Brief by Shorts91 Newsdesk / 08:01am on 11 Feb 2026,Wednesday India Global
The White House unintentionally included a reference to India’s digital services tax—often dubbed the “Google tax”—in its initial fact sheet on the India-US trade framework, suggesting India would remove it as part of the deal. The levy, a 6% equalisation tax on digital advertising by foreign companies, had already been abolished by India from April 1, 2025 under the Finance Bill 2025, long before the trade pact announcement. After realising the error, the White House deleted the mention from the revised document, now saying India will instead negotiate bilateral digital trade rules, aligning the fact sheet with agreed terms. (PC: AFP)
