Member, Central Board of Direct Taxes
Mr. Akhilesh Ranjan is currently Member of the Central Board of Direct Taxes, in charge of legislation, tax policy and international taxation. Till recently, he was 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 Equalization 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 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. Very recently, he has been appointed as the Convener and head of the Task Force set up to re-draft the Income Tax law in India, so as to make it more suited to India’s needs.