India issues mark-sheet for nationals investing abroad

The finance ministry on Saturday introduced new rules for sending income tax department investigators to newly created overseas units.

These include asking aspirants to obtain testimonials from their bosses and write a note on how they can help maximise revenue for the Indian government.

"The new terms and conditions for posting the tax officers were recently finalised after meetings between the finance and external affairs ministries in conjunction with the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT)," The Economic Times cited an unidentified source as saying.

According to the freshly revised selection criteria, the aspiring candidate, with a mandatory 15 years of service in the Indian Revenue Service (IRS), will be evaluated for 10 marks each in getting recommendations from two serving officers who were "immediate supervisory authority" anytime during their service and for writing a 1,000 word statement of purpose describing how his "knowledge, experience and commitment" will help in bolstering tax administration in the international context.

The applicant, who will have to go through a final interview by a panel headed by Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) chairperson, will be judged for a maximum of 40 marks for providing a brief bio-data of five of their "outstanding work" in the field of revenue administration.

The interview will carry 35 marks.

While two ITOUs are already there in Mauritius and Singapore, the eight new are all set to be fully operational at Indian missions in Cyprus, France, Germany, Netherlands, Japan, UAE, UK and USA.