Bengaluru, Aug 18 (IANS): Eminent economists, industry leaders and experienced tax professionals launched International Tax Research and Analysis Foundation (ITRAF) here to execute research and analysis in international taxation.

ITRAF, launched on Monday, envisages to conduct extensive research on international tax regulations and benchmark them with global standards and practices to make recommendations to policy makers.

"There is a huge gap of fundamental data based analytical research in India. We (ITRAF) want to do in depth research using econometric methods, balance sheet method and so on for fundamental research," said Parthasarathi Shome, chairman, ITRAF.

ITRAF's objective include improving the international tax ecosystem, to be an independent and unbiased forum, provide thought leadership and focus on the economic implications of tax policies.

It approaches to study the efficacy of tax regulations and incentives, examining and suggesting measures for removing taxpayers' challenges among others.

"A progressive and consistent tax environment in line with global standards is essential for the success of key government initiative like Make in India, Innovation India, Digital India and Skill India," said Suresh Senapaty, ITRAF board member and finance committee head.