval for company mergers will be widened and process will be made simpler, the finance minister said.

Revamping of the model BIT assumes significance as few countries have accepted the existing model tax treaty, and most of the developed nations have expressed their reservations on the tax with regard to provisions like resolution of disputes.

These investment treaties help in protecting and promoting investments in each other's countries.

These pacts are important as India has earlier lost two international arbitration cases against British telecom giant Vodafone and Cairn Energy plc of the UK over the retrospective levy of taxes.