Mr. Akhilesh Ranjan is currently the Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax
heading the international tax and transfer pricing administration in India. He has
been in the Indian Revenue Service since 1982 and has a rich experience of direct
tax administration in India, having worked in various capacities in key policy-making
and operational roles. He has been a part of the Tax Policy and Legislation division
of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Ministry of Finance, Government of
India during 2000 to 2004 as Director and as Joint Secretary. During this period he
was instrumental in conceiving, designing and drafting various direct tax policy
measures such as the Transfer Pricing regulations introduced in India in 2001.
He was appointed as the Indian Competent Authority under India’s tax treaties and
Joint Secretary (Foreign Tax & Tax Research), Government of India in July, 2013
and functioned as such till June, 2016. He led India’s participation in the G-20/OECD
BEPS project and is credited with having secured greater understanding and global
appreciation of India’s policy and implementation in the field of international taxation
and transfer pricing. The Equalisation Levy introduced in India in 2016 for the
taxation of income derived by multinational enterprises from digital advertising and
other services, is based on the recommendations of a Committee headed by him.
He has been included in the ‘Global Tax 50’ named by the International Tax Review
for 2013 and 2015, which is an annual listing of tax leaders who have made a
significant impact on tax policy at a global level.
Mr. Ranjan has recently been nominated by Government of India to function as the
Chair of the Working Group on Tax Policies and International Tax Cooperation,
established by the G-24 at their Spring Ministerial of 2018. In this capacity, he will be
presenting an Interim Report of the Working Group at the G-24 Ministerial at Bali in
October, 2018.
