But if controls don't necessarily stop Indian multinationals raising money, they do stop India's financial system from meeting these firms' requirements.

ECONOMIST: India is caught in two minds about financial globalisation

They favor a narrower bill focused on helping domestic manufacturers and argue that multinationals moving jobs overseas shouldn't be rewarded with tax relief.

FORBES: Unfinished Corporate Tax Business

No wonder that, of the multinationals surveyed last year by A.T.

ECONOMIST: Infatuation��s end

New lip balm offerings followed, along with new market opportunities such as the U.S. "We don't have hundreds of millions to spend in advertising, but multinationals are not always the drivers of innovation, " he crows.

FORBES: On The Cover/Top Stories

Mr Osborne's corporate tax policy is however vulnerable to a more fundamental criticism, that it doesn't face up to the fiscal reality of a global economy dominated by multinationals, which is that trying to force them to pay tax in a particular country is like endeavouring to squeeze a giant blancmange into a small box: the more you try, the bigger the leaks.

BBC: What's a fair contribution from multinationals?