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TRADE WARS
China's Alibaba plans to invest more in India
by Staff Writers
New Delhi (AFP) Nov 26, 2014


Microsoft says it pays Chinese taxes after cryptic media report
Beijing (AFP) Nov 26, 2014 - Software giant Microsoft said Wednesday that it pays Chinese taxes "consistent" with a China-US bilateral agreement, following a cryptic media report that a foreign company with similarities to it agreed to settle a multi-million dollar bill for back taxes.

The official Xinhua news agency, in a Chinese-language report published Sunday, said that a well-known US-based company -- long among the world's top 500 corporations and with operations in China -- had agreed to pay 840 million yuan ($136.9 million) in back taxes and interest over an unspecified period.

The report also said that the company agreed to pay additional taxes of more than 100 million yuan a year in the future. Xinhua said the tax calculation was based on current sales.

It did not identify the company by name, simply referring to it as "M Company."

That, as well as other identifiers such as the company having established a business in Beijing in 1995, led to foreign media speculation it was referring to Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft.

"The description matches, at least in part, that of U.S. software giant Microsoft, a Fortune 500 company that set up its Chinese subsidiary Microsoft (China) Co. in Beijing in 1995," Dow Jones Newswires reported.

Microsoft, in an emailed statement to AFP, said it could not confirm that it is the corporation mentioned by Xinhua.

But the company emphasised that it "adheres carefully to the laws and regulations" in all countries where it does business and that it cooperates with tax authorities to ensure it is compliant with local law.

It also said that in 2012 China and the United States agreed a "bilateral advanced pricing agreement with regards to Microsoft's operations in China".

The accord is "an acknowledgement by both countries that Microsoft's profits are subject to the appropriate tax in China", Microsoft said.

"While we cannot confirm that Microsoft is the company in question in a recent Xinhua report, China receives tax revenue from Microsoft consistent with the terms of the agreed advanced pricing agreement."

Microsoft has been facing a Chinese government investigation for alleged "monopoly actions" regarding products such as its flagship Windows operating system, used on the majority of computers in China.

Microsoft chief executive officer Satya Nadella visited China in September for the first time since taking up the post in February, in what Chinese state media portrayed as an attempt to appease regulators over the investigation.

Foreign companies in a range of industries have been investigated this year in sectors including pharmaceuticals, foods and automobiles over a range of issues including alleged anti-monopoly violations.

China's commerce ministry said earlier this year that anti-monopoly probes were meant to promote fair competition and protect consumer rights and did not discriminate between foreign and domestic companies.

E-commerce giant Alibaba's founder Jack Ma promised Wednesday to invest more in India where online sales are soaring, predicting that the Internet will transform the country's future.

Ma, on a whirlwind 48-hour trip with a nearly 100-member Chinese business delegation to India, has been scouting for investment opportunities to drive Alibaba's revenues following its record $25-billion initial public offer in September.

"We'll invest more in India, work with Indian entrepreneurs, India technology companies," the billionaire told a New Delhi business audience on his first visit to India since the IPO.

Ma, who founded China's biggest e-commerce company 15 years ago in his apartment with $60,000 collected from friends, divulged no figures for his Indian investment plans.

India's e-commerce sales totalled $2 billion last year -- a puny sum compared with China's $300 billion.

But Indian sales are expected to hit around $15 billion by 2016, according to analysts, thanks to an increasingly affluent middle class, rising Internet penetration and growing smartphone use.

Ma, regarded as an Internet visionary, hailed India's new tech-savvy Prime Minister Narendra Modi's commitment to making India a fully-connected business destination.

"As a businessman, I was inspired and moved," he said.

"I was a teacher earlier and the Internet changed my life and I absolutely agree India can be changed by the Internet too."

The 50-year-old executive chairman of Hangzhou-based Alibaba said India's burgeoning youth population would fuel the Internet's growth, adding: "The Internet is a business of young people."

There is huge scope for technological cooperation between India and China, and "a great opportunity for entrepreneurs" from the sometimes fractious neighbours, Ma said.

Speaking about broader strategy, Ma said of his company: "Over the next three years, one of the key strategies for Alibaba is to globalise... help more small businesses around the globe, use our services to do businesses."

But he's treading carefully, warning in the wake of Alibaba's successful IPO: "People think we are too good -- we can do anything. This is the most dangerous moment."

Ma's spokeswoman said he would participate "in a number of meetings with local businesses" in India, declining to give details.

Alibaba already has a small Indian market presence with a business-to-business sales start-up launched in 2010, while Indian merchants are the second biggest sellers on Alibaba after the Chinese.

Analysts expect Alibaba to expand in India's e-commerce market, possibly teaming up with Snapdeal, which bills itself as India's version of Alibaba.

Both Snapdeal and Alibaba allow online retailers to list wares from cooking oil to shoes and televisions.

Japan's SoftBank, Alibaba's largest shareholder with a one-third stake, last month became the biggest single investor in Snapdeal.

SoftBank pumped $627 million into Snapdeal, which has enjoyed explosive growth -- rising in just four years to become India's biggest e-commerce marketplace with 25 million users.


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