BBC in hands of people with an agenda on India, says Hardeep Singh Puri; flays opposition

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is in the firing line of the government once again after it admitted to having underreported its earnings in India. Taking on the UK-funded news organisation, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday (June 6) stated that the BBC is in the hands of people with an agenda on India while refuting the charges that India lacks freedom of press.

“Our laws are very transparent. If someone is not paying tax and we send notice to them, then they say, it is an issue of freedom of the press. I would not like to go into details but some of their actions in the past made it seem that they were in the hands of people with an agenda on India,” said Puri, hitting out at BBC’s allegation of the freedom of the press after the Income Tax department raided BBC offices in the country in February 2023.

The Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs was speaking to the media in Jammu and Kashmir where he was on a two-day visit to evaluate the implementation of a development project. He also berated the opposition parties for their attack following the I-T surveys at the BBC offices. Taking a jibe at Opposition leaders, he said some “intellectuals and misguided” people in the country start condemning them without knowing the facts.

Notably, the BBC came under the scrutiny of Indian tax agencies after the latter acquired evidence about the British broadcaster’s operations indicating that due taxes had not been paid on some transfers that were not disclosed as income in India by foreign entities of the group. Additionally, a number of discrepancies and inconsistencies with reference to the Transfer Pricing documents were discovered during the I-T officials' inquiry.

The British broadcaster had acknowledged on June 6 that the business had understated its income in India over the previous three years and would have paid less taxes than it was required to. To settle its liabilities, the corporation will now file the updated returns and any outstanding fees, fines, or interest.

BBC fully cooperating with Indian tax authorities

In response to a query by Republic TV on tax evasion, the BBC stated that it is "fully cooperating" with the Indian tax authorities. The broadcaster, which is funded by the UK government, responded to Republic's inquiry after the latter apparently acknowledged having paid less in taxes than what it owed.

"The BBC is cooperating fully with the Indian tax authorities' enquiries and will continue to do so. The process is ongoing and will take time to conclude. The BBC of course takes its tax obligations very seriously,” said the British broadcast while responding exclusively to Republic.