India's tax department investigating Jane Street over possible tax treaty misuse, sources say
Searches at the U.S. trading firm's India offices by the income tax department have been underway since last week, sources have said. A government source who was briefed on the matter later said that Jane Street staff were not cooperating.
The tax authorities' enquiries follow a temporary ban by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the market regulator, which publicly alleged that the firm manipulated stock indexes through its derivatives positions.
Jane Street has denied the SEBI allegations, but has not made any public comments so far on the tax investigation. The firm did not respond to a Reuters request sent to its U.S. headquarters for comment on Monday on the latest developments.
India's income tax department did not respond to Reuters request for comment.
Tax authorities are investigating whether Jane Street violated the General Anti-Avoidance Rules (GAAR) by using the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) between India and Singapore to evade taxes on large profits it made on Indian derivative trades, all three sources said.
The sources declined to be named because they were not authorised to speak to the media.
The DTAA is designed to prevent residents from being taxed twice, while the GAAR gives a country the power to deny a particular tax benefit if it is being used solely for tax avoidance.
The Indian tax authorities are looking into whether Jane Street booked larger profits on its derivatives positions in the Indian market via its Singapore entities as a way to reduce the tax burden, all three sources briefed on the matter added.
SEBI's July 4 ban order showed that Jane Street made more than $4 billion trading in India from January 2023 to May 2025.
Jane Street's two India entities - JSI Investments and JSI2 Investments - made a profit of 39.35 billion Indian rupees ($448.23 million), Jane Street Singapore made a profit of 256 billion rupees ($2.92 billion) and its Hong Kong entity, Jane Street Asia Trading, made a profit of 69.30 billion Indian rupees ($789.39 million), the order showed.
If the tax department's probe shows the tax rules have been breached, Jane Street could be issued with a tax demand, the third source said.
Tax authorities are trying to access Jane Street's accounts, which are maintained overseas, they added.
The second source said SEBI had provided the tax department with the profit and loss details of four Jane Street group entities the regulator had named in its orders.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Gulf Business
22 minutes ago
- Gulf Business
India unites against US tariff threat over Russian oil trade
India's ruling party and main opposition condemned on Tuesday a threat by US President Donald Trump to raise tariffs on goods from India over its Russian oil purchases, in a show of political unity as a trade rift deepens with Washington. Trump had already in July announced 25 per cent tariffs on Indian imports, and US officials have cited a range of geopolitical issues standing in the way of a US-India trade accord. Manish Tewari, a member of parliament and leader of the opposition Congress, said Trump's 'disparaging remarks hurt the dignity and self-respect of Indians'. 'The time has come to call out this constant bullying and hectoring,' he added. BJP Vice President Baijayant Jay Panda quoted Henry Kissinger — the most powerful US diplomat of the Cold War era — in a post on X: 'To be an enemy of America can be dangerous, but to be a friend is fatal.' India's Foreign Ministry said the country was being unfairly singled out over its purchases of Russian oil, and highlighted continued trade between Moscow and both the United States and the European Union, despite the war in Ukraine. 'It is revealing that the very nations criticising India are themselves indulging in trade with Russia,' it said in a statement issued late on Monday. 'It is unjustified to single out India,' the ministry said. It said the EU conducted 67.5 billion euros ($78.02bn) in trade with Russia in 2024, including record imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) reaching 16.5 million metric tons. The United States, the statement said, continues to import Russian uranium hexafluoride for use in its nuclear power industry, palladium, fertilisers and chemicals. It did not give a source for the export information. The US embassy and the EU's delegation in New Delhi did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Both the United States and EU have sharply scaled back their trade ties with Russia since it launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. In 2021, Russia was the EU's fifth-largest trading partner, with goods exchange worth 258 billion euros, according to the EU executive European Commission. SUDDEN RIFT India is the biggest buyer of seaborne crude from Russia, importing about 1.75 million barrels per day of Russian oil from January to June this year, up 1 per cent from a year ago, according to data provided to Reuters by trade sources. It has faced pressure from the West to distance itself from Moscow since Russia invaded Ukraine. New Delhi has resisted, citing its longstanding ties with Russia and economic needs. India's National Security Adviser Ajit Doval is likely to travel to Russia this week on a scheduled visit, two government sources said. Foreign Minister S Jaishankar is expected to visit in the coming weeks. The sudden rift between India and the US has been deepening since July 31, when Trump announced the 25 per cent tariff on goods being shipped to the US and for the first time threatened unspecified penalties for buying Russian oil. Trump has said that from Friday he will impose new sanctions on Russia as well as on countries that buy its energy exports, unless Moscow takes steps to end the war with Ukraine. The trade tensions have caused concern about the potential impact on India's economy. The equity benchmark BSE Sensex .BSESN closed down 0.38 per cent, while the rupee dropped 0.17 per cent versus the dollar.
Khaleej Times
an hour ago
- Khaleej Times
India says Pakistan violates ceasefire along Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir
On Tuesday, Reuters quoted Indian media reports saying that Pakistan has violated the ceasefire along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir. They added that Pakistan has indulged in unprovoked firing in Poonch sector. Earlier this year, relations between the two countries deteriorated in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack in India on April 22. India launched attacks in early May, targeting nine sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
Zawya
an hour ago
- Zawya
Trump again threatens to 'very substantially' hike tariffs on India over Russian oil
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he would increase the tariff charged on imports from India from the current rate of 25% "very substantially" over the next 24 hours, in view of New Delhi's continued purchases of Russian oil. He also said a "zero tariff" offer for imports of U.S. goods into India was not good enough, alleging that India was "fuelling the war" in Ukraine. Trump's threat to India for buying Russian oil started on July 31, when he announced a 25% tariff for Indian goods, along with an unspecified penalty. "They're fuelling the war machine, and if they're going to do that, then I'm not going to be happy," Trump told CNBC in an interview on Tuesday, adding that the main sticking point with India was that its tariffs were too high. "Now, I will say this, India went from the highest tariffs ever. They will give us zero tariffs, and they're going to let us go in. But that's not good enough, because of what they're doing with oil, not good." The latest comment followed a similar threat on Monday, which prompted India's Foreign Ministry to say the country was being unfairly singled out over its purchases of Russian oil. "It is revealing that the very nations criticising India are themselves indulging in trade with Russia (despite the Ukraine war)," it said in a statement issued late on Monday. "It is unjustified to single out India," it added. The EU conducted 67.5 billion euros ($78.0 billion) in trade with Russia in 2024, including record imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) reaching 16.5 million metric tons, the Indian ministry said. The United States continues to import Russian uranium hexafluoride for use in its nuclear power industry, palladium, fertilisers and chemicals, it added, without giving a source for the export information. The U.S. embassy and the EU's delegation in New Delhi did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Both the United States and EU have sharply scaled back their trade ties with Russia since it launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. SUDDEN RIFT India is the biggest buyer of seaborne crude from Russia, importing about 1.75 million barrels per day of Russian oil from January to June this year, up 1% from a year ago, according to data provided to Reuters by trade sources. It has faced pressure from the West to distance itself from Russia over the Ukraine war. New Delhi has resisted, citing its longstanding ties with Moscow and economic needs. India's National Security Adviser Ajit Doval is likely to go ahead with a scheduled visit to Russia this week, two government sources said. Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar is expected to visit in the coming weeks. The sudden rift between India and the U.S. has been deepening since July 31. Trump has said that from Friday he will impose new sanctions on Russia as well as on countries that buy its energy exports, unless Moscow takes steps to end the war with Ukraine. The trade tensions have caused concern about the potential impact on India's economy. The equity benchmark BSE Sensex .BSESN closed down 0.38%, while the rupee dropped 0.17% versus the dollar. (Additional reporting by Shivan Patel and Nidhi Verma; Editing by Helen Popper and Gareth Jones)
