Corporate tax avoidance cost India over Rs 2.6 lakh crore in 2013, Oxfam says

Oxfam India says that India lost $41.17 billion (Rs 2,62,900 crore) from tax avoidance by corporates in 2013 alone. 

Oxfam has released a hard-hitting film to bring home the human impact of tax-dodging by multinational companies in poor countries, it said, adding, "If ‘corporate tax avoidance’ could be checked, government of India could have collected additional 2.34% of GDP or Rs 2,62,900 crore in 2013-14. This amount is more than sufficient to achieve 3 per cent of GDP on health and also to achieve universal health coverage."

Poor countries are twice as dependent as rich countries on corporate tax revenue as a proportion of the money they have available for healthcare expenditure. There is evidence to show that when poor countries increase their tax revenue – in particular from corporate and income tax – they spend more on healthcare, leading to healthier populations, it said.