'Closely monitoring reports of tax surveys at BBC offices in India': UK government sources

The UK is "closely monitoring" the situation following the Income Tax surveys at the BBC offices in India, British government sources here said today.

The Income Tax department conducted survey operations at the BBC's offices in Delhi and Mumbai on Tuesday with the officials describing the action as part of an investigation into alleged tax evasion.

Reacting to the Indian IT department's action, the UK-based British public broadcaster said that it was "fully cooperating" with the authorities and hoped that the situation will be resolved "as soon as possible".

While there has been no official statement from the UK government related to the action, British sources said they are "closely monitoring" reports of tax surveys conducted at the offices of the BBC in India.

In New Delhi, officials said the survey was being carried out to investigate issues related to international taxation and transfer pricing of BBC subsidiary companies, and alleged that the BBC had been served with notices in the past but was "defiant and non-compliant" and had significantly diverted its profits.

The IT action against the BBC comes weeks after the broadcaster aired a controversial two-part documentary -"India: The Modi Question"- on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and 2002 Gujarat riots.

"The Income Tax Authorities are currently at the BBC offices in New Delhi and Mumbai and we are fully cooperating," a BBC spokesperson said in a statement.

"We hope to have this situation resolved as soon as possible," the spokesperson said.

The BBC did not give further details of what has been described as "surveys" by the Income Tax (IT) department, which reportedly involved local BBC staff being prevented from leaving or entering the office premises and their mobile phones and other gadgets being seized.