INDIA is expected to levy a new tax on electricity consumption, with 66% of the money to go to local governments to finance regional power projects. The measure is espected to be in force by March 1999. The government is also expected to propose that the current policy of allowing a 10-year income tax holiday for private power projects be continued, but that a project have the ability to use the holiday at any time during the first 15 years after commecial operation. Meanwhile, the Authority for Advance Rulings in New Delhi ruled recently that a Dutch company doing business in India was subject to minimum tax. The company had a “permanent establishment” in India in the form of a project office through which it executed several dredging contracts. India has a minimum tax that requires companies to pay income taxes based on 30% of “book income” in situations where taxable income would be less. The ruling settled a controversy whether the minimum tax applies only to domestic companies or also to foreign companies.