Indian decision on source of royalty paid between non-resident companies

The Indian Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) delivered its decision on 31 January 2013 in the case of Qualcomm Corporations v. ADIT [TS-35-ITAT-2013(DEL)] that the royalty in respect of a licence granted by a non-resident to another non-resident for the manufacture of CDMA handsets cannot be taxed in India, even if these handsets are sold to Indian operators. The source of royalty would be deemed as the place where patent is exploited, that is where the manufacturing activity takes place, whi…