India Tax and Investment Treaties: Analysis and Trackers

This page brings together our analysis of India tax treaties, India’s investment treaties and the social security rules for foreign staff, as of 29 October 2026. It covers the India–Mauritius Protocol and its principal purpose test, the contested MLI test, the sunset dates of terminated investment treaties, the RAKIA judgment, and provident fund (PF) contributions for international workers. Each item below links to the piece that sets out the sources and the reasoning.

Key dates

Tax treaties

• India’s tax treaties compared: rates, anti-abuse rules, MFN and investment protection – dividend, interest, royalty and fee caps, the rule for gains on Indian shares, anti-abuse clauses, MFN status and investment-treaty end dates for 26 treaty partners, each tied to the article that decides it.
• Mauritius holding company after the 2026 Protocol: keep, fix, move or collapse – for operating groups and family offices, the four options for a Mauritius holding company and why the order of steps matters.
• Can India apply the MLI anti-abuse test to your treaty? – two Tribunal benches have held, for the India–Ireland treaty, that the MLI’s principal purpose test cannot be applied without a notification incorporating it into that treaty; as of 29 October 2026 we found no such notification for any treaty and no reported Revenue appeal.
• India–Mauritius DTAA 2026: what it means for Mauritius funds – Article 27B, the effective date, and relocating a Mauritius fund to GIFT IFSC on or before 31 March 2030.
• India–UAE tax treaty: a guide for businesses (2026) – who qualifies as a UAE resident, permanent establishment after Hyatt, the dividend, interest and royalty caps, MLI status and TRC and Form 41 documentation.
• Running an India business from Dubai: PE and POEM after Hyatt – whether a Dubai company has a fixed-place permanent establishment in India after Hyatt, and where it is resident under the place of effective management test and the treaty’s “wholly in UAE” requirement.
• Hyatt v ADIT: fixed-place PE without a fixed office – the Supreme Court’s 2025 ruling that a Dubai company had a fixed-place permanent establishment in Indian hotels without exclusive space, with the reasoning by paragraph and the open points.
• India–Singapore tax treaty: a guide for businesses – the dividend, interest, royalty and fee caps, the exemption for shares acquired before 1 April 2017 and the Article 24A test, and the Hareon and Fullerton rulings.
• India’s Gulf tax treaties: Qatar, Oman and Saudi Arabia – the new Qatar treaty applying from 1 April 2026, the Oman Protocol cutting royalties and technical fees to 10%, the Saudi treaty’s lack of a technical-fees article, and the Qatar investment-treaty tail ending on 23 March 2027.
• Where India still can’t tax your exit, and the MFN scorecard – which treaties still stop India taxing a direct sale of Indian shares, and why no most-favoured-nation clause lowers an Indian rate unless India has notified it.
• The sovereign wealth and pension fund exemption: what qualifies and the 31 March 2030 cut-off – the Schedule V test for sovereign wealth and pension funds, the five eligible investee types, the three-year hold, ADIA’s two routes and the 31 March 2030 cut-off.
• Sovereign and pension fund tax exemption in India: investing before 2030 – a summary for fund and sponsor CFOs of the infrastructure exemption for pension and sovereign funds, for money invested by 31 March 2030.

Investment treaties

On Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) dates, the first thirteen sunsets of terminated investment treaties end between 22 Mar and 5 Apr 2027. These dates are calculated from DEA records and each treaty’s survival clause, subject to the qualifications in the tracker. They are planning references, not definitive last dates.

• Which of India’s investment treaties still protect investors (tracker) – survival periods, sunset end dates and illustrative settlement-request dates, treaty by treaty, as recorded by DEA on 26 October 2026, with the treaties still in force.
• India–Mauritius BIT: treaty protection ends March 2027 – the sunset clause, the six-month step and the 2022 Joint Interpretative Statement.
• RAKIA v India: minority shareholders and the India–UAE BIT – the Court of Appeal ruling of 22 October 2026 on a claim based on a 12% shareholding, and the 2013 and 2024 India–UAE BITs compared.
• India bilateral investment treaty guide – how India’s treaties work and what protection still exists.

Social security for foreign staff

• International workers and PF: the High Court split – the Karnataka High Court struck down paragraph 83 of the EPF Scheme 1952 on 25 April 2024, the Delhi High Court upheld it on 4 November 2025, and the Supreme Court reportedly issued notice on 12 March 2026 in a further challenge, LG Electronics India Ltd v Union of India, with a reported direction that no final orders be passed in the s.7A proceedings against the petitioner.
• PF for foreign employees in India: what you pay depends on their passport – the EPF Scheme 2026, in force on publication in the Gazette dated 29 June 2026, and a corrigendum of 4 August 2026 under which international workers contribute on full wages with no ceiling.

Points still open as of 29 October 2026

• Whether a dispute that arose within the Mauritius BIT sunset period can be submitted after the sunset ends is a question of interpretation; the treaty text does not settle it. See India–Mauritius BIT: treaty protection ends March 2027.
• We found no treaty-specific MLI notification and no reported Revenue appeal on the Tribunal rulings. See Can India apply the MLI anti-abuse test to your treaty?
• We found no official guidance on withholding or treaty claims under the India–Mauritius DTAA made between 10 August and 13 October 2026. See India–Mauritius DTAA 2026: what it means for Mauritius funds.

This article is general information and not legal advice. The legal framework and its application change over time; please take advice on your specific circumstances.