Completed Project

India in International Tax Negotiations

The time in which international tax standards used to be determined by “rich” OECD countries alone is over, as large emerging markets have started exercising more influence in multilateral negotiations. What does this mean for the international tax system? Will there be a disruption of long-standing rules or more incremental change?

Building on earlier work on China and its engagement with international tax negotiations, this project looks at the case of India as another emerging country. Specifically, it examines India’s objectives and strategies in international tax negotiations since 2008, with the aim of addressing the following research questions:

  1. How have India’s positions in international tax negotiations evolved over time?
  2. How can we explain the formation of India’s preferences in international tax negotiations.

The study largely draws on interviews with Indian government officials and others who have participated in or observed international tax negotiations. ICTD researchers Martin Hearson and Frederik Heitmüller, working with Suranjali Tandon (National Institute of Public Finance and Policy), likewise utilised policy documents, industry media commentary, and data from ICTD’s Tax Treaties Explorer to guide, supplement, and triangulate the interviews. They have also have conducted scoping work in archives, looking at historical information on bilateral negotiations and on India’s role at the OECD.

 

Researchers

Martin Hearson

Martin Hearson is a Research Fellow at IDS, Research Director of the ICTD and the International Tax programme lead. His research focuses on the politics of international business taxation, and in particular the relationship between developed and developing countries. Before joining ICTD, Martin was a fellow in international political economy at the London School of Economics and Political Science, teaching courses on political economy and global financial governance.

Frederik Heitmüller

Frederik Heitmüller is an Associate Postdoctoral Fellow with ICTD’s International Tax Team. His research focuses on policies against corporate tax avoidance, the influence of international norms in the Global South and global tax governance. He is also an independent consultant on tax policy. Prior to joining ICTD, he obtained a PhD from Leiden University, Netherlands, where he investigated the political economy of the BEPS Project in the Global South as member of the GLOBTAXGOV project, and taught courses on international and comparative taxation. He has a master’s degree in political science from Sciences Po Bordeaux and University of Stuttgart.

Suranjali Tandon

Suranjali is an Assistant Professor at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP) in New Delhi.
Research theme:
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