1. Paradigm Shift in the Capital Gains Regime – Does India as a nation, needs to offer a concessional tax treatment to such gains? Keeping this in mind, what could be the suggestions given to the Government with regard to taxation of capital gains.
  2. ‘Pass thru’ status proposed to be accorded to Venture Capital Companies and Venture Capital Funds – What does pass thru status entail for the VCC?VCF and for the investors therein? Does this differ from the ‘tax transparent’ status given by other countries? What can the Government do to streamline the provisions?
  3. Amendments to taxation of non-residents – Analysing the impact of these proposals on offshore structures and discussing building substance in holding company jurisdictions.
  4. Proposed Treaty override – Rationale, international comparisons and analysis of the impact of the proposals on (a) structures already in place and (b) future structures
  5. General Anti Avoidance Rules (GAAR) – What exactly does GAAR entail in the Venture Capital/Private Equity context? 
  6. Implications of the withholding tax proposals under the DTC to remittance of various streams of income to overseas shareholders/lenders. 

Speakers from Ernst & Young :

Satya Poddar is a tax partner in the Policy Advisory Group in Ernst & Young (in India since 2005, and in Canada from 1987 to 2005). He is currently leading the efforts of a Coalition of multinational companies in India to make representations to the Government of India on the Direct Tax Code. Previously, he led the efforts of the Coalition to make representations on policy changes to reduce tax disputes, and to have a more efficient process for their resolution. The Government responded to these representations by proposing several changes, including the introduction of the new channel of Dispute Resolution Panel (DRP). Prior to joining Ernst & Young in 1987, Satya was Director of the Tax Analysis and Commodity Tax Division in the Canadian Ministry of Finance. In that position, he played a lead role in the design of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and ongoing review and reform of the personal and corporate income tax system. He has undertaken major research projects for the European Commission on topics related to the application of VAT to financial services and to public bodies. Besides India, he is currently advising governments and private sector groups on GST/VAT design issues in China, Gulf Cooperation Council, and Europe.

Pranav Sayta is a Partner in Ernst & Young, India (‘E&Y’) and is based in Mumbai. He leads the Transaction Tax practice in E&Y. He also leads Tax practice for the TCE (Technology, Communication & Entertainment) sector in Mumbai. Pranav is a Gold-Medalist Chartered Accountant (‘CA’) attaining first rank at All-India level. He was also awarded the prize for the Best paper on Direct Tax Laws by The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. Pranav has more than 20 years of experience in the practice of Direct Tax Laws. He has a wide range of experience in advising various large multinationals and leading Indian corporates, including various Fortune 500 companies on various international tax, corporate tax and regulatory matters. He specializes in advising on complex inbound and outbound transactions, cross border and domestic mergers, acquisitions & joint ventures, group financial and corporate restructuring, and international tax planning. Pranav was rated as one of the leading tax advisors in India by the Legal Media Group Guide to the World’s Leading Tax Advisers. He is a regular contributor of articles and features on various tax and regulatory issues in leading publications and professional journals. He co-authored the Transfer Pricing Manual published by ‘Bombay Chartered Accountants’ Society. Pranav has also addressed and presented papers at various seminars and conferences organized by various professional bodies including International Fiscal Association (‘IFA’), The Confederation of Indian Industry (‘CII’), Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (‘IACC’), The Indian Merchants’ Chamber (‘IMC’), The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, Bombay Chartered Accountants’ Society and The Chamber of Income Tax Consultants. Pranav is presently a member of the executive committee of the IFA India branch and a member of the managing committee of the western region chapter of IFA India.

Speakers from Protiviti Consulting :

Sumchit Anand leads the M&A Risk Advisory practice at Protiviti India and has advised on over 200 private equity and strategic transactions ranging from USD 2 million to USD 2 billion in size. He has over fourteen years of experience in M&A risk advisory with the Big 4. The experience spans across spectrum of consulting assignments including M&A advisory, business, financial, process and risk consulting. Sumchit has worked across industry segments including - Manufacturing, Telecom, Real Estate, Infrastructure etc. His experience spans across countries and has worked on overseas transactions in Asia, Europe and the US.

Shobhit Agarwal, is a Chartered Accountant with over 11 years of experience in business and risk consulting. Shobhit began his career with Arthur Andersen in 1998 and then worked with Ernst & Young in both India and the United States. Shobhit has assisted a number of private equity funds, strategic investors and companies in their investment decisions and across consulting assignments including preliminary investment reviews, financial and business due diligence, business plan reviews, strategy formulation, feasibility analysis and business/operations improvement. Shobhit has worked across industry segments including - Manufacturing, Telecom, Real Estate, Infrastructure, Power, Technology, Automobile, Media and Entertainment. Shobhit also heads the Real Estate practice and has extensive infrastructure project experience.

Speakers from American Appraisal India :

Varun Gupta is an MBA from IIM Calcutta with 14 years of experience in valuation and financial advisory services. He took over as Managing Director of American Appraisal India in June 2008. Prior to this he was with Deloitte where he led a team of 70 professionals in providing valuation services to US based clients including private equity investors in relation to valuation of portfolio companies, purchase price allocation and impairment testing under US GAAP and IFRS. Other services included valuation of intangible assets and financial instruments. Varun was also a key member of a team set up by Deloitte to develop and implement standard valuation methodologies across the firm. Earlier, he worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers’s Financial Advisory Services practice in India where he focused on valuation and project finance. He has been a speaker at several seminars/ workshops, including the ongoing Valuation workshops being organized by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI). He has also spoken at valuation workshops at IIM Kozhikode, MDI Gurgaon, ICFAI Hyderabad, INTA Roundtable on Trademarks Valuation, ICAI’s Seminar on valuation of early stage companies and at the Deloitte Valuation Conference in Atlanta, USA.

Santosh N., Vice President at American Appraisal India Pvt. Ltd. in Mumbai since September 2008. In this capacity Mr. Santosh has managed various complex valuation ssignments. In his prior experience with Grant Thornton, Bangalore, Mr. Santosh provided a range of financial advisory services including Due Diligence, Valuation, IFRS & USGAAP assignments, Business Plan Review, Internal Audit and Risk Advisory with a particular emphasis on the telecom sector, IT & ITES, health care, real estate, power & infrastructure among others. He was involved in the valuation of various telecom infrastructure software used by Bharti Airtel, largest Indian telecom service provider. He managed Purchase Price Allocation assignment (IFRS) for France Telecom’s acquisition of GTL’s IT business. He managed and executed financial due diligence for United Telecom Limited, a large telecom infrastructure service provider in India. He has managed and executed various business valuations for strategic decision making purposes for companies in India and abroad. He has managed various Purchase Price Allocation assignments under IFRS, US GAAP and Indian Income Tax act. He has managed and executed valuation assignments under IAS 39 & IAS 32 – valuation of financial instruments He has executed valuation assignments with regard to exotic financial instruments such as options, warrants with characters such as early redemption, callable, floating exercise price, put able etc. Some of the key clients he has advised are AIG, Bharti Airtel, Biocon, Deutsche Bank, France Telecom, GAIL, i-flex, India Equity Partners, Jindal, J P Morgan, NDTV, Ranbaxy, SAB Miller Group, Sahara, Sequoia Capital, SIDBI, Subex, Suzlon, UB, United Telecom Limited, UTI Ventures, Unitus, Wipro and WNS.

Speakers from KPMG :

Ram Iyer, Director, Accounting Advisory Services, Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, England & Wales, Certified Public Accountant, US, Member of Association of Taxation Technicians, UK. Ram has 16 years experience in the fields of audits, accounting, US GAAP, IFRS and training. He has served several prominent Indian corporates, especially financial institutions, with US GAAP conversion and to a limited extent, IFRS. Ram also has significant project management and training experience. Ram has designed and presented U.S. GAAP, IFRS and Indian GAAP training to several corporates, including ICICI Bank, Vedanta, HDFC Bank, Johnson & Johnson, Hindustan Lever, Kotak Mahindra Bank, State Bank of India, Bayer, J P Morgan, Godjej Sara Lee, Aventis, BNP Paribas, Hutchison Max, Nicholas Piramal, Cummins India, Institute of Chartered Accounts of India, Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India, IIM-Bangalore, SP Jain Institure of Management and Research among others. He currently leads the global KPMG US GAAP internal training program that also includes mapping IFRS differences. As part of this project, Ram has trained colleagues in Western and Eastern Europe and Latin America. Ram also edited the GAAP differences publication of PwC India and currently edits KPMG’s GAAP FocUS newsletter.

Madhu Sudan Kankani, Senior Manager, Accounting and Advisory Services (AAS) - Bangalore, India. Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and Company Secretary. Madhu is Senior Manager based in Bangalore and is part of the AAS practice. Madhu has worked with the Firm in India since 1999. Madhu heads the AAS practice within the firm for south India. Madhu has extensive audit and advisory experience spanning across a sector of industries including banking and financial services, IT/ITES, and manufacturing. He has worked with both large Indian business houses and multinationals. Madhu is an accredited financial services (FS) resource and has worked on the audit and advisory projects of several FS sector clients including large Banks, Insurance Companies and financial services Companies. Madhu has significant experience in audit, advisory and IFRS conversion projects in large IT/ITES companies and finance companies. Madhu’s has worked on IFRS conversion projects at Wipro, Infosys, Sify, Sundaram Finance group, Mindtree and UST Global among others. As part of the AAS practice, Madhu leads the IFRS convergence initiative for the firm in south India. In addition, Madhu is an accredited US GAAP resource and has worked on several US GAAP assignments in ICE and FS sector. Accordingly, Madhu is well conversant with the international reporting and its practical complexities. Madhu’s audit experience includes listed clients such as ABB, ING Vysya Bank, MindTree, e4e group, US Technoloy, amongst various others. His strength lies in his ability to lead and manage complex US GAAP/IFRS projects. Madhu also manages the thought leadership initiatives for the IFRS/US GAAP related matters within and outside the firm. Madhu is a regular speaker on international accounting related matters in professional and industry events such as ICAI, ICSI, CII etc.

Akil Master, Manager, Accounting and Advisory Services (AAS) - Bangalore, India. Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, Certified Public Accountant, United States of America. Akil is a Manager in the Accounting Advisory Services and is based out of Bangalore. Akil has over 7 years of post qualification experience in auditing and accounting practice. Akil is an accredited US GAAP/IFRS resource and has substantial experience in performing audits/convergence projects within IFRS and US GAAP. Prior to joining KPMG, he has worked with PricewaterhouseCoopers in their New York Metro Region for over 2.5 years and KPMG Dubai for over 3.5 years. He has worked on clients (incl. affiliates) like Suburban Propane (SEC reporting), Bayer AG (SEC reporting), Citibank (IFRS), Acer Computers (IFRS), Degussa AG (US GAAP to IFRS Conversion) and Mahindra Retail (IFRS Conversion). Accordingly, Akil is well conversant with the international reporting and its practical complexities. Furthermore, Akil has been the Engagement Manager for audits of six Venture Capital Funds based in Bangalore. Akil has also been involved in the financial statement preparation under US GAAP for several hedge funds based out of Mauritius, Cayman Islands, Bermuda, etc. Akil has experience of performing a due diligence process (under IFRS) in the insurance sector. Akil has also been involved in imparting training to staff on various US GAAP/IFRS accounting and auditing matters.

Speakers from Nishith Desai Associates :

Vyapak Desai heads the Litigation & Dispute Resolution Practice at the multi-skil ed, research-based international law firm, Nishith Desai Associates with offices in Mumbai, Silicon Valley, Bangalore and Singapore. Mr. Desai is also a Senior Attorney in the Corporate and Securities & Fund Practice groups at the firm. Mr. Desai holds a Bachelors degree in law and a Masters degree in Commercial Laws (Corporate, Labor and Tax) from Gujarat University. Mr. Desai is also a trained Mediator. Mr. Desai represents clients in a wide-range of services with a special focus on cutting edge cross-border and complex litigations and international commercial arbitrations. Mr. Desai has extensive experience advising clients with creative and pragmatic solutions in order to attain effective dispute resolution strategies. Mr. Desai’s is a leading attorney in the advisement and representation of clients involved in media, entertainment, franchising, oil and gas, and financial services sectors for pre-litigation strategies, arbitrations and litigation before various forums including the Supreme Court, High Courts and Tribunals of India. Mr. Desai advises clients on several Indian and international public offerings, fund investments, mergers & acquisitions, PIPE deals, issues related to corporate and securities laws, foreign direct investment and other exchange control laws. Mr. Desai also advises clients on corporate issues relating to the formation and structure of private equity funds and off-shore investment funds. Mr. Desai is often on the speaker circuit for both domestic and international conferences including India Venture Capital Journal Conference and SME Development Chamber of India Conference on Legal aspects for Foreign Investments in India and the Lexis-Nexis Conference on the Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards in India. Mr. Desai has authored many articles on implications of various rulings on securities laws, shareholder remedies in cases of fraud and issues regarding the doctrine of priority of state debts etc. Mr. Desai is a member of Arbitration Committee of the International Bar Association and the Bar Council of Maharashtra & Goa.

Pravin Tulsyan, Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, Pravin Tulsyan is an audit senior manager with B S R & Associates based in Delhi and has worked with the Firm for almost 5 years. Pravin also worked with San Jose (in USA) office of PwC for two and half years. Pravin specializes in providing audit services to leading Indian and foreign based Companies in India. Pravin has extensive audit experience spanning across various sector of industries including Pharmaceutical, IT/ITES, Telecom, Consumer Market, Private Equity and Auto. He has worked with both large Indian business houses and multinationals. He is the engagement manager on various big companies across various industries including Private Equity, BPO/ KPO etc. Pravin’s audit experience includes clients such as Jubilant, Yahoo, ChrysCapital, Beekman Helix, Quatrro BPO, Wipro BPO, HCL Technologies, HCL BPO, ICI India, Indian Rayon, Hutch India, MTNL, Tata Power, Mahindra and Mahindra etc among many more. His strength lies in his ability to manage and deliver on timely basis. Pravin is directly involved with IFRS projects at Jubilant Organosys, Spice, Dabur Pharma, etc. Pravin is an active participant in firm training initiatives and have conducted many training session on US GAAP/ IFRS/ Indian GAAP for clients, ICAI, etc. He is also core member of IFRS/ USGAAP group in the firm.

Shafaq Uraizee Sapre is a Senior Associate at the multi -skilled, research based international law firm, Nishith Desai Associates. Ms. Sapre is a senior member of the Litigation & Dispute Resolution , Fund Investment and Technology and Real Estate Practice Groups at the firm . Ms. Sapre received a Bachelors and Masters degree in law from the University of Bombay. Ms. Sapre’s practice focuses on cutting edge complex cross-bor der litigations and international commercial arbitrations. Ms. Sapre is a leading attorney in assisting clients to reach creative and pragmatic solutions and effective dispute resolution strategies. In addition to in-house representation, Ms. Sapre represents clients in Supreme Court, High Court and respective Tribunals in a wide -range of sectors including corporate, media, entertainment, franchising and oil & gas. Ms. Sapre’s practice includes a variety of transactions with both domestic and international venture capital and private equity funds. Ms. Sapre has advised and assisted clients on issues concerning the legal aspects of structuring and estructu ring investments in India and globally, documentation, private equity investments and mergers and acquisitions across a multitude of sectors. Ms. Sapre has led several legal due diligence teams and often renders opinions on issues concerning litigation, arbitration, Indian labor laws and contract law. Ms. Sapre has spoken at the Confedera tion of Indian Industry and actively writes for publications such as the Indian Venture Capital Journal . Ms. Sapre is a member of the Bar Council of Maharashtra & Goa and has been practicing as a litigator at the Bombay High Court since 2000.

Sahil Kanuga is an Associate at the multi-skil ed, research based international law firm, Nishith Desai Associates. Mr. Kanuga is a member of the Litigation & Dispute Resolution and Technology Practice Groups at the firm. Mr. Kanuga’s practice focuses on cutting edge, complex and cross-border litigations and commercial arbitration in a range of sectors including corporate, media, automotive, IT, education and entertainment. In addition to litigation and dispute resolution, Mr. Kanuga also has experience in private equity transactions and has been part of several due diligence teams. He is a member of the Bar Council of Maharashtra & Goa and has been practicing as a litigator at the Bombay High Court. He also regularly contributes articles to a number of legal journals. Mr. Kanuga holds Bachelors and Masters in Law degrees (Business Laws) from the University of Bombay.