India needs corporate tax in line with global levels: Finance Minister

New Delhi: India should have a tax on company profits that is more consistently applied than it is now and should bring down its effective rate to global levels, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Friday.

"We must remove discretion, phase out exemptions and bring the effective rate down to global levels," Jaitley told a news conference called to mark the first year of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government in power.

Jaitley's comments reiterated a budget commitment to cut the rate of corporate tax to 25 per cent from 30 per cent over the next four years, and represented an olive branch to foreign porfolio investors surprised by a slew of tax claims.

He also told reporters he hoped that the upper house of parliament would "soon" pass an enabling amendment that would make it possible to implement a new goods and services tax next April that would unify Asia's No.3 economy into a common market.