Credit Rating Services Not Taxable as FTS Under India–Singapore DTAA | ITAT

Case Details: S & P Global Ratings Singapore Pte. Ltd. vs. Assistant Commissioner of Income-tax [2026] 187 taxmann.com 585 (Delhi - Trib.)

Judiciary and Counsel Details

• Vikas Awasthy, Judicial Member,  Smt. Renu Jauhri, Accountant Member
• Ajay Vohra, Sr. Adv., Drona Negi & Manuj Sabharwal, Advs. for the Appellant. 
• Rohit Garg, CIT(DR) for the Respondent.

Facts of the Case

The assessee, a company incorporated in Singapore, provided credit rating and annual surveillance services to clients, including Indian entities. The assessee claimed that the receipts were not taxable in India because it had no PE in India and the services did not involve the transfer of any technical knowledge or know-how.

ITAT Held

The Assessing Officer held that the credit rating reports constituted commercial information and that the annual surveillance services were ancillary thereto. Accordingly, the receipts were treated as FTS taxable in India under section 9(1)(vii) of the Act and Article 12 of the India–Singapore DTAA.

The matter reached the Delhi Tribunal. The Tribunal held that the condition requisite for determining the nature of receipts is whether any technical know-how, technology, etc., has been imparted by the assessee to its clients. From the nature of the activities explained by the assessee, it is clear that no technical skill, process, or know-how is transferred in the process of providing ratings to clients. The co-ordinate bench held that, as the rating agency does not make available any technical skill, expertise, or know-how to the clients, the same cannot be charged to tax as FTS/FIS.

Therefore, the AO was not justified in taxing the receipts as FTS, and the same was deleted.

List of Cases Reviewed

• Taxation Department, ICICI Bank Ltd. v. DCIT [2008] 20 SOT 453 (Mumbai) (para 7.1)