A recent Supreme Court ruling has put the process of how India taxes foreign investors in focus. The top court ruled in favour of the Income Tax Department by setting aside the Delhi High Court’s judgment quashing the tax demand of Tiger Global. 

Tiger Global ⁠and Indian tax authorities have been locked in a legal tussle over its 2018 stake sale in Flipkart to Walmart worth ₹14,440 crore $1.6 billion. The deal was part of the ‌U.S. retail company’s $16 billion acquisition of Flipkart that year.

Indian tax authorities ‍argued Tiger Global wrongly used the India-Mauritius tax avoidance treaty to not pay any tax on its profits, the investment firm argued it can do so as the treaty exempted such a transaction. The tax authorities say the Tiger Global Mauritius units served merely as a conduit for Tiger Global U.S., a description the investment ⁠firm says is incorrect.

The Supreme Court has been hearing the case since January 2025 and the ruling has raised wider questions about tax treaties, anti-avoidance rules, and how India balances tax fairness with investor confidence.

Guest: Vinod Joseph, Partner, Investment Funds practice at Economic Laws Practice 

Host: Nivedita V

Edited by Jude Weston

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