Soomilduth Bholah, Mauritius' Minister of Financial Services and Good Governance, visited India to encourage Indian investors to utilise Mauritius as a gateway through which to access emerging African markets.
During an 'India Business Mission', from 14 to 23 March, which covered New Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai, Bholah emphasised that Mauritius was no longer a tax haven and that the Mauritius International Finance Centre had the expertise in African markets and urged Indian companies to set up offices in Mauritius for operations in Africa.
He said that Mauritius had signed the OECD Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting – known as the Multilateral Instrument or MLI – to address aggressive tax-reduction measures and structures.
The MLI seeks to preserve the role of bilateral income tax treaties in eliminating double taxation worldwide while combating opportunities for businesses to use treaties to eliminate all tax liability or to reduce tax rates to aggressively low levels.
To implement the OECD's minimum standards on harmful tax practices, Mauritius had also removed the deemed Foreign Tax Credit (FTC) regime for the Category 1 Global Business Licence and abolished the Category 2 Global Business Licence (GBC2).
"We are one of only four jurisdictions of the world that now meet all the international requirements on Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism," said Bholah. "We have a working relationship with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in India and various regulatory bodies in Asia and Africa.
Bholah also said that there was ample scope for deeper collaboration between the Mauritius and Indian business community. He added that the rise of Gujarat International Finance Tec-City, or GIFT city, in India was not a threat for Mauritius but an opportunity to collaborate. Mauritius could also act as a window to Africa for Indian investors.
"This is our forte, we have this Indian culture, we have Indian investors who have been collaborating with us and we have a foothold in Africa. This is where we are strong," he said. "We now want to be the gateway for Indian companies to Africa. Out of the 54 African countries, Mauritius has trade agreements with 34 that will ensure safety of funds invested in Africa," he said.
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