SJM is asking for a fee on electronic transmission, claiming that India will benefit
The World Trade Organization’s 12th ministerial session began on Sunday in Geneva, Switzerland, with Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) claiming that the tax on e-transmission will help India.
In e-transmission like downloading apps, movies, songs, or downloading OTT content. Earlier, e-transmission was very little but now it is very much. Today its turnover has crossed USD 30 billion. If the tariff is imposed on it in the WTO, then the country will benefit a lot.”
A delegation of Swadeshi Jagran Manch is also participating in the WTO meeting in Geneva. Ashwani Mahajan, National Co-Convener of the SJM, said, “Although there are many topics in this year’s WTO meeting, but imposing a tariff on e-transmission is in the great interest of our country.
He further said, “We also got the support of the Government of India in this demand. Even if 10 per cent is levied on USD 30 billion, we will get USD 3 billion in tax revenue. Those e-products will start manufacturing in the country and due to the manufacture of those products, employment will be created”.
Mahajan said that the revenue of the Government of India can be increased by collecting tax from all the tech companies whether it is Google or e-commerce companies but it is a big challenge. Further replying to what if things become expensive if tariffs are increased, he said, “We think things will get expensive if tariffs are increased but we have to think for the long term.
“We have prepared our documents in this regard and have also submitted to the government how we can take forward the progress of the country by brining tariff on e-transmission. We can move towards self-reliance in manufacturing of e-products,” he added.
We have imposed a 100 per cent tariff on our cars. The cars of India are the cheapest in the world, the reason is that it does not come from other countries because if it is imported from other countries then tariff is imposed on it and it may become costly. There is a kind of protection on the automobile business in our country, due to cars are cheap and are sold at cheap rates.”
Mahajan said that India has to take care of its interests on other matters as well. “The Government of India and South Africa together proposed in the WTO demanding patent rights on medicines, vaccines and other treatment equipment.
According to that proposal, it was demanded to give patent rights to India on medicines, vaccines and other treatment equipment which are with foreign companies. To revoke those patent rights for some time so that the common people could get cheap medicines, after a long-running struggle, the US agreed to remove the patent on the vaccine,” he said. He said that the countries like the US and the European Union have recognized that they will make the vaccine patent-free.
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