The Centre has changed the income tax law to allow income arising from the transfer of investments made prior to April 1, 2017, to be outside the ambit of GAAR, easing concerns among global investors after a landmark Supreme Court judgment in the Tiger Global case raised the spectre of retrospective scrutiny. The apex court ruling in January said Tiger Global must pay taxes on its $1.6 billion sale of a stake in Flipkart in 2018. The judges said Tiger Global used its Mauritius units only as “conduits”, and no benefit under an international treaty for pre-2017 investments would apply. Niranjan Govindekar, partner, corporate tax, tax & regulatory Services at BDO India, observed that while protection to pre-2017 investments is provided, the protection has been spelt out only for transfer of investment. “The income other than capital gains from the transfer of such investments could be subject to GAAR scrutiny, such as dividend income,” he observed.

Source: The Telegraph April 02, 2026 04:52 UTC