NEW DELHI, India—Indian cellular operators have demanded immediate removal of cellular-phone ownership as a criterion for mandatory filing of income-tax returns, saying it is discriminatory.
The move led to a fall in new subscriptions during April.
Under a new scheme, the Finance Ministry made it mandatory for all cell-phone users to file income tax returns. Other criteria under the scheme include ownership of a house, credit card and a foreign trip. Earlier, ownership of a fixed phone too was included in this scheme, but has been withdrawn following protests.
Exempting cell-phone users from the new drive to mop up income tax would greatly benefit the disadvantaged sections of society and help in meeting the objective of increasing the teledensity among less affluent, semi-urban and rural populations, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) said in a letter to Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha.
“We are concerned to note that besides the fixed-line phones, even WLL (wireless local loop) mobiles have been removed from the income-tax scheme for filing returns, while cell-phone users have been retained under the scheme,” COAI said.
