Welcome to The Political Fix by Rohan Venkataramakrishnan, a newsletter on Indian politics and policy. To get it in your inbox every week,...
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The Big Story: Tax terroir
“Humiliating”, the Business Standard called it. “Time to put an end to this sorry matter,” said the Indian Express. Hindu BusinessLine called it “unfortunate and embarrassing.”
That is just a smattering of the editorial responses to the news from last week that British oil company Cairn Energy successfully petitioned a French court to freeze real estate properties in Paris belonging to the Indian government valued at around $24 million. The company said the court order was a “necessary preparatory step to taking ownership of the properties and ensures that the proceeds of any sales would be due to Cairn”, based on the $1.2 billion arbitration award it won in 2020 against tax claims by the Indian government.
More bad news could be on its way. Cairn has filed similar cases in eight other countries, including the US and the UK, which have signed the 1958 New York Convention on the Recognition and...
