In a major relief to Indian information technology (IT) companies operating in Australia, Canberra has agreed to amend its domestic laws to stop taxing offshore income of such Indian companies, as part of the free trade deal inked. This may lead to savings up to $200 million each year for over 100 Indian IT companies operating in Australia. "The Government of Australia has agreed to amend the domestic taxation law to stop the taxation of offshore income of Indian firms providing technical services to Australia. "This will resolve the issue that the Indian government has raised about the double taxation avoidance agreement (DTAA) between the two governments for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income," said a commerce ministry official.
Investment banking giant Goldman Sachs has named housing loan major HDFC among world's seven best companies from the financial services space to sustain a competitive advantage in the long term, alongside global giants like Standard Chartered, HSBC and Morgan Stanley.
National Australia Bank is one of the key customers Tech Mahindra executive vice-chairman Vineet Nayyar will be meeting next week. Nayyar will be in town to spread Satyam's new identity after it was renamed Mahindra Satyam, and try to regain its standing with the NAB and clients such as Qantas and Suncorp. Satyam continues to provide application development and IT maintenance services to the NAB.
Citigroup may sell its Australian retail broking unit as it consolidates its wealth management business in Hong Kong and Singapore to compete for customers against bigger private bank rivals. The US financial group is understood to be in talks over the possible sale of Citi Smith Barney Australia to National Australia Bank. It also plans to close its CSB branch in Taiwan and merge others in Singapore and Hong Kong with Citi Private Bank.
Leading Australian banks, including ANZ and St. George, are planning to send their back office jobs to India.
Adani's Carmichael project has been stuck in the approvals process for the past five years.
Australian business magnate Don Argus, who penned the landmark review of Australian cricket in 2011, has warned the team and its selectors that they must not be fooled into thinking the job is done despite the Ashes hosts revival.