INTERVIEW: MR. BIPLUV JHINGAN, PARTNER, CYRIL AMARCHAND MANGALDAS

The RFMLR Editorial Board recently interviewed Mr. Bipluv Jhingan, Partner, Cyril Amarchand

Mangaldas.

1. What pivotal experiences in your legal career have played a crucial role in shaping the course of your professional journey?

Answer. For me, the experiences that have had the greatest impact on my professional growth are those I have gained over the last decade at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas. The responsibilities entrusted to me from an early stage, coupled with exposure to complex tax matters, accelerated my learning significantly and helped me develop both technical depth and practical judgment.

Working on cross-border transactions, international tax controversies, and large-scale structuring mandates taught me that effective tax advice is not only about being technically sound. It must also be practical, commercially viable, and capable of standing up to regulatory and judicial scrutiny. My experience in contentious matters further reinforced the importance of anticipating challenges, thinking several steps ahead, and evaluating issues from multiple perspectives.

Equally valuable has been the opportunity to work alongside exceptional colleagues and mentors. Looking back, it is this combination of responsibility, exposure to complex matters, and guidance from talented professionals that has most strongly shaped my career and professional outlook.

2. The Act introduces and extends targeted tax incentives across sectors such as financial markets, diamond trading, electronics manufacturing and data infrastructure for foreign companies. Do you see a broader policy direction behind these changes?

Answer. The Act does not merely provide broad-based tax reliefs and concessions; it deliberately seeks to incentivise sectors that are considered strategically important to India’s next phase of economic growth. Viewed collectively, these amendments reflect a broader policy objective of attracting investment into activities that generate wider economic benefits, including employment creation, technology transfer, infrastructure development, and deeper integration with global supply chains. The amendments also underscore the Government’s continued focus on enhancing tax certainty, fostering investor confidence, and improving the ease of doing business in India.  

3. Since the surcharge for SPVs opting for the concessional regime has increased from 10% to 25% under the new regime, while unit-holders have also been granted exemption for dividend income from business trusts like REITs and InvITs, do you believe that there is a link between the increase in surcharge and the exemption for the unit-holder? If so, could the higher surcharge have implications for the attractiveness of SPVs, particularly by affecting the dividends available for distribution to investors?

Answer. Yes, the two measures appear to be linked. A key objective of the amendment seems to be to facilitate the migration of special purpose vehicles (SPVs) of business trusts to the new corporate tax regime, particularly in light of the changes to the Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) framework, under which the utilisation of MAT credit is generally aligned with companies that opt for the new regime. In absence of an amendment, such a transition could have adversely affected investors by effectively removing the dividend exemption available at the unit-holder level.

The exemption therefore appears to have been introduced to preserve tax certainty and maintain the attractiveness of REITs and InvITs from an investor perspective. While the additional 15% surcharge, in turn, appears to be the mechanism through which the Government seeks to offset, at least in part, the revenue impact of extending this benefit. Hence, the amendments reflect an effort to encourage migration to the new tax regime without placing investors at a disadvantage, while simultaneously balancing the Government's revenue considerations.

4. In a structure where an Indian data centre provides support to a foreign company under a 15% safe harbour margin, while the foreign entity is exempted from tax on income from procuring such services, a tax asymmetry is evident. With the Act now removing the requirement to notify the foreign company and the data centre, and recognising lease-model ownership, could this framework inadvertently give global tech groups a blueprint to route costs and intellectual property overseas to minimize local tax? Also, how can tax authorities adjust transfer pricing rules to maintain balance?

Answer. The Government has introduced these amendments to make India a more attractive destination for data centre investments by aligning the tax framework with the commercial realities of the sector. The objective is to promote investment and ease of doing business, rather than to create a preferential regime that facilitates profit shifting.

That said, given the framework set out in the Act, questions around profit allocation are inevitable. The core issue is not the availability of the tax exemption itself, but whether the resulting transfer pricing outcomes appropriately reflect where economic value is created within the group.

In my view, the answer lies not in revisiting the incentive, but in ensuring robust transfer pricing oversight. Where the Indian data centre operator performs routine functions and assumes limited risks, a routine return may be justified. However, transfer pricing outcomes should continue to align profits with the functions performed, assets employed, and risks assumed by the relevant entities. The key challenge is to balance tax certainty and ease of doing business with the fundamental principle that profits should be taxed where the underlying economic substance and value creation reside.

5. Under the Taxation and Other Laws (Amendment) Act, 2026, FIIs and the Bank for International Settlements are exempted from tax on interest and capital gains from specified Government securities for income arising on or after 1 April 2026. While this is intended to deepen India's G-Sec market, could giving foreign institutional investors a tax advantage over domestic investors raise concerns about tax neutrality and equal treatment?

Answer. The Government has been clear that the objective of these amendments is to deepen the Government securities market, attract stable long-term foreign capital, enhance market liquidity and price discovery, and further integrate India's debt markets with global financial markets.

Hence, the exemption appears to be a targeted policy measure designed to advance specific capital-market objectives, rather than a broader statement on the taxation of investors generally. The question is whether the increased foreign participation, deeper market liquidity, and additional capital inflows generated by the exemption justify the resulting differential tax treatment. From a policy standpoint, the Government appears to have concluded that the broader economic benefits outweigh the potential concerns arising from that disparity.

6. What is your advice to young professionals and law students who aim to build a career in the field of Taxation Laws?

Answer. My advice to young professionals would be to focus on understanding how tax works, rather than simply learning tax laws. Tax statutes and regulations will continue to evolve, but the underlying principles of taxation, business, and economics remain largely constant. Building a strong foundation in these core concepts will help you adapt to legislative changes throughout your career.

At the same time, it is important not to view tax purely as a legal discipline. The most effective tax professionals are those who understand how businesses operate, how transactions are structured, and what commercial objectives clients are trying to achieve. I would also encourage gaining exposure to both advisory and controversy work. Advisory experience teaches you how to structure transactions and solve complex problems, while dispute-related work provides valuable insight into how those positions are scrutinized and challenged in practice.

Above all, be patient and remain curious. Developing expertise in tax is a long-term journey that takes years of continuous learning and experience. Invest in building technical knowledge, seek out strong mentors and communicate clearly.