The ITAT dismissed the Revenue's appeal, upholding the CIT(A)'s...

The ITAT dismissed the Revenue's appeal, upholding the CIT(A)'s deletion of a protective addition under section 2(22)(e). The Tribunal accepted that Rs. 18.08 crore received from a group concern constituted contribution of funds for a collective project and was a bona fide business transaction rather than a distribution of profits. Noting that the assessee paid interest exceeding Rs.1 crore on the alleged loan and that similar factual matrices have been treated as business transactions under the CBDT example, the ITAT held the transaction qualified for exclusion under sub-clause (ii) of section 2(22)(e). Consequently, the amounts were not to be treated as deemed dividend.