Write a critical note on India Mauritius relations especially in the light of India recent fight against

black money.

Mauritius offers help on black money probe

The country has been accused of being a route for roundtripping of funds by Indians

Mauritius, often accused of being a route for round-tripping of funds by Indians, on Monday
conveyed to India that it was ready to support its Special Investigation Team (SIT) to unearth
black money.
This was conveyed to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj by Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Regional Integration and International Trade, Arvin Boolell, during a meeting here, an External
Affairs Ministry spokesperson said.
Mr. Boolell said Mauritius would take measures to ensure it remains a jurisdiction of repute,
he said.
Mauritius used to be the biggest gateway for flow of funds into India through FDI as well as FII
routes, but its position has come down.
It recently slipped to the second place after the U.S. in terms of quantum of money being brought
in by overseas investors into Indian markets.
According to the SEBI, Mauritius accounted for Rs. 3.31 lakh crore worth assets under custody
of foreign institutional investors in the Indian equity and debt markets at the end of 2013, as
against over Rs. 4.37 lakh crore in the case of the U.S.
Fund flows from Mauritius have fallen amid concerns about suspected money laundering, even
though the Indian Ocean island nation has been consistently denying such allegations.

Round-tripping is usually referred to routing of domestic investments through Mauritius to take

advantage of the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) between the two countries.
The island nation received requests for information in 97 cases from India during the one-year
period ended August 2014.
According to a Mauritius official, 85 per cent of those requests have been resolved. Between
August 2013 and August this year, we have received requests in as many as 97 cases for the
exchange of information with Indian authorities and we have already provided banking
information and other financial details to them in 85 per cent of these cases, M. Rawoteea, Head
Analyst at the Ministry of Finance, Mauritius, had told PTI earlier.
The country has been accused of being a route for round-tripping of funds by Indians

answers1. Historically, India and Mauritius shared very good relations however recently there has been some
bad patches in the bilateral relations in the context of India's probe against black money.
Mauritius has been the largest source of foreign investment both FDI and FII for India. The reason being
the round tripping of domestic investments through Mauritius to make use of double tax avoidance
agreement that India has with Mauritius. In a recent new development, Mauritius government has
assured India to help Special Investigation team for probe against black money stashed in the island
country. This is a welcome step in the bilateral relations between two countries and will go a long way in
further nurturing the relations. India always considered Mauritius as their steadfast friend and partner
which is also reflected from the recent line of credit provided by Indian government in Light Rail transit
project in Mauritius.