Retrospective tax a closed issue, no plan to legislate, assures Jaitley in US

Terming the controversial retrospective taxation regime a “legacy issue”, finance minister Arun Jaitley has assured US investors that the government does not intend to legislate retrospectively and is looking to put a “quietus” to the matter.[caption id="attachment_2303066" align="alignleft" width="380"] Reuters[/caption]The finance minister said the government has categorically made it clear that “we do not intend to legislate retrospectively. We do not intend that any fresh action under the old retrospective laws be taken.”“So for the future, this is a closed issue. And investors are quite appreciative of that. As far as past is concerned, it relates to only some individual companies and the issue is pending before some judicial or dispute redressal mechanism body,” he said. “And therefore, when I said we are looking for putting a quietus to this, I had in mind waiting for the expeditious disposal of that dispute.”Jaitley, who is on a nine-day visit to US, has held talks with senior American officials, including treasury secretary Jacob Lew, commerce secretary Penny Pritzker and US Trade Representative Michael Froman and met some top CEOs on a one-on-one basis and also collectively.