Thangadurai VP

Thangadurai VP is a Partner at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas. He specialises in tax advisory and litigation.

He advises on inbound and outbound investments, including share sale/ issuance, slump sale, asset sale and corporate restructurings. He is regularly involved in Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) tax negotiations. He has advised multinational entities on establishing their presence in India in the most effective manner. His clientele is spread over various sectors, such as Automobile, Banking, FMCG, Oil & Gas, Information Technology, Media & Entertainment.

He is also involved in representing/ strategising cases before tax authorities and appellate forms, viz. Tribunals, High Court and the Supreme Court of India. He has handled matters concerning international as well as domestic tax.

On the international tax front, he has dealt with matters concerning permanent establishment, fees for technical services, royalty, transfer pricing, et. al. On the domestic tax front, he had dealt with corporate tax related matters, tax deductions/ exemptions (including charitable trusts), search and seizure cases, penalty cases, jurisdictional issues under writ proceedings, etc. He has also made representations before the tax department, at the assessment and the CIT(A) stage, on behalf of multinational companies.

Relevant Experience:

Advised Essar group on the sale of its entire stake in ports and power infrastructure assets to ArcelorMittal group for USD 2.4 billion. Drafted bespoke tax clauses in the definitive agreement and was involved in multiple negotiations with various law firms, including foreign law firms.
Advised Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Company Limited (Mitsui), a Japanese multi-national insurance company, in the sale of its stake in Max Life Insurance Company Limited. Also advised Mitsui on structuring the transaction in a tax efficient manner, assisting with negotiations, reviewing the agreements and drafting bespoke tax clauses in the definitive agreements.
Independently represented McCain Foods Limited (McCain), a Canadian multi-national FMCG entity, before the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT). McCain had made management support service payments and seconded a few employees to its Indian subsidiary. The Indian tax authorities imposed taxes on McCain on the grounds that it had established a permanent establishment in India. He successfully appeared before the ITAT to get the appeal filed by the Income tax authorities dismissed.
Independently represented BNY Mellon International Operations India Private Limited, a subsidiary of The Bank of New York Mellon Group headquartered in New York. He appeared before the ITAT in respect of tax litigation concerning transfer pricing issues and successfully got the application filed by the Indian tax authorities dismissed.
Independently represented the investor directors of Feedback Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd (Feedback) before the Income Tax Department. Zenith Capital Investment Pte Ltd., Singapore (Zenith Singapore), had invested in Feedback and appointed a couple of its representatives as directors on the board of Feedback. Feedback had committed withholding tax default as per the Indian tax laws. The Indian Tax Department initiated prosecution proceedings against all the directors. He independently represented the Zenith Singapore directors before the tax authorities and successfully got the prosecution proceedings dropped.
Advised National Australian Bank, Australia, on their proposed operations in India, viz. setting-up of a subsidiary in India as well as a proposition of secondment of employees to the said subsidiary. Advised on establishing a presence in India in the most suitable way and highlighted potential tax implications of secondment arrangements, including for employees working from home in India post the COVID-19 pandemic.
Advising Qognify Singapore and Qognify Israel on various tax litigation matters pending at various forums. Qognify Group is involved in the business of sale of software to Indian customers. Tax authorities here have issued notices proposing to tax the income arising from Indian operations. He is a part of the team that is involved in handling these tax disputes in India.
Involved in the tax litigation pertaining to Rolls Royce Group, more specifically (a) Rolls Royce Plc, UK; (b) Rolls Royce Singapore Pte Ltd, Singapore; and (c) Rolls Military Aero Engines Ltd, UK, before the ITAT, High Court and the Supreme Court of India. He is part of the core team that played a critical role in strategising and preparing various submissions/ grounds to be presented before various courts. He had also played an important role in briefing some of the most reputed counsels in India, namely Mr. Arvind Datar and Mr. Percival Billimoria, who were arguing the case for the Rolls Royce Group.