Article 12 - Royalties
Royalties paid to a resident of the other State may be taxed in the recipient's State; the source State retains a withholding right at the treaty rate, subject to beneficial ownership.
The India-Singapore DTAA rate on royalties is 15% general / 10% equipment-ancillary. Corrected 2026-09-04 (was flat 10%): Article 12(2) sets 15% for IP-type royalties/general FTS (3(a)), and a lower 10% only for the narrower equipment-royalty/ancillary-technical-service bucket (3(b)).
Definition: "Royalties" means payments for the use of, or the right to use, copyrights, patents, trademarks, designs, secret formulas, industrial/commercial/scientific experience (know-how), or for the use of industrial, commercial, or scientific equipment. The Supreme Court in Engineering Analysis Centre of Excellence v. CIT [2021] clarified that sale of off-the-shelf software is not royalty - distinguishing sale of a copyrighted article from transfer of copyright.
Practical filing: Indian payers withhold the treaty rate on royalty remittances against TRC + Form 10F. Form 15CB (CA certificate) and Form 15CA (e-filing) are also required for remittance.