Mauritius Investments Into India Drop Below 10%

Written by Ann Brown

Aug 03, 2014

As a revision of the bilateral tax treaty hangs in balance, India’s share of investments made by global companies through Mauritius has slipped to a historic low of less than 10 percent.

On the other hand, global investments routed through Mauritius to Africa, Europe, America and some Asian countries have gone up, as per the latest official data compiled by the island nation’s financial sector regulator FSC.

Negotiations to amend the Indo-Mauritius tax treaty have been hanging fire for a long time amid India’s apprehensions that it is being misused to route unaccounted money and evade taxes.

While Mauritius says it has strict checks and balances in place, uncertainties over the tax treaty have adversely affected investment flows between the two nations.

Africa accounted for over 54 per cent of the total investments made through Mauritius during 2013, while India’s share fell to 9.28 per cent.

In 2010, India’s share was as high as 32.27 per cent, before declining to 23.25 per cent in 2011 and further to nearly 15 per cent in 2012. In comparison, Africa’s share has been consistently rising from 30 per cent in 2011, to over 40 per cent in 2011 and about 51 per cent in 2012.