NEW DELHI (Reuters) -India plans to abolish a 6% equalisation levy on online services, including advertising, that affects U.S. tech giants such as Alphabet’s Google, Meta and Amazon, as part of amendments to the Finance Bill 2025, a government source familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.
The parliament is expected to approve the amendments in the bill this week.
The move comes as New Delhi seeks to address concerns raised by Washington, after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose reciprocal tariffs from April 2 on trading partners, including India, raising alarms among exporters.
A U.S. delegation led by Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for South and Central Asia Brendan Lynch is visiting India this week for talks with Indian officials.
While Washington has been more critical of India’s separate 2% digital services tax, the decision to scrap the 6% levy signals an attempt to ease trade tensions, said Amit Maheshwari, tax partner at AKM Global.
(Reporting by Aftab Ahmed; Writing by Manoj Kumar; Editing by Sonia Cheema and Savio D’Souza)
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