Section 10(23FE) — the law in short
What the courts have decided on section 10(23FE), in one screen. Read this first; open an entry when you need the facts, the reasoning and the source.
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Statutory position — s.10(23FE): the sovereign wealth fund and pension fund exemption, the window that closes on 31 March 2030, the three-year holding and the two forms that keep it alive
CBDT Circulars & InstructionsCuts both waysNo later treatment found
A foreign pension fund wants to put money into our infrastructure company and says its Indian income will be exempt. What does it actually have to do to get and keep that exemption, and by when must the money come in?
The exemption is for a 'specified person' — broadly a notified sovereign wealth fund or a notified pension fund, together with the funds named in the provision itself — on income of the nature of dividend, interest and long-term capital gains from an investment made in India in one of the eligible vehicles. Three things govern it. The investment must be made within a window that now closes on 31 March 2030; the investment must be held for at least three years; and the fund must satisfy the conditions in the provision and in any notification specifying it. For a notified pension fund, rule 2DB of the Income-tax Rules, 1962 adds conditions of its own: the fund must be regulated under the law of a foreign country, must be responsible for administering or investing assets for meeting statutory obligations and defined contributions of participants or beneficiaries, must apply its earnings and assets only to those obligations, must intimate the particulars of each investment in Form No. 10BBB within one month from the end of the quarter in which the investment is made, and must file its return of income by the due date under section 139(1) together with a certificate in Form No. 10BBC from an accountant. Under the Income-tax Act, 2025 the same exemption is at Schedule V, Table serial number 7.
Listed strongest first: Supreme Court, then High Court, then Tribunal, then CBDT. Nothing here has yet been read in full by a chartered accountant — open an entry to see where it came from.
