TIGER GLOBAL RULING DENTS INDIA’S PITCH FOR TAX CERTAINTY

THE Supreme Court's verdict in the Tiger Global case marks an important shift in India’s tax and investment jurisprudence.

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By siding with the tax department and denying treaty benefits to Tiger Global’s Mauritius-based entities on capital gains from the 2018 sale of unlisted Flipkart shares, the court has decisively reinforced a substance-over-form approach to cross-border investments.

The ruling makes it clear that possession of a tax residency certificate and compliance with limitation-of-benefits provisions, though necessary, do not by themselves guarantee protection under a tax treaty. Tax authorities, the court held, are entitled to examine whether an offshore structure has genuine commercial substance or is merely a conduit designed to avoid tax. This substantially widens the scope for scrutiny of fund structures that have Jong been used by foreign investors routing capital into India.