washington a top indiacentric american business advocacy group has suggested finance minister nirmala sitharaman to lower tariff in the union budget if the country wants to compete with chinabacked mega free trade agreement regional comprehensive economic partnership rcepchina and 14 other countries in november last year established the worlds largest trading bloc that represents roughly 30 per cent of the worlds gdp and populationindia walked out of the mega free trade agreement as negotiations failed to address new delhis outstanding issues and concernsthe members of rcep are 10nation bloc asean indonesia malaysia the philippines singapore thailand brunei vietnam laos myanmar and cambodia china japan south korea australia and new zealandif india can focus on a much more predictable environment from a policy framework it will give more confidence to the investors bringing a sense of transparency in policy making also sends a very positive signal and if india is going to be competing especially with the rcep then it has to look at lowering its tariff mukesh aghi president of us india strategic and partnership forum usispf told ptipointing that in the last 12 months tariffs in india have been going up and up he said what it does is yes it protects a local industry but it doesnt make them competitive so it is important to protect the local industry but at the same time it is important to make them more competent intervals lowering of tariff is importantin a recent submission to the union finance minister usispf recommended specific measures to improve direct and indirect tax collection which will promote private investment and ensure fiscal and monetary stabilityon the direct taxation side we recommend specific amendments to facilitate activity in the digital economy reduce tax and depreciation rates to boost investment clarify carryforward and lossoffset rules and streamline regulations related to withholding tax indirect transfer and dispute resolution usispf saidfor indirect taxes we recommend amendments to address challenges with deferred duty payments simplify various processes and procedures and align customs regulations more closely with actual industry practices together these changes will free up muchneeded investment capital make it easier for companies to manage their tax liabilities and provide a needed boost to the economic activity during the next fiscal year it addedto increase msme access to finance in india usispf has recommended specific steps to promote supplychain financing subsidise the insurance of msme loans improve the assessment of msme credit risk and loan disbursement and facilitate faster settlement of claims between healthcare providers and insurerswe have recommended that the midsize public banks should be privatised if you want large institutional investment to come in then the clause you have management control and board control lies with the indian partner has to be removed aghi saidbecause american corporate boards will not approve an investment if it goes in india and they dont have a management or board control over those investment recognising that the pandemic has accelerated digitisation of large swathes of the economy we recommend the government ensure