ITRAF - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Registrar / National Law School of India University
Nigam Nuggehalli is an ITRAF Board Member and Registrar, National Law School of India University, Bangalore. He is also a Visiting Professor and Advisor to the School of Law at BML Munjal University, Gurugram. He was previously the founding Dean of the School of law at BML Munjal University. Previously, he was a Visiting Professor at the National Law School, Bangalore and an Associate Professor at Azim Premji University, Bangalore. He holds a DPhil in Law from Oxford University and an LLM (Taxation) from New York University School of Law. Prof. Nuggehalli also taught at BPP University, London, United Kingdom, for several years, where he led a team of academics in delivering undergraduate programmes in jurisprudence and post graduate programmes in commercial law and international tax law. Prior to joining academia, Prof. Nuggehalli was an international tax lawyer working in New York, USA. Prof. Nuggehalli is presently completing a monograph on international taxation from an Indian perspective.
Dr. Parthasarathi Shome is Founder Chairman, ITRAF (2023-present). Earlier he was Chairman, ITRAF (2015-23). He has recently been included in the Eminent Persons' Council, Tax Notes International, Washington DC (2024-present). He was Senior Visiting Fellow/Visiting Fellow, London School of Economics (2019-23). His other recent international roles included Member, International Tax and Investment Center (ITIC), Washington DC (2011-18), Member, Academic Board of Advanced Diploma in International Taxation, Chartered Institute of Taxation (ADIT, CIOT), London (2015-23); Member, Forum on Economic and Fiscal Policy (FEFP), The Hague (2015-23). He was a professor at American University, Washington DC (1975-83) where he rose to be tenured Professor. He served at the International Monetary Fund (1983-2004) in various capacities including the first Senior Economist in the Office of the Managing Director (1987-88), Chief of Tax Policy (1992-95) and Director (Ambassador), IMF Singapore Institute (2001-03).
He has provided technical assistance in the taxation field to more than thirty countries in Africa (including Botswana, Rwanda, South Africa), Asia (including Bangladesh, China, Kazakhstan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Turkey), Europe (including Andorra, Hungary, Romania), and Latin America (including Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Guyana, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Venezuela).
He was Chief Economist, HMRC, Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC), United Kingdom (2008-11).He served in several official capacities in India including Chairman (Minister of State), Tax Administration Reform Commission (TARC), Government of India, (2013-15); Adviser (Minister of State) to the Indian Finance Minister, 2013-14; Chairman, Expert Committee on General Anti-Avoidance Rules (GAAR), Government of India (July-October 2012); and Adviser (Secretary) to the Indian Finance Minister (2004-08). He was Permanent Invitee to the state level finance ministers' Value Added Tax Empowered Committee (2004-08).
He served as Director, International Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) (2011-13) and as Director, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP, 1995-97), two premier research and policy development institutions in New Delhi, India.
He received the highest civilian honour of the Brazilian Government, Commander of the Order of the Southern Cross in 2000, for contributions to Brazilian tax reform. He was among the 2012, 2013 and 2015 Global Tax 50 of the International Tax Review, "individuals and organisations that made a substantial impact on tax practice and administration in the past 12 months". He has many books and publications in international journals and has given speeches in his professional field across the globe.
His Ph.D. is from Southern Methodist University, Dallas (1975), Masters degrees from the University of Rochester (1973) and Delhi School of Economics (1972), Bachelors (Hons.) Degree from Presidency College, Calcutta University (1970), and High School Matriculation from Madras University (1966). He received the Jeanne S. Mattersdorf Award of the National Tax Association of America as "an outstanding student in the field of taxation and public finance" for his Ph.D. thesis on the incidence of the corporation income tax.
His publications in peer reviewed journals include Journal of Economic Theory (United States), Journal of Public Economics (Netherlands), IMF Staff Papers, National Tax Journal (US), Oxford Economic Papers (UK), Oxford Review of Economic Policy (UK), Public Finance (Europe), Public Finance Quarterly (US), and several other international and national journals. His edited and own books are from Business Standard Publishers, Cambridge University Press, CenTax, International Monetary Fund, Lexis Nexis, Oakbridge, Orient Blackswan, Oxford University Press, Routledge, Springer, and Wolters Kluwer. He wrote a monthly column in Business Standard, an Indian business daily where he writes on fiscal policy, taxation, political economy and socio-economic issues. He participates in numerous international conferences, seminars and policy discussions.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Writer
H Padamchand Khincha is an ITRAF Board Member and is a partner in H C Khincha & Co, Bangalore. With over 30 years of experience in domestic and international tax regime, he has spearheaded the income-tax consultancy and litigation practice. He advises multinational companies, Indian companies as well as high networth individuals on various tax matters including tax structuring, due diligence, transfer pricing and compliance aspects. He has represented large corporates in some of the high-profile cases before various Income-tax tribunals across India and has been associated with several landmark decisions too.
Padamchand Khincha is a prolific writer on various topics in income-tax. He has co-authored "Tax Holiday U/s.10A and 10B - An analysis"; "Tax Treaties of India - A compilation"; "Capital gains of Non-residents"; "Tax deduction at source"; "Concept of Indexation under capital gains". He has authored and co-authored innumerable articles across various tax magazines including the Taxmann publication, Bombay Chartered Accountants Journal, ITR etc.He has delivered more than 500 lectures across the nation on several income-tax issues.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Senior Partner
Hitesh D. Gajaria is an ITRAF Board Member and has completed a long and distinguished career in KPMG, Mumbai. a fellow member of the ICAI, former Senior Advisor at KPMG India with more than thirty-eight years of tax, transfer pricing and regulatory consulting experience. Prior to his role, Hitesh led KPMG India's Tax Practice. He has also led KPMG India's Industrial and Consumer Manufacturing Sector's Tax practice, and the Transfer Pricing practice. He has co-authored BCAS' publications - ‘Compendium on Multilateral Instrument - MLI', ‘Taxation of Non-Residents, FERA / FEMA' and ‘Transfer Pricing Manual' and has also contributed to ITRAF Publications, He was Country Reporter for India at IFA International Conference.
Job Titles:
- Partner, Tax & Regulatory Services
Indraneel Roy Choudhury is an ITRAF Board Member and was Tax Partner, PwC Bangalore, during a 30-year career until 2023, and Leader of South India Tax & PwC's Tax Leadership Team. He currently chairs the Tax Policy Panel for PwC Tax function. He specializes in International Tax & Transfer Pricing. He has nearly 30 years of experience in advising domestic and multinational clients on tax, legal and regulatory issues, on inbound / outbound transactions, tax structuring, mergers & acquisitions and transfer pricing planning, study and compliance issues, MAPs and APAs. He has been associated with several professional & trade bodies and has lectured at various fora including PwC's Leadership Development programs at Genesis Park.
He is an ExeCom Member of American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM), Karnataka and Co opted member of the Board of Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce (BCIC). He was Chairman of Economic Affairs Panel CII (2011), Chairman of AMCHAM Tax, Tariff & Regulatory Committee (2015-16), and Member of the CII Karnataka CEO Forum & Karnataka State Council of CII. He is a Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants' of India (ICAI).
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Partner, Deloitte
K.R. Sekar is an ITRAF Board Member. and leads the Deloitte Private practice for Deloitte India. Sekar has a strong experience of advising companies throughout their business life cycle. His experience lies in working with clients in the high growth sectors and emerging markets on their business strategy and tax advisory.
In his previous role, Sekar led the Global Business Tax practice for Deloitte India. Over the last 30 years, Sekar has worked with a niche portfolio of clients on corporate and international taxation, inbound structuring, and controversy management. He is associated with many landmark litigation cases for global companies.
In addition to advising clients, Sekar is active in representing before the Government on various tax issues impacting industry through his positions in Chambers of Commerce. He is also a prolific writer, contributing regularly to tax journals and main line papers. He has authored many books including Transfer Pricing Law & Practice, Taxation of Merger, De-merger & Foreign Collaboration and Landmark Judgements of Supreme Court on Direct Tax Laws: An Analysis.
Sekar is the Past President of Bangalore Chamber of Industry & Commerce and works closely with other chambers including NASSCOM. He is a member of the Governing Board of International Tax Research and Analysis Foundation (ITRAF) a dedicated research body in the field of International Tax and has contributed in in the following papers:
COVID 19 impact on economy: How India can lead the way
International Taxation in the Digital Era
Challenges in Domestic and International Taxation: Emerging India Experience
Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS): The Global Taxation Agenda
Insights into Evolving Issues of Taxation: Existing and Continuing Challenges
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Vice Chairman
K. R. Girish is Vice Chairman and Board Member, ITRAF. Previously, he was the Senior Tax Partner and National head of Tax Litigation and Disputes resolution in KPMG. effective April 2015. He Was Senior Partner at LeapRidge Advisors LLP, heading the firm's tax practice.
Girish has over 32 years of experience in the tax and regulatory area and has done substantial work in the area of advisory and compliance. He has done extensive work in the area of transfer pricing and has represented his clients before Tax Appellate forums and Tax Tribunals. He has been consistently rated as one of the Tax controversy Leaders in the survey by International Tax Review (ITR) UK.
He was past president of the Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce (BCIC) during 2009-10 and continues to be the Chairman of the finance Committee of the Chamber. He is also a member of the Committee of International Taxation of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI).
Girish has published over 200 articles relating to taxation in various professional journals and is a regular contributor of articles on International Tax in professional journals. He is a prolific speaker in public forums on a variety of tax and regulatory issues.
He completed his CA in the year 1983 and is fellow member of ICAI. He also is an Associate member of the Australian Taxation Institute. He holds a post Graduate in Diploma in Taxation practice from MS University.
Job Titles:
- Managing Partner
- Member of the Board
- Member of Expert
Mukesh Butani is an ITRAF Board Member and is the Managing Partner of BMR Legal. With specialization in corporate international tax and transfer pricing, he has significant experience in advising Fortune 500 multinationals and large Indian business houses on a wide range of matters relating to FDI policy, business re-organizations, cross-border tax structuring, tax controversy and regulatory policy across a range of sectors.
Mukesh participated in the Kelkar task force (2002) tax reforms and was a member of the Indian Ministry of Finance (MoF) committee (2000) on e-commerce taxation. He is presently representing International Chamber of Commerce, Paris (ICC) on the MoF Standing Committee on TDS and Foreign Tax Credit.
Mukesh has served as member of expert task force on International Tax and Transfer Pricing set by in the MoF in July 2012. He was member of Tax bureau of OECD - BIAC, Permanent Scientific Committee of IFA (2012 - 2016) and is presently Vice Chairman of Taxation Commission of ICC (2011 onwards).
He was member of Focus Group on Administrative practices on tax disputes under the Tax Administration Reform Commission (TARC) set up in August 2013 by the MoF. He is a founder member (2015) of ITRAF, a think tank to carry out research and analysis in international taxation to ensure superior tax policy and effective tax administration in India.
Mukesh is a Commerce graduate from the University of Mumbai and also holds a Bachelor's degree in Law. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1985 and enrolled as an Advocate in 2010. He is a member of Bar Council of Delhi and practices in various Tribunals, High Courts and The Supreme Court of India.
Job Titles:
- Head of Taxation, Wipro Limited ( Retired )
Job Titles:
- Head of Finance Committee