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2009 (11) TMI 550

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..... he benefit of the assessee by issuing circulars to ensure a proper administration of the fiscal statute and such circulars would be binding on the authorities administering the Act. Considering this ever-expanding horizon of software products and services, the Board has been given the power to notify such products and services which in its opinion should qualify for deduction under s. 10A. In other words, this power of the Board when exercised, it will ensure proper administration of the fiscal statute as observed by the Supreme Court in UCO Bank's case. It is in this sense the learned AM has observed that the Board's circular has made the job of the AO quite simple. While deciding these issues, the principle of ejusdem generis will have to be kept in mind. However, so far as services which are ITE are concerned, the assessee can take the benefit of deduction only if they are notified by the Board. If this power of notifying the services was not given to the Board, principle of ejusdem generis would have applied. Since the power is exercised under the specific provision of s. 10A, it is presupposed that the services in respect of which the assessee is claiming deduction are inf .....

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..... amount receivable as per agreement or actual services rendered. 7. For these and other grounds that may be adduced at the time of hearing, it is prayed that the order of the learned CIT(A) may be set aside and that of the AO restored." 3. The assessee, a private limited company, was incorporated on 20th June, 2000 in the name of Pinnacle Info Solutions (P) Ltd. Its name was subsequently changed to Accurum India (P) Ltd. on 9th June, 2004. The assessee-company was promoted by a US based corporate entity, Pinnacle Systems Inc., New Jersey, USA as a 100 per cent subsidiary. 3.1 Pinnacle Systems Inc., the parent company, was incorporated in USA in 1995 and was doing business in the areas of software consultancy (providing recruitment and placement of qualified/trained software professional for performing assigned tasks at different client locations) and software application development. The equity shares of this company are held by three persons as under: -------------------------------------------- Sl.No. Name Equity shares -------------------------------------------- 1. Shri Raghu Kodali 33.33% ---------------------------------------- .....

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..... ---------- 2. Offshore development US$ 15 persons hr/persons on project. ------------------------------------------------------------ 3. Training on specified - US$ 3,250/person/one skills month monthly duration - US$ 6,500/person/two month duration Proportionate charges for longer duration ------------------------------------------------------------ 4. On-site services in US - US$ 45/person hr (devl. analysts) - US$ 55/person hr (project leaders) ------------------------------------------------------------ 5. Any other service as Actual cost plus service mutually agreed from charges as negotiated on time to time each instance. ------------------------------------------------------------ 2. ............. 3. ............. 4. ............. 5. ............. 6. Skill sets of the candidates: .....

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..... --------------------------------------- Other incidental 10,000 16,430 charges ------------------------------------------------------------ Total income 3,48,48,962 ------------------------------------------------------------ 8. The CIT(A) allowed the assessee's claim for deduction under s. 10A of the Act, for the reasons given in paras 6.14, 6.15 and 6.16 of his order as under: "6.14 The facts of the case discussed above clearly show that the appellant has fulfilled the conditions laid down for deduction under s. 10A of the Act and entitled for the same, and there is no material/evidence to suspect the bona fide or genuineness of the transactions claimed and reflected by the assessee in its accounts and the return. 6.15 The AO has also cited several decisions in support of conclusion that the profits in respect of the deduction was claimed are not derived from the export of software/ITES. These decisions are not applicable in the present context, as human resource services are 'ITES' as notified by Board and, the 'profit' from export of such human resource services is eligible for deduction under s. 10 .....

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..... d in the CBDT notification are subject to all other conditions stipulated in s. 10A which are mandatory. - that the principle of ejusdem generis is applicable to the words 'products or services of similar nature' appearing in Expln. 2(i). - that the 'customized electronic data' is information in electronic media according to the requirement of the customer. - that the assessee did not export any such item, did not comply with the conditions, and was not eligible for deduction under s. 10A. - that the activities done by the assessee did not amount to export/transmission from India to abroad. - that reliance was placed on the decisions in the following cases: (i) Abdulgafar A. Nadiadwala vs. Asstt. CIT (2004) 188 CTR (Bom) 232 : (2004) 267 ITR 488 (Bom); (ii) CIT vs. V.C. Kuganathan (2007) 293 ITR 15 (Mad); (iii) CIT vs. A.V.M. Production (2007) 293 ITR 22 (Mad); (iv) Eastman Consultants (P) Ltd. vs. CBDT (1981) 24 CTR (Bom) 140 : (1981) 132 ITR 637 (Bom). 10. Shri V. Ramachandran, the learned Authorised Representative, reiterated the arguments which were put forward on behalf of the assessee before the AO and the CIT(A). He supported the order of the CIT(A) and t .....

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..... ftware for a period of ten consecutive assessment years beginning with the assessment year relevant to the previous year in which the undertaking begins to manufacture or produce such articles or things or computer software, as the case may be, shall be allowed from the total income of the assessee: (2) This section applies to any undertaking which fulfils all the following conditions namely: (i) it has begun or begins to manufacture or produce articles or things or computer software during the previous year relevant to the assessment year-" 13.1 The expression "computer software" appearing in s. 10A(1) is defined in Expln. 2(i) as under: Explanation 2: For the purposes of this section, (i) "computer software" means- (a) any computer program recorded on any disc, tape, perforated media or other information storage device; or (b) any customized electronic data or any product or service of similar nature, as may be notified by the Board, which is transmitted or exported from India to any place outside India by any means. 13.2 The notification, referred to in cl. (b) of Expln. 2(i) above, issued by the CBDT d t. 26th Sept., 2000 [(2000) 163 CTR (St) 25], is as under: .....

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..... ous sites that may be spread all over the globe by HTTP and HTML is a convenient method of extracting information from internet. 14.4 It appears that, in business, a fusion of 'service sector' and 'information technology sector' (ITS) took place to giving rise to the emergence of 'information technology enabled service sector' (ITES). The use of computers in telecommunication and growth of WWW gave a quantum leap to what is presently known as ITS and ITES, and globalization of economy gave tremendous impetus to the 'ITES-BPO' market-segment. 15. The requirement of sub-s. (1) of s. 10A, inter alia, is that the 'profits' should be derived from export of 'computer software'. The Expln. 2(i), below sub-s. (9), explains the meaning of 'computer software', and also the mode of its export/transmission. 15.1 The cl. (b) of the Expln. 2(i) says 'any customized electronic data or any product or service of similar nature, as may be notified by the Board, which is transmitted or exported from India to any place outside India by any means'. 15.2 The CBDT notification talks of information technology enabled services (ITES), and gives a list thereof including 'back-office operations', 'ca .....

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..... y other place. It is a typical example of 'business process outsourcing' (BPO), and a significant part of the overall ITES-BPO market. 19.2 In a 'call centre' what is outsourced is a business 'process', and the company which runs the 'call centre' provides the requisite service comprising of a particular business 'process'. In other words the 'business process', which is outsourced by a foreign company, can be said to constitute the 'subject-matter' of the 'service' that is exported from India. In such a scenario, in order to fulfil the requirement of cl. (b) of Expln. 2(i) what is necessary is that the results of the 'business process' executed in India, are 'transmitted' by the hired company in India to the hirer company abroad. 19.3 The profits derived by an assessee in India from a 'call centre' in India, for providing services in relation to a business 'process' to a foreign company will qualify for deduction under s. 10A, in view of the CBDT notification, which says that a 'call centre' is a 'specified ITES'. There is no ambiguity about this example. We now proceed to compare the activities of the assessee-company in the present case with a 'call center' as discussed in t .....

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..... ATG Dynamo, DHTML, Site Server, XML, Java Script -Unix/C++/ORACLE 8i/CORBA ------------------------------------------------------------ Meet us on 11th 12th Nov., 2000, 9 a.m. onwards at Hotel Parklane, No. 115 Parklane, Secunderabad-500003. Phone: 7840466 ------------------------------------------------------------ If you are unable to meet us, please send your resume in text format to: Pinnacle @md5vsnl.net.in ------------------------------------------------------------ Pinnacle Info Solutions (P) Ltd. AB-5, 3rd Floor, 2nd Avenue, Anna Nagar, Chennai-600 040 Website: www.pinnacle-sys.com" ------------------------------------------------------------ 23. In paper book Vol. II, from page Nos. 238 to 279, are copies of e-mails exchanged between Pinnacle Systems Inc., USA and the assessee-company, relating to the recruitment exercise. It is seen that the assessee-company conveyed the results of its talent search exercise in respect of each candidate to Pinnacle Systems Inc., USA, t .....

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..... Mr. Raghu, Important points for the week. Mr. Vijay has transmitted to US, advertisement material for proposed positions for review and suggestions from US office. ------------------------------------------------------------ (ii) I could contact him but the line was very noisy. I will try calling him tomorrow (Monday). Venkat ------------------------------------------------------------ (iii) She has got good concepts. Working on EJB project, but not industrial strength. I asked her for training program. She is ready for that. We should make her an offer at 50K and 3K increase after finishing the training. She is currently getting approximately Rs. 10,000. We can offer her the same or little more for Chennai location starting 1st December. She may have to work there at least 4-6 months and we will process the h-1 in the mean time. Venkat ------------------------------------------------------------ (iv) Good candidate. Please offer 55K per annum and explain the California allowance. Ask him to improve on EJBs and application servers. .....

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..... Pinnacle Systems Inc. is a solutions provider offering consulting and software development services in the areas of web, knowledge management and e-commerce. Some of our fortune 500 clients include Chase Manhattan Bank, Merill Lynch, Johnson Johnson and Concert Communications. As a full-time employee of Pinnacle Systems, you will be entitled for two weeks vacation and one week of sick time for each year of service. CIGNA Insurance Co. is retained by Pinnacle Systems Inc. to provide the health insurance. Appropriate health insurance enrolment forms will be provided to you after you arrive here. We are confident that your skills and expertise will be a valuable asset to us and we can provide you a dynamic and challenging work environment. Please read attached employee agreement (duplicate), sign and return one copy to us. If you have any questions, please call me at (732) 981-1400 or send e-mail to Sincerely, Vijay Meda Executive Vice President I, Sreebhashyam Shashi Kanth, accept this offer and will be bound by the terms and conditions of the employee agreement. ...................... Signature of employee" 28. In our opinion, the communication of the above n .....

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..... rder, the AO has mentioned the details submitted by the assessee as proof of the 'export of human resources'. After examining these details the AO observed. These details go to show that the company has actually conducted interviews, resumes of the candidates have been obtained, and bank guarantees have been obtained in case they are inducted (either in India or abroad). These facts are not disputed'. In other words the AO did not doubt the genuineness of the activities undertaken by the assessee-company. 30.1 Then, in para (i) on p. 7 of his order the AO says that the assessee had relied on certain self-serving documents, and he quotes a Latin maxim. He casts aspersions saying that, the letters exchanged have a 'different purpose'. He talks about so-called 'body shopping income', which we are unable to understand. 30.2 In para (ii) on p. 8 of his order, he says that the claim of the assessee is apparently based on international tax methodology'. This observation of the AO is incomprehensible to us, to say the least. And, then he proceeds to 'prima facie' conclude that, this was a 'tax avoidance/evasion of tax' and that the 'principles laid down in the case of McDowell (ITR) ar .....

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..... nt or actual services. The precise objection/grievance of the Department or the logic behind this statement is not clear to us. The Department appears to be saying, obliquely, that the receipts had a disproportionately large component of profit; but could this really be a grievance for the Department. Further, the onus was on the AO to show that the receipts were in respect of some other services which did not qualify for deduction under s. 10A of the Act. 31.3 The remittances did come into the country in foreign exchange, and no doubts have been raised about it. Also, this is not a case where remittances came through informal/undisclosed channels. And, the AO did not bring any material on record to show that the assessee had undertaken a sham exercise, or that the evidence produced by the assessee was false. An addition made on conjectures, and surmises cannot be countenanced. In the circumstances, therefore, we hold that the arguments raised through ground Nos. 4, 5 and 6 have no merit and are rejected. 32. In view of the facts and circumstances discussed in the paras, we are of the considered opinion that the profits of the assessee-company did qualify for deduction under s. .....

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..... the first part representing "any customized electronic data and second part any product or services of similar nature as may be notified by the Board. Therefore, the principle of ejusdem generis is applicable to the second part of sub-cl. (b) of cl. (i) of Expln. 2 regarding any product or services of similar nature. The eI3DT has notified the circular dt. 26th Sept., 2000 in respect of the products or services as mentioned in second part of sub-cl. (b) of cl. (i) of Expln. 2. The said notification has been reproduced in the proposed order of the learned AM at p. 10 in para 13.2. The Board has specified 15 products or services in this respect. At serial No. 7 of the notification of the product or services, human resources services is placed. In said notification, the Board has specified the information technology enabled (ITE) products or services as the case may be for the purpose of the said clause. Therefore, the products or services referred in the notification have to be ITE which is a precondition for the product or services for the purpose of the sub-cl. (b) of cl. (i) of the Expln. 2. The Board's circular does not clarify that the product or services mentioned therein are .....

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..... the learned Departmental Representative, the Hon'ble Bombay High Court has held at pp. 518 and 519 as under: "Now, let us find out the meaning of the word 'otherwise' appearing in the scheme of s. 80HHC of the Act. In order to find out the meaning of the word 'otherwise' one has to bear in mind that the said word is used in the company of the word 'sale'. The word 'otherwise' means in a different manner, in another way or in other ways. The word 'otherwise' has been interpreted by the Supreme Court, while construing the provisions of ss. 5 and 6 of the Bombay Land Requisition Act, 1948 in Smt. Lila Vati Bai vs. State of Bombay AIR 1957 SC 521. The Supreme Court considered the contention raised on behalf of the petitioner, how the word 'otherwise' used in Expln. (a) to s. 6 of that Act should be construed. It is observed on p. 528, para 11, as follows: '.........It was contended on behalf of the petitioner that Expln. (a) of s. 6.........contemplates a vacancy when a tenant (omitting other words not necessary) cease to be in occupation upon termination of his tenancy, eviction or assignment or transfer in any other manner of his interest in the premises or otherwise'. The argum .....

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..... or in equity which may not be in the form of sale but may generate foreign exchange and may pass through the gamut of customs clearance as contemplated under s. 80HHC of the IT Act." 38. On the Board's circular, the Hon'ble Bombay High Court again observed in the said decision at pp. 509 and 522 as under: "At this juncture, it would be relevant to note that the object of s. 80HHC is to grant an incentive to earners of foreign exchange. The said provision is a self-contained code. The CBDT has issued circulars from time to time for implementation of the scheme of s. 80HHC. The person claiming benefit of deductions provided under s. 80HHC has to comply with the provisions of the said section. Explanation (b) to sub-s. (4A) of s. 80HHC describes the words 'export turnover' to mean sale proceeds received in or brought into India. In other words 'export turnover' came to be equated with 'sale proceeds' keeping in mind the traditional concept of export of goods. The words 'sale proceeds' is used to explain the concept of 'export turnover'. Therefore, to say that 'export turnover' means sale proceeds received in or brought into India by the assessee in a convertible foreign exchange .....

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..... construe other than the meaning of the main provision itself. 41. The Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Tata Consultancy Services vs. State of Andhra Pradesh has discussed the definition of computer program, software and information technology. Though, the issue before the Hon'ble apex Court is whether a computer software recorded on compact disk, floppy disk would become goods or not for the purpose of sales-tax, but the Hon'ble apex Court has discussed the definition of computer software elaborately in the said decision in para No. 14. The Hon'ble apex Court has referred various decisions of the American Courts; wherein it has been held that the "software is not merely knowledge but rather is knowledge recorded in a physical form having a physical existence, taking up space on a tape, disc or hard drive, making physical things happen and can be perceived by the senses". It has been held that the purchaser does not receive mere knowledge but receives an arrangement of matter which makes his or her computer perform a desired function. In para 48, the apex Court has again referred the decision of the US Court as under: "Computer programs are the product of an intellectual .....

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..... information regarding the availability of the talent in specific field or availability of human resources. The assessee was undertaking the work of recruitment of candidates as per the requirement of its parent company and in some cases imparting training to the candidates recruited by the other agencies also. From the material available on record, which has been heavily relied upon by the learned senior counsel for the assessee for justifying the assessee's claim under s. 10A of the IT Act, 1961, it is found that the said record/material is only in respect of the correspondence exchanged between the assessee and its parent company through e-mails and the copies of the advertisement published by the assessee for calling the candidates for recruitment. It is clear from the record that the e-mails relied upon by the learned senior counsel for the assessee are not any information or customized data or information technology enabled services/products that can be used by the user for its business planning or policy. It is only communication between the assessee and the parent company about the work to be performed and accordingly performed in the nature of recruiting candidates and prov .....

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..... scientific knowledge, experience or skill' within the meaning of s. 80-O of the IT Act, 1961. These words have to be construed in their context as also considering the substance of the matter rather than its form. Attempt to mechanically use the words of s. 80-O of the Act to camouflage the true nature of one's work cannot be encouraged. Even the second condition is not fulfilled, the same being that industrial, commercial or scientific knowledge, experience or skill must be made available for 'use outside India'. Under the very agreements most in the form of cryptic letters, the emerging position is that the assessee collects information, particulars and/or bio-data and on that basis locates in India prospective candidates or employees. Thereafter, selection is also made in India itself and that too, in most cases by the assessee itself and at times by a representative of the foreign employer coming to India for that purpose. In several letters-cum-agreements the foreign employers have asked and/or authorized the assessee to itself select and recruit candidates ready for interview in India by a representative of the foreign employer. The entire service rendered by the assessee .....

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..... t, 1961. 46. The order of the CIT(A) is not sustainable and liable to be set aside and the order of the AO is liable to be restored. 47. In the result the appeal filed by the Revenue is allowed. REFERENCE UNDER S. 255(4) OF THE IT ACT, 1961 5th Aug., 2009 There is difference of opinion between the Members constituting the Bench, on the issue involved in this appeal and, therefore, the following question is formulated for being decided by a Third Member: "Whether, on the facts and circumstances of the case, the profits of the assessee-company for asst. yr. 2001-02, qualifies for deduction under s. 10A of the IT Act 1961." PRADEEP PARIKH, VICE PRESIDENT (AS THIRD MEMBER): 26th Oct., 2009 There being a difference of opinion between the two Members who heard this appeal, the Hon'ble President was pleased to nominate the Zonal Vice President as the Third Member vide his order dt. 11th Aug., 2009. Accordingly, the parties are heard and I proceed to resolve the difference between the two Members. The points of difference formulated and referred to the Third Member are as .....

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..... observation of the learned JM, the learned Departmental Representative relied on the order of the Special Bench of the Tribunal in the case of Tata Communications Ltd. vs. Jt. CIT (2009) 124 TTJ (Mumbai)(SB) 721 : (2009) 28 DTR (Mumbai)(SB)(Trib) 65 : (2009) 317 ITR 1 (Mumbai)(SB)(AT). The contention was that even if the AO has not raised any objection against not satisfying a condition to claim a deduction, it does not mean that the Tribunal cannot consider and examine the same. Reiterating this argument, it was contended that it was the duty of the Tribunal to see whether all conditions are fulfilled or not before claiming deduction. The learned Departmental Representative summed his arguments by stating that the assessee was not remunerated for providing any data bank but was remunerated only for recruiting and training the persons. Therefore, there being no export of any article, thing or computer software, the assessee was not entitled to deduction under s. 10A of the Act. 4. The learned counsel assailed the order of the learned JM on making the principle of ejusdem generis applicable in the present case. Commenting on sub-cl. (b) of cl. (i) of Expln. 2, it was submitted th .....

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..... her the profit earned by the assessee from the activity of recruitment and training of personnel and supplying the data thereof to its parent company in US is eligible for deduction under s. 10A or not read with the Board's circular dt. 26th Sept., 2000. In this connection, it would be worthwhile to consider first the role of the circulars issued by the Board. Role of Board's circulars 6. This is best explained by the Supreme Court in the case of UCO Bank vs. CIT (1999) 154 CTR (SC) 88 : (1999) 237 ITR 889 (SC). After referring to the various provisions of s. 119 of the Act, at p. 896 of the report, the Court observed that the Board has power, inter alia, to tone down the rigour of the law and ensure a fair enforcement of its provisions, by issuing circulars in exercise of its statutory powers under s. 119 of the Act, which are binding on the authorities in the administration of the Act. It is also observed on the same page that the power is given for the purpose of just, proper and efficient management of the work of assessment and in public interest. It is a beneficial power given to the Board for proper administration of fiscal law so that undue hardship may not be caused to .....

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..... things or matters of the same genus as the preceding particular words. It is a well recognised rule of construction that when two or more words which are susceptible of analogous meaning are coupled together, they are understood to be used in their cognate sense. The term is chiefly used in cases where general words have a meaning attributed to them less comprehensive than they would otherwise bear, by reason of particular words preceding them. In order to attract the principle of ejusdem generis, it is essential that a distinct genus or category must be discernible in the words under examination. As an illustration, cl. (a) provides that any sum payable by the assessee by way of tax, duty, cess or fee, by whatever name called, under any law for the time being in force, shall be allowed as deduction in the previous year in which such sum is actually paid. Here, while determining whether a particular payment falls within the expression "by whatever name called", the principle of ejusdem generis will apply. Similarly the said principle will apply while determining whether a particular receipt is analogous to brokerage, commission, interest, rent, charges mentioned in cl. (baa) of the .....

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..... raining of the personnel was by itself not ITE, the profit earned by the assessee is not eligible for deduction under s. 10A of the Act. The requirement of the provision is that there should be a customized electronic data and such data should be exported outside India. The data which a customer may require, may be gathered either by manual effort or by electronic means, as for example, through internet. By whatever means the data is collected, once it is stored in an electronic form, it becomes a customized electronic data which can be exported to qualify for deduction under s. 10A. The process of actually collecting the data need not be ITE. What all is required is that the data collected should be in an electronic form. If one were to go by the understanding of the learned JM, then perhaps the purpose of giving impetus to software industry or to the computerization as a whole, would be defeated. As an illustration, if a person wants to open a garment shop in a particular locality, it may approach a consulting firm to explore the market potentiality of that area. In that case, the consulting firm will have to initially work manually to collect data like, number of garment shops i .....

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..... In the illustration given by him, a company is situated in USA and its customer in UK asks a question which is answered by a call centre in Bangalore. To reply to the question of the customer, the person sitting in the call center, depending on the nature of question, may or may not require the help of a computer. Where the help of computer is not required, the person at the call centre will simply answer the question. Now, in this case, as a matter of fact, there is no use of any computer hardware of software and yet, by virtue of it being a call centre, it will be eligible for deduction under s. 10A. Here also there was merely a communication between the parties over a telephone and nothing beyond that. One may raise a question that if there is no use of computer then why should it be included in the list of ITE services. It needs to be appreciated that in majority of the cases, the use of computer would be there. If a person in US has invested monies in India through a financial consultant in India, and if the US investor wants some information about his investments, the information so supplied through the call centre will be an export of customized electronic data. The informat .....

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..... 99) 154 CTR (SC) 88 : (1999) 237 ITR 889 (SC), it is observed by the Supreme Court that the binding character attaches to the circulars even if they be found not in accordance with the correct interpretations of the sections and they depart or deviate from such construction. Accordingly, in the light of this discussion. I agree with the view taken by the learned AM that the assessee is entitled to deduction under s. 10A of the Act. 12. The matter shall now be put before the regular Bench for the disposal of the appeal in accordance with the opinion of the majority. VIJAY PAL RAO, J.M.: 27th Nov., 2009 This appeal by the Revenue is directed against order dt. 30th March, 2006 of CIT(A)-V, Chennai, for the asst. yr. 2001-02. 2. The Revenue has raised various grounds in this appeal. However, the only issue that arises for consideration and adjudication is whether the profits of the assessee company would qualify for deduction under s. 10A of the IT Act. 3. The appeal was heard by this Tribunal but at the time of adjudication, difference of opinion arose between the AM and the JM. The learned AM was of the view that the profits of the assessee comp .....

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