Outside India Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean
From Mauritius
Mauritius is the second-largest source of foreign direct investment into India, USD 186,767 million from April 2000 to March 2026. Its bilateral investment treaty was terminated on 22 March 2017, and under the tax convention as amended by the Protocol in force from 19 July 2016, gains on Indian shares acquired on or after 1 April 2017 may be taxed in India. This page sets out those agreements, the disclosure rule for foreign portfolio investors, the questions an investor or an Indian living in Mauritius asks first, and the practical facts of working across the border.
At a glance
- Investment into India
- USD 186,767 million
- Second-largest source of cumulative foreign direct investment into India, April 2000 to March 2026: USD 186,767 million, 23.71 per cent.
- Equity inflow in the financial year 2025-26: USD 6,576 million.
- Source 1
- Indians living there
- 26,786
- 26,786 non-resident Indians live there.
- Overseas Indians in all, non-resident Indians and persons of Indian origin together: 891,697.
- Source 2
- Investment treaty
- Terminated 22 March 2017
- India-Mauritius Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement. Signed 4 September 1998, in force from 20 June 2000; terminated on 22 March 2017.
- Source 3
- Double taxation agreement
- In force
- India-Mauritius Convention for the Avoidance of Double Taxation. Amended by the Protocol signed 10 May 2016, which entered into force on 19 July 2016.
- Source 4
India and Mauritius: the legal framework
The investment treaty was terminated in 2017; tax runs under the convention as amended in 2016, and trade under the partnership agreement in force from 1 April 2021.
| Area | Agreement | Status | What the source records | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Investment protection | India-Mauritius Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement | Terminated 22 March 2017 | Signed 4 September 1998, in force from 20 June 2000; terminated on 22 March 2017. | 3 |
| Double taxation | India-Mauritius Convention for the Avoidance of Double Taxation Its page in Law | In force | Amended by the Protocol signed 10 May 2016, which entered into force on 19 July 2016. | 4 |
| Trade agreement | India-Mauritius Comprehensive Economic Cooperation and Partnership Agreement | In force | Signed 22 February 2021; in force from 1 April 2021. | 5 |
| Social security | Social security agreement | None listed | Mauritius is not among the partner countries on the list. | 6 |
| Documents: the Apostille Convention | Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, 1961 | Applies | The status table lists Mauritius among the contracting States. | 7 |
Where Mauritius invests in India
The official sources this page relies on give no list of sectors for investment from Mauritius into India. The sector pages below are those the notes on Mauritius draw on.
Sector pages on this site
- Financial services
Named in the notes on Mauritius below
Legal work for lenders, listed companies, funds and financial technology businesses: SARFAESI and DRT enforcement, insolvency, SEBI proceedings, AIF and FEMA compliance, and the RBI licensing regimes that govern payments and digital lending.
Where the two countries are working together
The Ministry of External Affairs brief on India and Mauritius, April 2026, names among the fields of cooperation infrastructure projects under the Special Economic Package, health facilities and training under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation programme. 9
Questions from Mauritius
A business from Mauritius
Are gains on Indian shares held through Mauritius taxed in India?
Under the India-Mauritius tax treaty as amended in 2016, gains on Indian shares acquired on or after 1 April 2017 may be taxed in India, while shares acquired before that date stay taxable only in the investor’s State of residence.
Does a tax residency certificate settle access to the treaty?
Not by itself: the Supreme Court’s judgment of 15 January 2026 in Tiger Global holds that it does not settle the question.
The General Anti-Avoidance Rule in Chapter XI of the Income-tax Act, 2025 also sits over both the Mauritius and the Singapore treaty.
When must a foreign portfolio investor disclose its owners?
A foreign portfolio investor that holds more than 50 per cent of its Indian equity assets in one Indian corporate group, or more than INR 50,000 crore of Indian equity alone or with its investor group, must name every person with any ownership, economic interest or control in it, down to natural persons.
One that stays over a limit without disclosing has its registration rendered invalid and 180 days to sell.
Can a company incorporated in Mauritius invest in an Indian company without approval?
The Foreign Exchange Management (Non-debt Instruments) Rules, 2019 set the routes and the conditions on which a person resident outside India may acquire equity instruments of an Indian company.
They allow it without prior approval where the sector is on the automatic route and the sectoral cap is not crossed, at a price not below fair value, with Form FC-GPR (Foreign Currency-Gross Provisional Return) filed with the Reserve Bank of India within thirty days of issue, as the note on a United States company sets out.
Can a company from Mauritius have a presence in India without a subsidiary?
A company incorporated outside India can seek a liaison, branch or project office, approved by an Authorised Dealer Category-I bank under the Reserve Bank of India’s Master Direction of 1 January 2016, as the note on a German company sets out.
A branch needs five years of profit and a net worth of USD 100,000, a liaison office three years and USD 50,000.
Indians living in Mauritius
The Ministry of External Affairs brief on India and Mauritius, April 2026, records that people of Indian origin make up most of the population of Mauritius, and that Indian nationals and Overseas Citizen of India cardholders live there. 9
When is an Indian citizen living in Mauritius resident in India for tax?
Under section 6 of the Income-tax Act, 2025, on 182 days or more in India in a tax year, or on 60 days plus 365 days in the four years before; a citizen visiting from abroad is outside the 60-day test unless income other than from foreign sources exceeds INR 15 lakh, when the test runs at 120 days.
A citizen with such income above INR 15 lakh who is liable to tax in no other country is deemed resident, but only as a person not ordinarily resident.
Selling a flat in India while living in Mauritius: the tax and the money
For a sale in the tax year that began on 1 April 2026, the buyer withholds tax under section 393(2) of the Income-tax Act, 2025, and a non-resident’s long-term gain on a flat is taxed at 12.5 per cent under section 197.
Remitting a Non-Resident (Ordinary) Rupee account balance is limited to USD 1 million a financial year without the Reserve Bank of India’s prior approval.
Can a family member living abroad inherit property in India?
Under section 6(5) of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 and rule 24(c) of the Non-debt Instruments Rules, a non-resident Indian or an overseas citizen of India may inherit any immovable property in India, agricultural land included.
An authorised dealer bank may remit inherited assets and their sale proceeds abroad up to USD 1 million a financial year; whether probate or a succession certificate is also needed turns on the asset.
Signing a power of attorney in Mauritius for property in India
Two routes lead to a document Indian authorities will take: signature before an Indian consular officer, or signature before a foreign notary followed by an apostille under the Hague Convention of 1961.
The status table of the Hague Conference lists Mauritius among the contracting States.
What may an Overseas Citizen of India cardholder do in India?
An OCI cardholder is a foreign national with a lifelong multiple-entry visa and parity with a non-resident Indian on buying and selling immovable property other than agricultural land, a farm house or plantation property.
Four heads of activity need special permission, and the registration can be cancelled under section 7D of the Citizenship Act, 1955.
Practice areas and counsel for this corridor
Practice areas
- Transaction advisory
Structuring, documentation and due diligence for acquisitions, joint ventures and restructuring transactions under Indian law.
- Capital markets
Advisory on public and private capital raising, listing compliance and continuing obligations under Indian securities law.
- Taxation and fiscal
Advisory and litigation on goods and services tax, direct tax and indirect tax disputes before departmental and appellate forums.
Advocates who write the notes on Mauritius
Working across the border
The practice advises on Indian law. Where a matter turns on the law of another country it is referred to counsel qualified there, and the advice states which part rests on that referral.
Time difference
India Standard Time is five hours and thirty minutes ahead of UTC throughout the year.
- Port Louis is one hour and thirty minutes behind Bengaluru.
- India and Mauritius do not observe daylight saving time, so the difference holds all year.
Instructions are taken between 07:00 and 21:00 India Standard Time (IST), Monday to Friday, as the offices page states. In Port Louis that is 05:30 to 19:30.
Documents signed there
India is a party to the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, 1961, so a public document from another contracting State that carries an apostille issued by the competent authority there is accepted in India without further legalisation. The status table of the Hague Conference lists Mauritius among the contracting States.
Offices
- Bengaluru
7th Floor, Raheja Towers, East Wing, 26/27 Mahatma Gandhi Road, Craig Park Layout, Ashok Nagar, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560001
+91 76765 68787
- Mumbai
Unit No. 4, 3rd Floor, Inspire BKC, Village Kolekalyan, Bandra Kurla Complex, Bandra East, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400051
- New Delhi
L29 to L34, First Floor, Connaught Place, New Delhi, Delhi 110001
Notes for readers there
Notes on Mauritius
- An FPI must disclose its owners down to natural persons if over half its Indian equity sits in one group or it holds over INR 50,000 crore
- Investing into India through Mauritius or Singapore in October 2026: the treaty tests, the GAAR and Tiger Global
From the region: Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean
Sources
- Official pageDepartment for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade: Quarterly Fact Sheet on Foreign Direct Investment inflow, April 2000 to March 2026dpiit.gov.in
- Official pageMinistry of External Affairs: Population of Overseas Indians, January 2026mea.gov.in
- Official pageDepartment of Economic Affairs, Register of Bilateral Investment Treaties/Agreements (dea.gov.in), page 6dea.gov.in
- Official pageMinistry of External Affairs, Indian Treaties Database, Protocol of 10/05/2016 (entry into force 19/07/2016); base convention signed 24/08/1982 at TreatyDetail?4017mea.gov.in
- Official pageMinistry of External Affairs, India-Mauritius Bilateral Relations brief, para 12 (mea.gov.in)mea.gov.in
- Official pageEmployees' Provident Fund Organisation, International Workers, list of social security agreements (epfo.gov.in); no Mauritius entryepfo.gov.in
- ConventionHague Conference on Private International Law: status table of the Apostille Convention, 1961hcch.net
- Official pageMinistry of External Affairs: Attestation and Apostillemea.gov.in
- Official pageMinistry of External Affairs, India-Mauritius bilateral brief, April 2026mea.gov.in
Limits of this page
Nothing on this page is advice, and nothing on it is a statement that any provision applies to a particular set of facts. It is not an offer of engagement. Reading it creates no advocate-client relationship.
Each agreement is stated as its official source records it: a status only where the source states it, and an agreement no verified source records is left out rather than guessed. Each answer on this page restates a note, a law page or a practice page on this site, which carries the detail and its sources.