SC Tiger Global ruling may have far-reaching impact on international tax jurisprudence

In a judgment delivered on 15 January 2026, the Supreme Court (SC) of India in case of Tiger Global ruled in favour of the Indian Revenue Authorities (IRA) and held that sale of shares of a Singapore-based company (which ultimately held shares of the Indian company) by Tiger Global (based in Mauritius) will be taxable in India.

- PRANAV SAYTA & BHARGAV SELARKA

Key aspects discussed by the apex court are as under:

A ‘Tax Residency Certificate’ (TRC) is not conclusive in establishing treaty eligibility and one needs to examine various other antecedent facts as well. This seems to revisit the longstanding SC judgement in case of Azadi Bachao Andolan and other circulars which supported the proposition that a TRC should be sufficient.

‘The SC has sought to invoke the GAAR provisions (as codified in the domestic tax law) and has ruled the sale of shares of a Singapore company as an ‘impermissible avoidance arrangement’. It must be noted that the view sought to be adopted by Tiger Global was that since the shares of the Singapore Company were acquired prior to 1 April 2017, they were grandfathered from the perspective of the GAAR provisions. The SC struck down this argument on the basis that although the shares were acquired prior to 1 April 2017, since the sale transaction had occurred in financial year 2018-19 (a year where the codified GAAR provisions were in force), GAAR provisions would be applicable.