Payments to third-party clinical labs treated as pass-through, excluded from cost base; 13.71% margin upheld, s.143(3) jurisdiction denied

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....The ITAT upheld that payments to third-party clinical laboratories are pass-through costs and must be excluded from the assessee's cost base when computing operating margin for CSMM services; the assessee's adjusted margin was accepted at 13.71% (versus 10.34% prior). The Tribunal rejected benchmarking by reference to contract R&D companies and sustained deletion of additions based on improper comparables, and affirmed that marketing support services should not be compared with high-end contract R&D providers. Grounds of appeal by the Revenue were dismissed. The assessee's objection to the AO's exercise of jurisdiction under s.143(3) after 14 years was rejected.....