MINISTRY OF FINANCE

(Department of Revenue)

(CENTRAL BOARD OF DIRECT TAXES)

NOTIFICATION

New Delhi, the 19th April 2021

(INCOME-TAX)

S.O. 1661(E).—In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-clause (vi) of clause (b) of the Explanation 1 to
clause (23FE) of section 10 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (43 of 1961) (hereinafter referred to as the “Act”), the Central
Government hereby specifies the sovereign wealth fund, namely, the Norfund, Government of Norway, (hereinafter
referred to as “the assessee”) as the specified person for the purposes of the said clause in respect of the investment
made by it in India on or after the date of publication of this notification in the Official Gazette but on or before the
31st day of March, 2024 (hereinafter referred to as “said investments”) subject to the fulfilment of the following
conditions, namely:-

(i) the assessee shall file return of income, for all the relevant previous years falling within the period beginning
from the date in which the said investment has been made and ending on the date on which such investment
is liquidated, on or before the due date specified for furnishing the return of income under sub-section (1) of
section 139 of the Act;

(ii) the assessee shall get its books of account audited for the previous years referred to in clause (i) by any
accountant specified in the Explanation below sub-section (2) of section 288 of the Act and furnish the
Audit Report in the format annexed as Annexure to this notification herewith at least one month prior to the
due date specified for furnishing the return of income under sub-section (1) of section 139 of the Act;

(iii) the assessee shall furnish a quarterly statement within one month from the end of each quarter electronically
in Form II as annexed to the Circular No 15 of 2020, dated the 22nd July, 2020 with F. No. 370142/26/2020-
TPL, issued by the Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue, Central Board of Direct Taxes (Tax
Policy and Legislation Division), in respect of each investment made by it during the said quarter;

(iv) the assessee shall maintain a segmented account of income and expenditure in respect of such investment
which qualifies for exemption under clause (23FE) of section 10 of the Act;

(v) the assessee shall continue to be owned and controlled, directly or indirectly, by the Government of Norway
and at no point of time any other person should have any ownership or control, directly or indirectly, in the
assessee;

(vi) the assessee shall continue to be regulated under the law of the Government of Norway;
(vii) the earnings of the assessee shall be credited either to the account of the Government of Norway or to any

other account designated by that Government so that no portion of the earnings inures to any private person
barring any payment made to creditors or depositors for loan or borrowing [as defined in sub-clause (a) of
clause (ii) of Explanation 2 to clause (23FE) of section 10 of the Act] taken for the purposes other than for
making investment in India;
(viii) the assessee shall not have any loans or borrowings [as defined in sub-clause (a) of clause (ii) of Explanation
2 to clause (23FE) of section 10 of the Act], directly or indirectly, for the purposes of making investment in
India;
(ix) the asset of the assessee shall vest in the Government of Norway upon dissolution barring any payment made
to creditors or depositors for loan taken or borrowing for the purposes other than for making investment in
India; and
[भाग II—खण्ड 3(ii)] भारत का रािपत्र : असाधारण 7

(x) the assessee shall not participate in the day to day operations of investee [as defined in clause (i) of
Explanation 2 to clause (23FE) of section 10 of the Act] but the monitoring mechanism to protect the
investment with the investee including the right to appoint directors or executive director shall not be
considered as participation in the day to day operations of the investee.

2. Violation of any of the conditions as stipulated in the said clause (23FE) and this notification shall render the

assessee ineligible for the tax exemption.

3. This notification shall come into force from the date of its publication in the Official Gazette.

ANNEXURE

Audit report to be filed by the Sovereign Wealth Fund claiming exemption under clause (23FE) of section 10 of
the Income -tax Act, 1961

Part I

*I/we report that the statutory audit of M/s. ………...........…………………. (Name and address of the
assessee with Permanent Account Number or Aadhaar Number), the particulars of which are given in Part II was
conducted by *me/ us/ M/s. …………………………………………..………. as per the requirement under the
Notification No …../…… dated ……… published in the Official Gazette on ……....

2. In *my/ our opinion and to the best of *my/ our information and according to examination of books of

account including other relevant documents and explanations given to *me/us, it is certified that the assessee *has/ has

not complied with the conditions as laid down under clause (23FE) of section 10 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 and

those provided in the said notification specifying the assessee being the Sovereign Wealth Fund as specified person

for the purposes of claiming exemption under the said clause (23FE).

2.1 *The conditions not complied with by the assessee are as under:-

(a) …………………………….…………………………….………………………………
(b) …………………………….…………………………….………………………………

3. In *my/our opinion and to the best of *my/ our information and according to examination of books of

account including other relevant documents and explanations given to *me/us, the particulars given in the Part II are

true and correct subject to the following observations/qualifications, if any, namely:-

(a) …………………………….…………………………….………………………………
(b) …………………………….…………………………….………………………………

Part II

5. Name of the Assessee :

6. PAN/ AADHAAR :

7. Previous Year :

8. Total Income of the Assessee during the previous year

9. Total amount of income eligible for exemption under clause

(23FE) of section 10 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (as per details

in column 11 of table

at item no.6) :

10. The opening balance (i.e. the closing balance as on the last date of the preceding financial year) of the

investment made which is eligible for exemption under clause (23FE) of section 10 is ______________(in

rupees) and details of the investment by the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) during the period are as under:

Table

Sl. Date of Amount of Nature Nature of income Amount of Details of the entity in which Investment made Amount of

No. investment investment of investment (instruction 5) income on Nature of entity Name PAN In case if income

(Instruction 4) investment (instruction 6) nature of which is

during the entity code is eligible for

year 3/4/5, whether exemption

the entity has under clause

made (23FE) of

minimum section 10

investment of (Attach

50 or75 or 90 calculation

percent as sheet as per

required in relevant

item (c) or (d) rules)

or (e) of sub-

clause (iii) of

clause (23FE)
8 THE GAZETTE OF INDIA : EXTRAORDINARY [PART II—SEC. 3(ii)]

of section 10

(Attach

calculation

sheet as per

relevant

rules)

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11)

1.

2.

Total

7.*the SWF has not sold any of the investments made for the purposes of exemption under clause (23FE) of section 10

of the Income-tax Act, 1961 before the expiry of three years from the date on which the investment was made in

respect of the said exemption/the SWF has sold certain investments made for the purposes of exemption under clause

(23FE) of section 10 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 before the expiry of three years from the date on which the

investment was made in respect of the said exemption, the details of which are as under:

Table

Sl. Date of Nature Nature of Amount of Details of the entity in which Date of

No. investment of investment income income on Investment made sale

(Instruction (instruction investment Nature of entity Name PAN

4) 5) during the (instruction 7)

year

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9)

1.

2.

Total

8. The SWF satisfies all the conditions required for the purposes of exemption under clause (23FE) of section 10 of
the Income-tax Act, 1961, that is, -

(a) Whether the government of foreign country wholly owns and controls the SWF, directly or Yes/No
indirectly

(b) Mention the name of the government of foreign country which owns and controls the SWF,
directly or indirectly

(c) Whether the government of foreign country owns and controls the SWF, directly or indirectly Directly/
Indirectly

(d) In case if government of foreign country owns and controls the SWF, indirectly give details
of the chain of ownership

(e) Name of the law under which the SWF is set up and regulated

(f) Whether the earnings of the said fund are credited either to the account of the Government of Yes/No
that foreign country or to any other account designated by that Government so that no portion
of the earnings inures any benefit to any private person barring any payment made to
creditors or depositors for loan taken or borrowing for the purposes other than for making
investment in India.

(g) Whether the asset of the said fund vests in the Government of such foreign country upon Yes/No
dissolution barring any payment made to creditors or depositors for loan taken or borrowing
for the purposes other than for making investment in India.

(h) If answer to (f) or (g) is No, then provide the following details:
i. Name of such private person
ii. Amount of benefit provided during the year

(i) Whether it participates in the day to day operations of any of the investee, as defined in clause Yes/No
(i) of Explanation 2 to clause (23FE) of section 10, barring any monitoring mechanism to
protect the investment with the investee including the right to appoint directors or executive
director
[भाग II—खण्ड 3(ii)] भारत का रािपत्र : असाधारण 9

(j) If answer to (i) is yes, then provide the following details:
i. Name of such investee
ii. PAN of the investee
iii. Amount of investment in such investee at the end of the year

(k) Whether it has complied with the requirement of intimation of the details of investment made Yes/No
by it in India in Form No II issued vide circular No 15/2020 dated 22.07.2020

(l) Whether it has loans or borrowings, as defined in Explanation 2 to clause (23FE) of section Yes/No
10, directly or indirectly, for the purposes of making investment in India

(m) If answer to (l) is yes, then provide the following details:

(i) Name of the person from whom such loan or borrowing has been taken
(ii) Amount of loan or borrowing at the beginning of the year
(iii) Amount of loan or borrowing received during the year
(iv) Amount of loan or borrowing repaid during the year
(v) Amount of loan or borrowing at the end of the year

(n) Whether separate segmented account is maintained for income and investment in respect of Yes/No
investment which qualifies for exemption under clause (23FE) of section 10 of the Act

Place: ……………

Date: ……………

**(Signature and stamp/ Seal of the signatory)
Name of the signatory …………………
Full address ……………………………

Membership No………………………
UDIN………………………………..

Instructions: 1. *Delete whichever is not applicable.

2. This report is to be given by an accountant as defined in the Explanation below sub-section (2) of section 288 of the
Income-tax Act, 1961.

3. An “investee” shall have the same meaning as in cluause (i) to Explanation 2 to clause (23FE) of section 10 of the
Income-tax Act, 1961 and “Loan and borrowing” shall have the same meaning as in sub-clause (a) of clause (ii) of
Explanation 2 to clause (23FE) of section 10 of the Income-tax Act, 1961.”.

4. One of the following codes is to be selected:

Nature of Investment Code
Debt 1
Equity 2
3
Preference Shares 4
Others (Please specify)
Code
5. One of the following codes is to be selected: 1
2
Nature of Income 3
Interest 4
Dividend

Capital Gains
Others
10 THE GAZETTE OF INDIA : EXTRAORDINARY [PART II—SEC. 3(ii)]

6. One of the following codes is to be selected:

Nature of entity in which investment is made Code

Business Trust referred to in item (a) of sub-clause (iii) of clause (23FE) of section 10 1
Company or enterprise or entity referred to in item (b) of sub-clause (iii) of clause (23FE) of section 10 2
3
Alternative Investment Fund referred to in item (c) of sub-clause (iii) of clause (23FE) of section 10 4
Domestic company referred to in item (d) of sub-clause (iii) of clause (23FE) of section 10
5
Infrastructure Finance Company/Infrastructure Debt Fund-NBFC referred to in item (e) of sub-clause (iii)
of clause (23FE) of section 10

[Notification No. 33/2021/ F. No. 370142/6/2021-TPL]
VIPUL AGARWAL, Director (Tax Policy and Legislation Division)

Uploaded by Dte. of Printing at Government of India Press, Ring Road, Mayapuri, New Delhi-110064
and Published by the Controller of Publications, Delhi-110054.