Case: S.A. Builders Ltd Vs. Commissioner of Income Tax , Chandigarh and Anr

3. These appeals have been filed against the impugned judgment of the Punjab and Haryana High Court dated 13.5.2004 in Income Tax Appeal Nos. 6, 7, 119 and 120 of 2003, and the judgment dated 21.5.2004 in ITA No. 117/118 of 20034. Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the record. During the course of the proceeding for the relevant assessment year(s), the Assessing Officer under the Income Tax Act observed that the assessee had transferred a huge amount of Rs. 82 lakhs to its subsidiary company M/s. SAB Credits Limited out of the cash credit account of the assessee in which there was a huge debit balance. He, therefore, held that since the assessee had diverted its borrowed funds to a sister concern without charging any interest, proportionate interest relating to the said amount out of the total interest paid to the bank deserved to be disallowed. Accordingly, he disallowed a sum of Rs. 5, 66, 729/-5. The assessee preferred an appeal to the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) Chandigarh [for short hereinafter referred to as the CIT(A)], who vide his order dated 15.4.1993 partially accepted the claim of the assessee. According to the CIT (A), out of the total amount of Rs. 82 lacs advanced by the assessee in the relevant assessment year to M/s. SAB Credit Limited, only a sum of Rs. 18 lacs had a clear nexus with the borrowed funds, as the balance amount had been paid out of the receipts from other parties to whom no interest had been paid. Accordingly, the CIT(A) directed the Assessing Officer to calculate disallowance of interest only relating to the sum of Rs. 18 lacs, and the disallowance was reduced accordingly6. Both the assessee as well as the Revenue filed appeals before the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (hereinafter referred to as the Tribunal). The Tribunal by its order dated 20.6.2002 allowed the appeal of the Revenue, and held that the entire amount of Rs. 82 lacs had been advanced by the assessee by utilizing the overdraft account, and hence it was of the view that disallowance made by the Assessing Officer was justified. Accordingly, the appeal filed by the Revenue was allowed and the appeal field by the assessee was dismissed. Against the order of the Tribunal, the assessee filed appeals in the High Court which were dismissed by the impugned judgment7. In the assessment year 1991-92, the Assessing Officer noticed that in addition to the sum of Rs. 82 lacs advanced in the assessment year 1990-91, a further sum of Rs. 37,85,000/- had been advanced to M/s. SAB Credits Ltd which also had a clear nexus with the amounts borrowed by the assessee on payment of interest. Accordingly, the Assessing Officer disallowed proportionate interest relatable to these amounts amounting to Rs. 20,08,836/-8. On appeal by the assessee, the CIT(A) upheld the finding of the Assessing Officer that the sum of Rs. 37,85,000/- advanced during assessment year 1990-91, was relatable to the borrowed funds. However, in view of the findings of her predecessor in assessment year 1990-91, that out of Rs. 82 lacs advanced during that year, advance of Rs. 64 lacs had no nexus with the borrowed funds, she reduced the disallowance from Rs. 20,08,836 to Rs. 10,03,538/- vide her order dated 28.7.1994. The assessee was granted further relief of Rs. 1,48,464/- by the CIT(A) vide order dated 6.9.1995 under Section 154 of the Act. On the cross-appeals filed by the assessee as well as the Revenue, the Tribunal following its order for assessment year 1990-91, upheld the disallowance as made by the Assessing Officer. Accordingly, the appeal of the revenue on this issue was allowed and that of the assessee dismissed. Against this decision also, the assessee filed an appeal before the High Court9. In the impugned judgment dated 13.5.2004, the High Court held that the Tribunal had recorded a categorical finding of fact that the amount advanced by the assessee to M/s. SAB Credits Limited by utilizing the overdraft account and that on the date on which the amount was advanced there was no credit balance in the bank account of the assessee. The Tribunal further observed that the assessee has not been able to explain the purpose for which the amount had been advanced to its sister concern without charging any interest and there was no material on record to show that the assessee had derived any business benefit by advancing the interest free amounts to its sister concern10. The High Court held that since it stands established that the amount of Rs. 82 lacs and Rs. 37.85 lacs had been advanced by the assessee to its sister concern from out of the overdraft account with the bank in which there was already a debit balance, the order of the Tribunal does not suffer from any factual or legal infirmity. Accordingly, the High Court dismissed the appeal.

Reasoning: In our opinion, the approach of the High Court as well as the authorities below on the aforesaid question was not correct19. In our opinion, the High Court in the impugned judgment, as well as the Tribunal and the Income Tax authorities have approached the matter from an erroneous angle. In the present case, the assessee borrowed the fund from the bank and lent some of it to its sister concern (a subsidiary) on interest free loan. The test, in our opinion, in such a case is really whether this was done as a measure of commercial expediency20. In our opinion, the decisions relating to Section 37 of the Act will also be applicable to Section 36(1)(iii) because in Section 37 also the expression used is "for the purpose of business". It has been consistently held in decisions relating to Section 37 that the expression "for the purpose of business" includes expenditure voluntarily incurred for commercial expediency, and it is immaterial if a third party also benefits thereby22. In our opinion, the High Court as well as the Tribunal and other Income Tax authorities should have approached the question of allow ability of interest on the borrowed funds from the above angle. In other words, the High Court and other authorities should have enquired as to whether the interest free loan was given to the sister company (which is a subsidiary of the assessee) as a measure of commercial expediency, and if it was, it should have been allowed23. The expression "commercial expediency" is an expression of wide import and includes such expenditure as a prudent businessman incurs for the purpose of business. The expenditure may not have been incurred under any legal obligation, but yet it is allowable as a business expenditure if it was incurred on grounds of commercial expediency26. In the present case, neither the High Court nor the Tribunal nor other authorities have examined whether the amount advanced to the sister concern was by way of commercial expediency. It has been repeatedly held by this Court that the expression "for the purpose of business" is wider in scope than the expression " for the purpose of earning profits"27. The High Court and the other authorities should have examined the purpose for which the assessee advanced the money to its sister concern, and what the sister concern did with this money, in order to decide whether it was for commercial expediency, but that has not been done. It is true that the borrowed amount in question was not utilized by the assessee in its own business, but had been advanced as interest free loan to its sister concern. However, in our opinion, that fact is not really relevant. What is relevant is whether the assessee advanced such amount to its sister concern as a measure of commercial expediencyit was held that interest on the borrowed amount could not be allowed if such amount had been advanced to a subsidiary company of the assessee. With respect, we are of the opinion that the view taken by the Bombay High Court was not correct. The correct view in our opinion was whether the amount advanced to the subsidiary or associated company or any other party was advanced as a measure of commercial expediency. We are of the opinion that the view taken by the Tribunal in Phaltan Sugar Works Ltd (supra) that the interest was deductible as the amount was advanced to the subsidiary company as a measure of commercial expediency is the correct view, and the view taken by the Bombay High Court which set aside the aforesaid decision is not correct28. We agree with the view taken by the Delhi High Court in CIT vs. Dalmia Cement (Bhart) Ltd. (2002) 254 ITR 377  that once it is established that there was nexus between the expenditure and the purpose of the business (which need not necessarily be the business of the assessee itself), the Revenue cannot justifiably claim to put itself in the arm-chair of the businessman or in the position of the board of directors and assume the role to decide how much is reasonable expenditure having regard to the circumstances of the case. No businessman can be compelled to maximize its profit. The income tax authorities must put themselves in the shoes of the assessee and see how a prudent businessman would act. The authorities must not look at the matter from their own view point but that of a prudent businessman. As already stated above, we have to see the transfer of the borrowed funds to a sister concern from the point of view of commercial expediency and not from the point of view whether the amount was advanced for earning profits29. We wish to make it clear that it is not our opinion that in every case interest on borrowed loan has to be allowed if the assessee advances it to a sister concern. It all depends on the facts and circumstances of the respective case. For instance, if the Directors of the sister concern utilize the amount advanced to it by the assessee for their personal benefit, obviously it cannot be said that such money was advanced as a measure of commercial expediency. However, money can be said to be advanced to a sister concern for commercial expediency in many other circumstances (which need not be enumerated here). However, where it is obvious that a holding company has a deep interest in its subsidiary, and hence if the holding company advances borrowed money to a subsidiary and the same is used by the subsidiary for some business purposes, the assessee would, in our opinion, ordinarily be entitled to deduction of interest on its borrowed loans.