India: Trusts

Business trusts — Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs) — and their unit holders are taxed under a pass-through framework built around Section 223 of the Income-tax Act, 2025 (corresponding to Section 115UA of the erstwhile 1961 Act), read with Schedule V (Table Serial Nos. 3, 4 and 5) of the ITA 2025, which mirror clauses (23FC), (23FCA) and (23FD) of Section 10 of the ITA 1961.

India's succession laws determine who inherits property when someone dies without a Will, but the rules vary dramatically based on religion. Hindus, Muslims, Christians and Parsis each follow different legal frameworks that may distribute assets in ways families never anticipated. Understanding these statutory hierarchies and their recent judicial interpretations is essential for anyone seeking to protect family wealth and prevent prolonged disputes.

Indian trust law was conceived in a very different economic era. Public charitable trusts were traditionally viewed as custodians of philanthropic intent and were institutions established to preserve charitable objects, administer donations and safeguard public beneficiaries.

Securities and Exchange Board of India vide circular dated June 12, 2025, has issued Investor Charter for Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs).

Forming a private trust is a strategic and legally secure method of protecting assets, managing wealth, and ensuring succession planning across generations.

While India does not currently impose an inheritance tax or estate duty, the growing global trend toward wealth taxation, along with increasing scrutiny...

Regulation 14(4)(r) of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Infrastructure Investment Trusts) Regulations, 2014 ("InvIT Regulations") provides that the units of Infrastructure Investment...

In this update we highlight the key features of the governance norms applicable to REITs and InvITs, as notified by SEBI on February 14, 2023.

The Amendment brings about a welcome change to address the needs of the Trust, which considering their structure are inherently different from that of a company, ...