Dr. Manas S. Ray is an advocate and a Partner at Nora Chambers, New Delhi. His practice area focuses on litigation and advisory in direct tax, international taxation and transfer pricing, benami transactions, black money act, anti-money laundering, foreign exchange management act, as well as securities laws including SEBI insider trading, fraudulent & unfair trade practices, and take over regulations etc. A former Chief Commissioner of Income Tax (IRS) with the Government of India, he has rich experience of thirty-three years in tax administration and public policy formulation. He handled senior positions in many critical verticals including taxation of large corporations, investigation, international taxation, appellate functions, and dispute resolution panel. He supervised a number of landmark cases, including those of Cairn UK, Nokia Corporation, Oracle Corporation and NDTV. He worked as Chairman/Member of various important committees of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) including those relating to taxation of digital economy, verification of foreign remittances, forming government’s view on contentious legal issues and evaluating the efficacy of dispute resolution mechanism etc. Many of his orders / practices find place in ‘Let us Share’ – a publication of best orders / practices by CBDT. Dr. Ray worked as an Executive Director with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on secondment for six years, where he was in-charge of Investigation, Market Regulation Department, Market Intermediary Regulation and Supervision Department, and Derivatives & New Products Department etc. He was instrumental in launching the exchange-traded currency and interest rate derivatives markets in India, and implementation of corporatization and demutualization of stock exchanges. He also worked as a Member of Inter-Departmental Committee constituted by the Ministry of Finance to review the India-Mauritius DTAA; Coordinator for the High Level Consultative Committee on Financial Markets; Member of the Standing Committee on Secondary Market of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO); and Member of the Association of National Numbering Agencies (ANNA) of the International Standards Organization (ISO). He represented SEBI in meetings with the Chairman, US SEC; Stern School of Business (NYU); London Stock Exchange; Alternate Investment Market, London and Govt. of India delegation to study the Chinese financial markets. He worked as Convener / Member of important committees including RBI-SEBI Technical Committee on Exchange-traded Currency Derivatives and Interest Rate Derivatives; Primary Market Advisory Committee; Secondary Market Advisory Committee and Committee to Review Eligibility Norms for Market Intermediaries; Governing Council of the Indian Institute of Capital Markets (IICM); Advisory Committee for School of Certification of Intermediaries of the National Institute of Securities Markets (NISM). Education •Dept of Public Administration, IGNOU & Dept of Finance and Business Economics, University of Delhi, New Delhi – PhD •Faculty of Arts, University of Delhi, New Delhi – MA •University Law College, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar – LLB •Govt Law College, University of Mumbai, Mumbai – P.G. Diploma in Securities Law (Distinction) Bar Qualification & Memberships •Bar Council of India (registered with the Bar Council of Delhi) •Delhi High Court Bar Association •Income Tax Appellate Tribunal Bar Association •Indian Institute of Public Administration Experience •Indian Revenue Service (batch of 1985) •Chief Commissioner of Income Tax •Director of International Taxation •Executive Director, SEBI Professional Training •Workshop on Impact of International Investment Agreements and Arbitration on Governance in Argentina, Czech Republic, India and Mexico and Conference on International Dispute Settlement organized by Centre for International Dispute Settlement (CIDS) at Geneva (2015). •Advanced Mid-career Training at IIM, Bengaluru & University of Maryland, USA (2014). •‘IOSCO Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding’ by IOSCO at China Securities Regulatory Commission, Beijing (2006). •‘Financial Crimes and Investigation’ by Oxford University faculty at the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka, Colombo (2005). •‘Computer and Internet Crimes’ at the National Police Academy – Hyderabad (2005). •‘US SEC Speaks – 2005’ – Washington D.C. (2005). •Probationary training in Indian Revenue Service at National Academy of Direct Taxes, Nagpur (1985-87). •Course in General Management at the Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi (1981). Speaking Engagements •Guest faculty at the National Law Schools, Reserve Bank of India Staff College, National Academy of Direct Taxes, National Insurance Academy, and Income Tax Regional Training Institutes etc. •Speaker at various academic and professional fora in India and abroad, including the Asian Exchange Congress on ‘Regulatory Developments and Implications for the Exchanges’–Singapore, 2007; Seminar on ‘Strategies for countering the Global Financial Crisis’ organized by the Asian Developments Bank – Manila, 2009; ‘Public Sector Enterprises and Regulations’ at the Conference of Heads of PSEs organized by Ministry of Industry and CII – New Delhi, 2010; Talk on ‘Indian Financial System’ to the Visiting MBA students from Thunderbird School of Global Management, Glendale, Arizona (USA) – New Delhi, 2010; International Taxation at conferences of IFA, ICAI, ASSOCHAM, FICCI, PHD Chamber of Commerce, KPMG Tax Leaders Forum, ICSSR Seminar on Black Money Act organised by NLU Delhi – New Delhi, 2024.