The Evening Wrap: Income Tax department conducts ‘survey’ on BBC offices

The Income Tax Department on February 14 conducted a survey on offices of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in Delhi and Mumbai. The move came weeks after the BBC released a two-part documentary titled “India: the Modi Question” pertaining to the 2002 riots. Government sources said the BBC was being investigated over a “charge of deliberate non-compliance with Indian laws including transfer pricing rules and diversion of profits illegally”. The ruling BJP, holding a presser within minutes of the news of the “survey” breaking, termed the move as “lawful”, stating that “some sections can’t digest India’s growing heft on the world stage.” Reacting to the development, a BBC spokesperson said: “The Income Tax Authorities are currently at the BBC offices in New Delhi and Mumbai and we are fully cooperating. We hope to have this situation resolved as soon as possible.” The British High Commission did not offer a formal response. Sources said that the U.K. government was “closely monitoring” the reports of tax surveys conducted at the offices of the BBC in India. The BBC is a public corporation that is a part of the U.K. Department for Culture, Media and Sport. BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia addressed a presser at the BJP’s headquarters in New Delhi and said that “any media organisation functioning in India will have to follow the rules and regulations of the country,” and accused the BBC of propaganda, adding that it was on the same lines as the opposition Congress’ agenda. “The BBC has become the most ‘Bhrasht Bakwaas Corporation’ in the world. Unfortunately, BBC’s propaganda and Congress’ agenda are on the same lines. Today, India is attaining great heights under PM Modi’s leadership and some sections do not like this. The BBC has all rights to do journalism in India, but they will have to abide by the law of the land,” Bhatia said. Government sources meanwhile said that the key focus of the surveys was to look into “manipulation of prices for unauthorised benefits, including tax advantages”, adding that “these surveys have been undertaken due to BBC’s persistent non-compliance of the norms, making it a repeat offender.” Listing the alleged irregularities, the source said the BBC was “non-compliant under transfer pricing rules; persistent and deliberate violative of transfer pricing norms; and deliberately diverted significant amount of the profits and have not followed the arm’s length arrangement in the case of allocation of profit”. Compared to “search”, a “survey” exercise is limited in its scope as the agency visits commercial premises of an assessee usually during the office hours, can only impound transaction records for scrutiny and seek clarifications from the functionaries concerned. The Income-Tax Department draws the power of “survey” under Section 133A of the Income-Tax Act. As the “survey” was taking place, Bhatia gave instances when the BBC had allegedly insulted Indian sentiments. “In one of its programmes, the BBC referred to a terrorist operating in Kashmir (slain LeT commander Burhaan Wani) as a charismatic young revolutionary. What kind of journalism is this? You (BBC) are working in India but trying to sabotage our Constitution. In another report, it said Holi is a ‘filthy’ festival. What do you (BBC) know about our festivals? In another report, they insulted our icons saying that Mahatma Gandhi failed to liberate India in 1946,” Bhatia said. He further attacked the Congress citing the ban on BBC imposed by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. “BBC should also remember what UK’s longest serving Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said about them. She said the BBC is ‘Bolshevik Broadcasting Corporation’. Also, the Congress should remember that Indira Gandhi, too, had put a ban on the BBC. India is a country that provides opportunities to every organisation to work under its laws, provided they don’t have a hidden agenda and are not spewing venom against the country,” Bhatia added. The Congress termed as “intimidation tactics” the Income Tax survey operation at the BBC offices and alleged that the action shows that the Modi government is scared of criticism. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said that while the party is demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe on the Adani issue, the “government is after the BBC”. He also used a Hindi idiom to attack the government, saying “Vinash Kale, Vipreet Buddhi” (When doom approaches, a person’s intellect works against his interest). Air India to buy 250 planes from Airbus, 220 from Boeing Tata Group-owned Air India said it will buy a total of 470 wide-body and narrow-body planes from Airbus and Boeing as the airline expands its operations. “The order comprises 40 Airbus A350s, 20 Boeing 787s and 10 Boeing 777-9s wide-body aircraft, as well as 210 Airbus A320/321 Neos and 190 Boeing 737 MAX single-aisle aircraft. The A350 aircraft will be powered by Rolls-Royce engines, and the B777/787s by engines from GE Aerospace. All single-aisle aircraft will be powered by engines from CFM International,” the airline said in a statement. The Airbus deal was signed in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emanuel Macron. The order includes 40 wide-body A350s and 210 Airbus narrow-body aircraft. During a virtual event, Chandrasekaran said a letter of intent has been signed with Airbus for the acquisition of the aircraft. The wide-body aircraft will be used for ultra-long flights. This is the first time in more than 17 years that Air India has placed an aircraft order. It is also the first order placed by the carrier under the ownership of Tata Group. Tata Group acquired Air India in January last year. Air India, earlier under the ownership of the government, had acquired new aircraft more than 17 years ago. The airline’s last order was for 111 planes — 68 from Boeing and 43 from Airbus — and that deal was worth $10.8 billion. The order was placed in 2005. On January 27, when the Tata Group completed the first year of taking over Air India, the airline said it was “finalising a historic order of new aircraft to power future growth.” Meanwhile, Air India will also purchase 220 planes from Boeing for $34 billion, with an option to buy 70 more aircraft that could take the total transaction value to $45.9 billion, a deal that U.S. President Joe Biden described as a “historic agreement”. While announcing the Boeing-Air India deal, Biden also asserted that together with PM Modi, he was looking forward to deepen the ties between India and the U.S. As per an announcement from the White House, Boeing and Air India have reached an agreement under which the airline will purchase 190 B737 MAX, 20 B787, and 10 B777X for a total of 220 firm order valued at $34 billion at list price. The deal will also include customer options for an additional 50 Boeing 737 MAX and 20 Boeing 787, totalling 290 airplanes for a total of $45.9 billion at list price. “I am proud to announce today the purchase of over 200 American-made aircraft through a historic agreement between Air India and Boeing,” Biden said. The Air India order is Boeing’s third biggest sale ever in dollar value and second in terms of number of planes. If there is nothing to hide, why is government running from JPC probe into Adani issue: Congress The Centre is “running away” from a JPC probe into the Adani-Hindenburg issue, the Congress alleged on Tuesday and said the government should allow the investigation if it has nothing to hide. The Congress’ attack on the government came after Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s remarks that there is nothing for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to hide or be afraid of in the matter. Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters in New Delhi, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said he has written to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das and Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) chief Madhabi Puri Buch for an impartial probe into allegations against the Adani Group. Reacting to Shah’s reported remarks, Ramesh said, “If they do not have anything to hide, why are they running away from a Joint Parliamentary Committee (probe).” “They do not even allow us to raise the demand of JPC in Parliament. When our leaders, including party president Mallikarjun Kharge ji, raised the demand for JPC, their remarks were expunged,” Ramesh said. If there is nothing to hide, the government should allow a JPC, he stressed. Nikki Haley launches 2024 U.S. presidential bid Prominent Indian-American politician Nikki Haley launched her presidential campaign on Tuesday, becoming the first Republican to challenge former U.S. President Donald Trump in his 2024 bid for the White House. Haley, 51, is the two-term Governor of South Carolina and the former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. “I’m Nikki Haley, and I’m running for President,” she announced in a video message. “It’s time for a new generation of leadership – to rediscover fiscal responsibility, secure our border, and strengthen our country, our pride and our purpose. Some people look at America and see vulnerability. The socialist left sees an opportunity to rewrite history,” she said. Identifying herself as proud daughter of Indian immigrants, Haley talks about growing up in Bamberg, South Carolina and how it shaped her belief in a strong and proud America. “We turned away from fear toward God and the values that still make our country the freest and greatest in the world. We must turn in that direction again,” she said. Casting herself as a younger, fresher alternative to Trump, Haley had been hinting at a White House bid for weeks. Her formal declaration means she will be the first contender to join the contest against her former 76-year-old boss Trump, who announced his third bid for the White House late last year. In Brief: India’s wholesale price inflation cooled further in January to a two-year low of 4.73% from 4.95% in December, thanks to a slight decline in manufactured products’ price rise as well as fuel and power inflation, even as the pace of inflation in food and primary articles hardened sequentially. January marks the eighth successive month of sequential moderation in the wholesale inflation, since it peaked at 16.63% in May 2022. The moderation was helped in no small measure by base effects as January 2022 had recorded a 13.7% surge in wholesale prices. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [logo] The Evening Wrap 14 FEBRUARY 2023 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [[Arrow]Open in browser]( [[Mail icon]More newsletters]( Income Tax department conducts ‘survey’ on BBC offices, BJP says all need to follow Indian law while here The [Income Tax Department on February 14 conducted a survey on offices of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)]( in Delhi and Mumbai. The move came weeks after the BBC released a two-part documentary titled “India: the Modi Question” pertaining to the 2002 riots. Government sources said the BBC was being investigated over a “charge of deliberate non-compliance with Indian laws including transfer pricing rules and diversion of profits illegally”. The ruling BJP, holding a presser within minutes of the news of the “survey” breaking, termed the move as “lawful”, stating that “some sections can’t digest India’s growing heft on the world stage.” Reacting to the development, a BBC spokesperson said: “The Income Tax Authorities are currently at the BBC offices in New Delhi and Mumbai and we are fully cooperating. We hope to have this situation resolved as soon as possible.” The British High Commission did not offer a formal response. Sources said that the U.K. government was “closely monitoring” the reports of tax surveys conducted at the offices of the BBC in India. The BBC is a public corporation that is a part of the U.K. Department for Culture, Media and Sport. BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia addressed a presser at the BJP’s headquarters in New Delhi and said that “any media organisation functioning in India will have to follow the rules and regulations of the country,” and accused the BBC of propaganda, adding that it was on the same lines as the opposition Congress’ agenda. “The BBC has become the most ‘Bhrasht Bakwaas Corporation’ in the world. Unfortunately, BBC’s propaganda and Congress’ agenda are on the same lines. Today, India is attaining great heights under PM Modi’s leadership and some sections do not like this. The BBC has all rights to do journalism in India, but they will have to abide by the law of the land,” Bhatia said. Government sources meanwhile said that the key focus of the surveys was to look into “manipulation of prices for unauthorised benefits, including tax advantages”, adding that “these surveys have been undertaken due to BBC’s persistent non-compliance of the norms, making it a repeat offender.” Listing the alleged irregularities, the source said the BBC was “non-compliant under transfer pricing rules; persistent and deliberate violative of transfer pricing norms; and deliberately diverted significant amount of the profits and have not followed the arm’s length arrangement in the case of allocation of profit”. Compared to “search”, a “survey” exercise is limited in its scope as the agency visits commercial premises of an assessee usually during the office hours, can only impound transaction records for scrutiny and seek clarifications from the functionaries concerned. The Income-Tax Department draws the power of “survey” under Section 133A of the Income-Tax Act. As the “survey” was taking place, Bhatia gave instances when the BBC had allegedly insulted Indian sentiments. “In one of its programmes, the BBC referred to a terrorist operating in Kashmir (slain LeT commander Burhaan Wani) as a charismatic young revolutionary. What kind of journalism is this? You (BBC) are working in India but trying to sabotage our Constitution. In another report, it said Holi is a ‘filthy’ festival. What do you (BBC) know about our festivals? In another report, they insulted our icons saying that Mahatma Gandhi failed to liberate India in 1946,” Bhatia said. He further attacked the Congress citing the ban on BBC imposed by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. “BBC should also remember what UK’s longest serving Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said about them. She said the BBC is ‘Bolshevik Broadcasting Corporation’. Also, the Congress should remember that Indira Gandhi, too, had put a ban on the BBC. India is a country that provides opportunities to every organisation to work under its laws, provided they don’t have a hidden agenda and are not spewing venom against the country,” Bhatia added. The Congress termed as “intimidation tactics” the Income Tax survey operation at the BBC offices and alleged that the action shows that the Modi government is scared of criticism. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said that while the party is demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe on the Adani issue, the “government is after the BBC”. He also used a Hindi idiom to attack the government, saying “Vinash Kale, Vipreet Buddhi” (When doom approaches, a person’s intellect works against his interest). Air India to buy 250 planes from Airbus, 220 from Boeing Tata Group-owned Air India said it will [buy a total of 470 wide-body and narrow-body planes from Airbus and Boeing]( as the airline expands its operations. “The order comprises 40 Airbus A350s, 20 Boeing 787s and 10 Boeing 777-9s wide-body aircraft, as well as 210 Airbus A320/321 Neos and 190 Boeing 737 MAX single-aisle aircraft. The A350 aircraft will be powered by Rolls-Royce engines, and the B777/787s by engines from GE Aerospace. All single-aisle aircraft will be powered by engines from CFM International,” the airline said in a statement. The Airbus deal was signed in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emanuel Macron. The order includes 40 wide-body A350s and 210 Airbus narrow-body aircraft. During a virtual event, Chandrasekaran said a letter of intent has been signed with Airbus for the acquisition of the aircraft. The wide-body aircraft will be used for ultra-long flights. This is the first time in more than 17 years that Air India has placed an aircraft order. It is also the first order placed by the carrier under the ownership of Tata Group. Tata Group acquired Air India in January last year. Air India, earlier under the ownership of the government, had acquired new aircraft more than 17 years ago. The airline’s last order was for 111 planes — 68 from Boeing and 43 from Airbus — and that deal was worth $10.8 billion. The order was placed in 2005. On January 27, when the Tata Group completed the first year of taking over Air India, the airline said it was “finalising a historic order of new aircraft to power future growth.” Meanwhile, Air India will also purchase 220 planes from Boeing for $34 billion, with an option to buy 70 more aircraft that could take the total transaction value to $45.9 billion, a deal that U.S. President Joe Biden described as a “historic agreement”. While announcing the Boeing-Air India deal, Biden also asserted that together with PM Modi, he was looking forward to deepen the ties between India and the U.S. As per an announcement from the White House, Boeing and Air India have reached an agreement under which the airline will purchase 190 B737 MAX, 20 B787, and 10 B777X for a total of 220 firm order valued at $34 billion at list price. The deal will also include customer options for an additional 50 Boeing 737 MAX and 20 Boeing 787, totalling 290 airplanes for a total of $45.9 billion at list price. “I am proud to announce today the purchase of over 200 American-made aircraft through a historic agreement between Air India and Boeing,” Biden said. The Air India order is Boeing’s third biggest sale ever in dollar value and second in terms of number of planes. If there is nothing to hide, why is government running from JPC probe into Adani issue: Congress The Centre is “running away” from a JPC probe into the Adani-Hindenburg issue, [the Congress alleged]( on Tuesday and said the government should allow the investigation if it has nothing to hide. The Congress’ attack on the government came after Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s remarks that there is nothing for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to hide or be afraid of in the matter. Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters in New Delhi, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said he has written to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das and Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) chief Madhabi Puri Buch for an impartial probe into allegations against the Adani Group. Reacting to Shah’s reported remarks, Ramesh said, “If they do not have anything to hide, why are they running away from a Joint Parliamentary Committee (probe).” “They do not even allow us to raise the demand of JPC in Parliament. When our leaders, including party president Mallikarjun Kharge ji, raised the demand for JPC, their remarks were expunged,” Ramesh said. If there is nothing to hide, the government should allow a JPC, he stressed. Nikki Haley launches 2024 U.S. presidential bid Prominent Indian-American politician [Nikki Haley launched her presidential campaign]( on Tuesday, becoming the first Republican to challenge former U.S. President Donald Trump in his 2024 bid for the White House. Haley, 51, is the two-term Governor of South Carolina and the former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. “I’m Nikki Haley, and I’m running for President,” she announced in a video message. “It’s time for a new generation of leadership – to rediscover fiscal responsibility, secure our border, and strengthen our country, our pride and our purpose. Some people look at America and see vulnerability. The socialist left sees an opportunity to rewrite history,” she said. Identifying herself as proud daughter of Indian immigrants, Haley talks about growing up in Bamberg, South Carolina and how it shaped her belief in a strong and proud America. “We turned away from fear toward God and the values that still make our country the freest and greatest in the world. We must turn in that direction again,” she said. Casting herself as a younger, fresher alternative to Trump, Haley had been hinting at a White House bid for weeks. Her formal declaration means she will be the first contender to join the contest against her former 76-year-old boss Trump, who announced his third bid for the White House late last year. In Brief: [India’s wholesale price inflation cooled]( further in January to a two-year low of 4.73% from 4.95% in December, thanks to a slight decline in manufactured products’ price rise as well as fuel and power inflation, even as the pace of inflation in food and primary articles hardened sequentially. January marks the eighth successive month of sequential moderation in the wholesale inflation, since it peaked at 16.63% in May 2022. The moderation was helped in no small measure by base effects as January 2022 had recorded a 13.7% surge in wholesale prices. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. First Day First Show Stay up-to-date on all things cinema with the "First Day First Show" cinema & entertainment newsletter. 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