India signs Multilateral Instrument at Paris, joins BEPS

India became a signatory of the base erosion profit shifting (BEPS) project on Wednesday after signing a multilateral instrument (MLI) at the Paris headquarters of Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

The OECD multilateral convention aims to crack down on tax evasion around the world, be it individual companies or investors, anybody that is trying to create structure primarily with a purpose to avoiding or evading taxes. However, countries do have the liberty to argue their point and make sure that they meet minimum BEPS standards.

According to CNBC-TV18, India has already re-negotiated its treaties with Singapore, Cyprus and Mauritius last year and there will not be any further tweaking or renegotiation of these treaties.

However, it would have to renegotiate its treaty with France to make it in line with BEPS framework.

India qualified the minimum standards required to be a part of BEPS.
The measures suggests that BEPS is definitely talking of cracking down on tax evasion under the multilateral framework.