Supreme Court of India
M/S JINDAL EQUIPMENT LEASING CONSULTANCY SERVICES LTD.versusCOMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX DELHI – II, NEW DELHI
- Citation
- 2026 INSC 46
- Decided
- 9 January 2026
- Disposal
- Disposed off
- Bench
- B PARDIWALA
Holding
When shares of an amalgamating company held as stock‑in‑trade are substituted by shares of the amalgamated company that are freely marketable and have a determinable value, the substitution constitutes a commercial realisation attracting taxable business income under s.28, with taxability arising at the time of allotment.
Summary
The appellants, investment companies of the Jindal Group, held shares of Jindal Ferro Alloys Ltd (JFAL) as stock-in-trade and, following a court‑sanctioned scheme of amalgamation, were allotted shares of Jindal Strips Ltd (JSL) in exchange. The Assessing Officer treated the JSL shares as taxable business income under s.28 of the Income‑Tax Act, 1961, denying exemption under s.47(vii), a view upheld by the CIT(A). The Tribunal later allowed the appellants, holding that no profit accrued until the shares were sold, but the High Court set aside that order, finding that if the shares were stock‑in‑trade, the substitution constituted a commercial realisation taxable under s.28. The Supreme Court affirmed the High Court, holding that the statutory substitution of shares is a realisable commercial benefit attracting tax under s.28 at the time of allotment, subject to factual determination of the shares' marketability, and remitted the matter to the Tribunal for fresh adjudication.
Issues considered
- The taxability of gains arising from the substitution of shares held as stock‑in‑trade in an amalgamation under s.28 of the Income‑Tax Act, 1961.
- Whether the exemption under s.47(vii) applies when the shares are held as capital assets versus stock‑in‑trade.
- The appropriate point of taxation – at the time of allotment of new shares or upon their eventual sale.
- The jurisdiction of the High Court to consider taxability under s.28 when the substantial question of law was not expressly framed under s.260A.
Legislation cited
- Code of Civil Procedure, 1908
- Companies Act, 2013s. 391, s. 392, s. 393, s. 394
- Income Tax Act, 1961s. 2(14), s. 2(1B), s. 2(47), s. 28, s. 45(1), s. 47(vii)
Headnote
Issue for Consideration Issue arose as regards taxability of gains said to arise on amalgamation, where shares of the amalgamating company held by the assessees as stock-in-trade, stand substituted by shares of the amalgamated company; whether of itself, constitutes a realisation giving rise to taxable business income u/s.28, Income Tax Act, 1961 and if so, the conditions under which such accrual or receipt can be said to arise in the commercial sense, or whether the incidence of taxation arises only upon the subsequent sale of the
Subjects
Section 28Income Tax Act, 1961Profits and gains of business or professionAmalgamationStock-in-tradeTaxability of gains arising on amalgamationShares of amalgamating company held as stock-in-tradeTaxable business income under Section 28Section 47(vii)Capital assetsCommercial realisabilityReal‑income principleCompanies Act, 2013
Judgment
[2026] 1 S.C.R. 517 : 2026 INSC 46
M/s Jindal Equipment Leasing Consultancy Services Ltd.
v.
Commissioner of Income Tax Delhi – II, New Delhi
(Civil Appeal No. 152 of 2026)
09 January 2026
[J.B. Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan,* JJ.]
Issue for Consideration
Issue arose as regards taxability of gains said to arise on
amalgamation, where shares of the amalgamating company held
by the assessees as stock-in-trade, stand substituted by shares
of the amalgamated company; whether such substitution, in and
of itself, constitutes a realisation giving rise to taxable business
income u/s.28, Income Tax Act, 1961 and if so, the conditions under
which such accrual or receipt can be said to arise in the commercial
sense, or whether the incidence of taxation arises only upon the
subsequent sale of the substituted shares; whether the High Court
while remanding the matter to the Tribunal to ascertain whether the
shares of the amalgamating company were held as stock-in-trade
or as capital assets, was justified in recording a finding that, if such
shares were held as stock-in-trade, the allotment of shares of the
amalgamated company pursuant to a court-sanctioned scheme of
amalgamation would give rise to taxable business income in the
hands of the appellants u/s.28 of the I.T. Act.
Headnotes†
Income Tax Act, 1961 – ss.2(1B), 2(14), 2(47), 28, 45(1),
47(vii) – Scope of s.28 – Appellants, investment companies
of the Jindal Group, were shareholders of Jindal Ferro Alloys
Limited (JFAL) and Jindal Strips Limited (JSL) – Pursuant
to a scheme of amalgamation, JFAL was amalgamated with
JSL – In terms of the share exchange ratio approved under the
scheme, shareholders were allotted 45 shares of JSL against
100 shares of JFAL – During the relevant assessment year, the
appellants claimed exemption u/s.47(vii), I.T. Act in respect of
the receipt of JSL shares in lieu of JFAL shares, treating the
same to be capital assets – Exemption denied by Assessing
Officer holding that the shares of JFAL constituted stock-in-
* Author
518 [2026] 1 S.C.R.
Supreme Court Reports
trade in the hands of the appellants and taxed the difference
between the value of the JSL shares (as on the appointed date)
and the book value of JFAL shares – Order upheld by CIT(A) –
However, Tribunal allowed the assessees’ appeals – Appeals
filed by Revenue – High Court set aside the Tribunal’s order
and remitted the matter for fresh consideration – Challenge to:
Held: Judgment of the High Court affirmed – s.28 is of wide import
and encompasses all profits and gains arising in the course of
business, even when such profit is realised in kind – The statutory
substitution of shares of the amalgamating company by shares
of the amalgamated company is not a mere neutral replacement;
where the new shares are freely marketable and possess a definite
commercial value, the event constitutes a commercial realisation
giving rise to taxable business income – Such profit need not
await actual sale if the benefit received is real and presently
realisable – Where the shares of an amalgamating company, held
as stock-in-trade, are substituted by shares of the amalgamated
company pursuant to a scheme of amalgamation, and such
shares are realisable in money and capable of definite valuation,
the substitution gives rise to taxable business income within the
meaning of s.28 – However, the charge u/s.28 is attracted only
upon the allotment of new shares – At earlier stages namely,
the appointed date or the date of court sanction, no such benefit
accrues or is received – The receipt of shares of the amalgamated
company in substitution of stock-in-trade can give rise to taxable
business profits u/s.28 – However, the actual application of this
principle to the facts of the present case, including whether the
shares received are freely realisable or otherwise subject to
restrictions, or whether the shares are held only as investment
requires factual determination – Matter remitted to the Tribunal
for fresh adjudication in accordance with law. [Paras 29-31, 33]
Income Tax Act, 1961 – s.28 – Profits and gains of business or
profession – Scope of – Explained. [Paras 15-15.3, 18.3-18.6]
Income Tax Act, 1961 – s.28 – Profits and gains of business
or profession – Governing test u/s.28 – Is not the presence of
a sale, exchange, or extinguishment of rights in the technical
sense, but whether the assessee has, in consequence of
business operations, come into possession of a real and
presently realisable commercial benefit – This may take the
form of money directly received, or assets in kind capable of
[2026] 1 S.C.R. 519
M/s Jindal Equipment Leasing Consultancy Services Ltd. v.
Commissioner of Income Tax Delhi – II, New Delhi
being immediately disposed of for money’s worth – Therefore,
the shares must be readily available for trading to be treated
as stock-in-trade:
Held: The true test u/s.28 is not the legal label of “exchange”
or “transfer”, but whether the assessee, in consequence of the
amalgamation and thereby of its business, has obtained a profit
that is real and presently realisable – The well-known real-income
principle must be applied – Therefore, the enquiry for the Court is
whether, as a result of the amalgamation, the assessee has in fact
realised a profit in the commercial sense – This assessment may
turn on whether, (a) The old stock-in-trade has ceased to exist in
the assessee’s books; (b) The shares received in the amalgamated
company possess a definite and ascertainable value; and (c) The
assessee, immediately upon allotment, is in a position to dispose of
such shares and realise money – If these conditions are satisfied,
the substitution bears the character of a commercial realisation and
the profit may be taxed u/s.28 – Where, however, the allotment of
shares is merely a statutory substitution mandated by the scheme
of amalgamation, without yielding an immediately realisable benefit,
no income can be said to accrue or be received at that stage, and
taxability arises only upon the eventual sale of the shares – What
must be established is that the transaction has the attributes of a
commercial realisation resulting in a real and presently disposable
advantage – Where this test is satisfied, taxability may arise at the
stage of substitution – Otherwise, the accrual or receipt of income
is deferred until actual sale. [Paras 18.3-18.6]
Interpretation of Statutes – Income Tax Act, 1961 – s.28 – Profits
and gains of business or profession – Charging provisions,
though construed strictly, are not to be read narrowly when
the language of the provision itself is wide:
Held: The language of s.28 “the profits and gains of any business
or profession” is deliberately wide, i.e., the charge itself is cast in
wide terms – Charging provisions, while construed strictly, are not
to be read in an unduly narrow manner when the language of the
provision itself is wide. [Para 15]
Income Tax Act, 1961 – s.28 – Profits and gains of business
or profession – Amalgamation – Whether there is receipt
or accrual of income upon amalgamation; Commercial
realisability; Definite valuation – Real Income Principle:
520 [2026] 1 S.C.R.
Supreme Court Reports
Held: In the context of amalgamation, what transpires is essentially
a statutory substitution of one form of holding for another – The
shareholder’s interest in the transferor company is replaced by a
corresponding interest in the transferee company – For the purposes
of s.28, the first test is whether such substitution constitutes either a
receipt or an accrual of income – The general position, nevertheless,
is that what the law recognises in amalgamation is the receipt of
shares in substitution of trading assets – Further, mere receipt of
shares does not suffice to attract s.28; commercial realisability is
also required when income is received in kind – Amalgamation is to
be understood as a statutory substitution of holdings, and not as an
“exchange” in the legal sense – Profit must be capable of definite
valuation, so that the real gain or loss stands crystallized – The
test is not satisfied merely by the receipt of realisable shares in
substitution of earlier holdings; such shares must also be capable
of quantification – Therefore, what attracts s.28 is the receipt of
shares coupled with their present realisability and their nexus
with business – These three conditions- actual receipt, present
realisability, and ascertainability of value- together determine the
timing of taxability in cases of amalgamation – The profit arising
on receipt of the amalgamated company’s shares may be taxed
u/s.28 where the shares allotted are tradable and possess a definite
market value, thereby conferring a presently realisable commercial
advantage – Where such attributes are absent, the Court cannot,
by analogy, extend s.28 to tax hypothetical accretions in the
absence of an express statutory mandate – The enquiry whether,
consequent upon an amalgamation, the allotment of new shares
has resulted in a real and presently realisable commercial benefit
must be determined on the facts of each case – The burden lies
on the Revenue to establish the same – It is thereafter for the
Tribunal, as the final fact-finding authority, to apply these principles
to the evidence on record. [Paras 17-18.1, 24, 24.2, 24.3]
Words and Phrases – ‘Amalgamation’ – Concept and legal
character, discussed:
Held: Amalgamation, in corporate law, signifies the statutory
blending of two or more undertakings into one – The transferor
company ceases to exist as a separate corporate entity, its business,
assets, and liabilities are absorbed into and continue within the
transferee – Amalgamation- ordinarily effected through a scheme
[2026] 1 S.C.R. 521
M/s Jindal Equipment Leasing Consultancy Services Ltd. v.
Commissioner of Income Tax Delhi – II, New Delhi
of compromise or arrangement sanctioned by the Court or Tribunal
is founded on agreement between shareholders and creditors, but
its legal effect is statutory: upon sanction, all assets, rights, and
liabilities of the transferor vest in the transferee by operation of
law – Amalgamation is more than a mere contractual transfer; it is
a statutory process of substitution – Notwithstanding its statutory
character, amalgamation does involve a “transfer” within the
meaning of the Income-tax Act. [Paras 16, 16.1-16.4, 18.2]
Income Tax Act, 1961 – s.28 – Plea of the appellants that
even if the fair market value of the shares allotted in the
amalgamated company exceeded the book value of the shares
held in the amalgamating company, such excess would be
merely hypothetical and illusory until the shares were sold,
given that market value is inherently fluctuating:
Held: The test u/s.28 is not postponed until an actual sale, but is
satisfied once the assessee comes into possession of an asset of
determinable and presently realisable value in substitution of its
trading stock – The fact that such value may fluctuate subsequently
does not render the benefit unreal; valuation for tax purposes is
always carried out at a particular point in time, notwithstanding
subsequent volatility – What matters is that, on the date of allotment,
the assessee must have received realisable instruments capable
of being valued in money’s worth, and such receipt constitutes a
real, and not a notional, commercial gain. [Para 26]
Income Tax Act, 1961 – s.47(vii):
Held: There is a difference between a charging provision and an
exemption provision – A provision that enables the levy of tax on a
particular transaction is a charging provision – Only a transaction
that is covered by a charging provision is taxable – Only if the
transaction is taxable can there be an exemption – Therefore, the
transfer of shares arising out of an order of amalgamation, even
if it is treated as a capital asset, is generally taxable but would
be exempt from taxation only if both the requirements u/s.47 (vii)
are satisfied. [Para 12]
Income Tax Act, 1961 – s.28 – Timing of taxability – Charge
u/s.28 not attracted on the mere sanction of the scheme or
on the appointed date:
522 [2026] 1 S.C.R.
Supreme Court Reports
Held: In the context of amalgamation, three points in time require
to be distinguished – First, the appointed date specified in the
scheme, which determines corporate succession and continuity
between the transferor and transferee companies – Secondly, the
sanction of the scheme by the Court, which gives statutory force
to the amalgamation – At these stages, however, there is only a
substitution of rights by legal fiction, without any asset in the hands
of the shareholder capable of commercial exploitation – Thirdly, the
allotment of new shares in the amalgamated company, which alone
crystallises the benefit in the shareholder’s hands, for it is only then
that the old stock-in-trade ceases to exist and is replaced by new
shares of definite market value capable of immediate realisation –
Thus, the charge u/s.28 is not attracted on the mere sanction of
the scheme or on the appointed date, but only upon the receipt
of the new shares, when the statutory substitution translates into
a concrete, realisable commercial advantage. [Para 25]
Income Tax Act, 1961 – ss.28, 47 – Exemption in respect of
capital assets – Rationale – Distinction between capital and
business assets:
Held: s.47 expressly carves out an exemption in respect of certain
transfers in the context of amalgamation, but that exemption
is confined to capital assets – The rationale is plain – Where
a shareholder holds shares as an investment, the underlying
object is to remain invested in the corporate venture, and a mere
amalgamation ordinarily does not alter that position – While the
possibility of tax avoidance in the investment field cannot be
ruled out altogether, the legislative judgment reflects that the risk
is relatively low – Thus, the exemption u/s.47 is founded on the
recognition that amalgamation, in the capital field, is essentially
a corporate restructuring and not a true realisation of profit – It
is also common in business parlance for entities to hold shares
either as investments or as stock-in-trade – By contrast, s.28,
which governs profits of business, contains no such carve-out,
nor could it be otherwise – The nature of stock-in-trade is wholly
different from that of an investment – Stock-in-trade represents
circulating capital: it is held not for preservation or appreciation,
but for conversion into money in the ordinary course of business –
Thus, while the Act makes an express exception for amalgamation
of capital assets, no such exception is contemplated in the case
of business assets. [Paras 27, 27.1, 27.4]
[2026] 1 S.C.R. 523
M/s Jindal Equipment Leasing Consultancy Services Ltd. v.
Commissioner of Income Tax Delhi – II, New Delhi
Case Law Cited
Shiv Raj Gupta v. Commissioner of Income-Tax, Delhi [2020] 5
SCR 874 : (2020) 425 ITR 420 (SC) – distinguished.
Commissioner of Income Tax v. Mahagun Realtors (P) Ltd [2022]
4 SCR 502 : (2022) 19 SCC 1; Orient Trading Company Ltd. v.
Commissioner of Income Tax, Calcutta [1997] 1 SCR 446 :
(1997) 3 SCC 340; Commissioner of Income-tax, Cochin v.
Grace Collis and Others [2001] 2 SCR 98 : (2001) 3 SCC 430;
E.D. Sassoon & Co. Ltd v. Commissioner of Income-Tax [1973]
1 SCR 1084 : (1954) 26 ITR 27 (SC); Commissioner of Income
Tax, Bombay City I v. Shoorji Vallabhdas & Co. (1962) 46 ITR
144 (SC) – relied on.
Commissioner of Income Tax, Bombay v. Rasiklal Maneklal (HUF)
and Others [1989] 2 SCR 179 : (1989) 2 SCC 454; Vania Silk Mills
P. Ltd v. Commissioner of Income-Tax [1991] 3 SCR 577 : (1991)
191 ITR 647 (SC); Commissioner of Income-Tax, Andhra Pradesh v.
Motors & General Stores (P) Ltd [1967] 3 SCR 876 : (1967) 66 ITR
692 (SC); Hindustan Lever and Another v. State of Maharashtra
and Another [2003] Supp. 5 SCR 685 : (2004) 9 SCC 438; State
Bank of Travancore v. Commissioner of Income-Tax, Kerala [1986]
1 SCR 25 : (1986) 158 ITR 102 (SC); Godhra Electricity Co. Ltd v.
Commissioner of Income-Tax [1997] 3 SCR 539 : (1997) 225 ITR
746 (SC); Commissioner of Income-Tax v. Excel Industries Ltd.
and Another [2013] 10 SCR 490 : (2013) 358 ITR 295 (SC); R.
Nagaraj (dead) through Legal Heirs and Another v. Rajamani and
Others [2025] 4 SCR 734 : 2025 Livelaw SC 416; Mansarovar
Commercial Pvt. Ltd v. Commissioner of Income-Tax [2023] 8 SCR
452 : (2023) 454 ITR 1 (SC); Mazagaon Dock Ltd v. Commissioner
of Income Tax and Excess Profits Tax [1959] 1 SCR 848 : AIR
1958 SC 861; Ujagar Prints Etc. v. Union of India and Others Etc.
[1989] 1 SCR 344 : (1989) 3 SCC 488; Commissioner of Customs
(Import), Mumbai v. Dilip Kumar and Company and Others [2018]
7 SCR 1191 : (2018) 9 SCC 1 (5-Judge Bench); Commissioner
of Income Tax v. T.V. Sundaram Iyengar & Sons Ltd. [1996] Supp.
5 SCR 785 : (1996) 222 ITR 344 (SC); Commissioner of Income
Tax v. Meghalaya Steels Ltd [2016] 1 SCR 952 : (2016) 383
ITR 217 (SC); Commissioner of Income Tax, Delhi v. Woodward
Governor India P. Ltd [2009] 5 SCR 738 : (2009) 312 ITR 254
(SC); Saraswati Industrial Syndicate Ltd v. Commissioner of Income
Tax [1990] Supp. 1 SCR 332 : (1990) Supp. SCC 675; Religare
524 [2026] 1 S.C.R.
Supreme Court Reports
Finvest Ltd. v. State (NCT of Delhi) [2023] 12 SCR 197 : (2024)
1 SCC 797; Kanchanganga Sea Foods Ltd v. Commissioner of
Income Tax [2010] 7 SCR 866 : (2010) 11 SCC 144; Raja Mohan
Raja Bahadur v. Commissioner of Income Tax [1967] 3 SCR 482
: (1967) 66 ITR 378; Commissioner of Income Tax v. Ashokbhai
Chimanbhai [1965] 1 SCR 758 : (1965) 56 ITR 42; Commissioner
of Income Tax v. Woodward Governor India (P) Ltd. [2009] 5 SCR
738 : (2009) 13 SCC 1; Commissioner of Income Tax v. Express
Newspapers Ltd., 1964 INSC 152 : [1964] 8 SCR 189 – referred to.
Royal Insurance Co. Ltd v. Stephen, 14 Tax Cases 22; Walker’s
Settlement, In re, 1935 Ch 567 (CA); Californian Copper Syndicate
Ltd v. Inland Revenue 05 TC 159; Raja Raghunandan Prasad
Singh v. Commissioner of Income Tax, 1933 SCC OnLine
PC 8 – referred to.
Books and Periodicals Cited
Stroud’s Judicial Dictionary of Words and Phrases (9th Edn.);
Black’s Law Dictionary (11th Edn.)
List of Acts
Income Tax Act, 1961; Companies Act, 2013; Code of Civil
Procedure, 1908.
List of Keywords
Section 28, Income Tax Act, 1961; Profits and gains of business
or profession; Amalgamation; Stock-in-trade; Taxability of gains
arising on amalgamation; Shares of amalgamating company held as
stock-in-trade, substituted by shares of the amalgamated company;
Taxable business income under Section 28, Income Tax Act, 1961;
Shares held as stock-in-trade; Allotment of shares of amalgamated
company; Court-sanctioned scheme of amalgamation; Jindal Ferro
Alloys Limited (JFAL); Jindal Strips Limited (JSL); No taxable profit;
Section 2(14), Income Tax Act, 1961; Section 2(17), Income Tax
Act, 1961; Section 2(47), Income Tax Act, 1961; Section 47(vii),
Income Tax Act, 1961; Section 45, Income Tax Act, 1961; Transfer
of shares; Capital assets; Chargeability of the “profits and gains
of any business or profession”; Statutory substitution of rights;
Whether the substitution of shares results in real commercial
profits; Commercial realisability; Amalgamating company ceases
to exist; The true test under Section 28; Real-income principle;
[2026] 1 S.C.R. 525
M/s Jindal Equipment Leasing Consultancy Services Ltd. v.
Commissioner of Income Tax Delhi – II, New Delhi
Real or completed profit capable of being taxed under Section 28;
Definite valuation; Timing of taxability; Distinction between Capital
and Business assets.
Case Arising From
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal No. 152 of 2026
From the Judgment and Order dated 07.08.2020 of the High Court
of Delhi at New Delhi in ITA No. 935 of 2005
With
Civil Appeal No(s). 153, 154 and 155 of 2026
Appearances for Parties
Advs. for the Appellant(s):
Ajay Vohra, Ms. Kavita Jha, Sr. Advs., Vaibhav Kulkarni, Aniket
Deepak Agrawal, Ms. Aabgina Chishti.
Advs. for the Respondent(s):
Raghavendra P Shankar, A.S.G., Raj Bahadur Yadav, Udai Khanna,
Karan Lahiri, Mrs. Vimla Sinha, Ms. Seema Bengani, Preeti Rani,
Digvijay Dam.
Judgment / Order of the Supreme Court
Judgment
R. Mahadevan, J.
Leave granted.
2. The present appeals arise out of a common judgment and final order
dated 07.08.2020 passed by the High Court of Delhi1 in ITA Nos.
935, 822, 853, and 961 of 2005, pertaining to the Assessment Year
1997-98. By the impugned judgment, the High Court remanded the
matters to the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal2 for fresh adjudication
on the question of whether the shares held in the amalgamating
company constituted stock-in-trade or capital assets, upon observing
1 Hereinafter referred to as “the High Court”
2 For short, “the Tribunal”
526 [2026] 1 S.C.R.
Supreme Court Reports
that, if the shares were, in fact, held as stock-in-trade, the transaction
would fall outside the purview of Section 47(vii) of the Income Tax Act,
19613, and its taxability would consequently be governed by Section
28 under the head “profits and gains of business or profession”.
FACTUAL MATRIX
3. The facts, which are common to all these appeals, may be briefly
stated as under:
3.1. The appellants are investment companies of the Jindal Group.
The shares of the operating companies, namely Jindal Ferro
Alloys Limited (JFAL) and Jindal Strips Limited (JSL), were held
as part of the promoter holding, representing controlling interest.
The appellants had also furnished non-disposal undertakings
to the financial institutions / lenders who had advanced loans
to the operating companies. These shares were reflected as
investments in the balance sheets of the appellants.
3.2. During the previous year relevant to the assessment year
1997-98, pursuant to a scheme of amalgamation approved by
orders dated 19.09.1996 and 03.10.1996 of the High Courts
of Andhra Pradesh and Punjab & Haryana respectively, under
Sections 391 – 394 of the Companies Act, 2013, JFAL was
amalgamated with JSL. As per the sanctioned scheme, the
appointed date of amalgamation was 01.04.1995, and the orders
sanctioning the amalgamation were filed with the Registrar
of Companies on 22.11.1996 (the effective date). Under the
scheme of amalgamation, the shareholders of JFAL were allotted
45 shares of JSL for every 100 shares of JFAL held by them.
Accordingly, the appellants were allotted shares of JSL in lieu
of the shares of JFAL.
3.3. The appellants, in their returns of income filed for the assessment
year in question, claimed exemption under Section 47(vii) of the
I.T. Act in respect of the receipt of JSL shares in lieu of JFAL
shares, treating the same to be capital assets. However, in the
assessment completed under Section 143(3) vide order dated
29.02.2000, the Assessing Officer treated the shares of JFAL
3 For short, “the I.T. Act”
[2026] 1 S.C.R. 527
M/s Jindal Equipment Leasing Consultancy Services Ltd. v.
Commissioner of Income Tax Delhi – II, New Delhi
as stock-in-trade, denied the exemption under Section 47(vii),
and brought to tax the value of JSL shares as business income,
computed with reference to their market value. The said order
was upheld by the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals).
3.4. On further appeals, the Tribunal vide order dated 17.02.2005,
allowed the assessees’ appeals by observing that it was
unnecessary to decide whether the shares were held as stock-
in-trade or capital assets since no profit accrues unless the
shares held by the appellants are either sold or transferred
for consideration, irrespective of the nature of holding. It was
further observed that there was admittedly no sale of shares
and, therefore, the only question for consideration was whether
the allotment of JSL shares in lieu of JFAL shares under the
scheme of amalgamation amounted to a “transfer”. Following
the decision of this Court in Commissioner of Income
Tax, Bombay v. Rasiklal Maneklal (HUF) and others4, the
Tribunal concluded that there was no transfer of shares and,
consequently, no taxable profit could be said to have accrued
to the appellants.
3.5. The Revenue challenged the Tribunal’s decision before the
High Court, raising the following substantial questions of law:
“1. Whether shares received by the assesses on
amalgamation are entitled to the benefit of section
47(vii) without the Tribunal concluding that the said
shares were held by the assesses as capital assets?
2. Whether the benefit of Section 47(vii) is limited to
determination of capital gains and only in regard to
capital assets?
3. Whether income would accrue to the assesses
on shares received by amalgamations and will be
taxable in view of non-applicability of Section 47(vii)?”
3.6. After hearing both sides, the High Court, by the impugned
judgment, disposed of the appeals in favour of the Revenue
and against the assessees. In doing so, it held that the Tribunal
4 (1989) 177 ITR 198 : (1989) 2 SCC 454
528 [2026] 1 S.C.R.
Supreme Court Reports
had erred in placing reliance on Rasiklal Maneklal while
failing to consider the later and binding decision of this Court
in Commissioner of Income-tax, Cochin v. Grace Collis
and others5. The High Court observed that where the shares
of the amalgamating company were held as capital assets,
the receipt of shares of the amalgamated company would
constitute a “transfer” within the meaning of Section 2(47) of the
I.T. Act, though such transfer would be exempt under Section
47(vii). However, in the alternative scenario where the shares
were held as stock-in-trade, the High Court held that upon the
assessees receiving shares of the amalgamated company in
lieu of those held in the amalgamating company, the assesses
had, in effect, realised the value of their trading assets, and the
difference in value would be taxable as business profit under
Section 28. In reaching this conclusion, the High Court relied
upon the decision of this Court in Orient Trading Company Ltd.
v. Commissioner of Income Tax, Calcutta6. Accordingly, the
matter was remanded to the Tribunal for determination of the
nature of the appellants’ holding of JFAL shares, i.e., whether
such holdings constituted capital assets or stock-in-trade.
3.7. Aggrieved thereby, the appellants have preferred the present
appeals before this Court.
CONTENTIONS OF THE PARTIES
4. Mr. Ajay Vohra, learned Senior Counsel for the appellants, primarily
submitted that the impugned judgment of the High Court is liable
to be set aside as it travels beyond the jurisdiction conferred under
Section 260A of the I.T. Act. It was pointed out that the appeals
before the High Court were admitted on a limited question, namely,
whether the Tribunal was correct in holding that where the assessees
get shares of the amalgamated company in lieu of shares of the
amalgamating company, no transfer takes place. However, while
disposing of the appeals, the High Court went further and proceeded
to examine the taxability of such receipt, treating it as stock-in-trade
or a capital asset. Since that issue was neither specifically raised nor
5 (2001) 248 ITR 323 (SC) : (2001) 3 SCC 430
6 (1997) 224 ITR 371 (SC) : (1997) 3 SCC 340
[2026] 1 S.C.R. 529
M/s Jindal Equipment Leasing Consultancy Services Ltd. v.
Commissioner of Income Tax Delhi – II, New Delhi
framed at the time of admission, the adjudication was impermissible
and contrary to the framework laid down by this Court in Shiv Raj
Gupta v. Commissioner of Income-Tax, Delhi7.
4.1. It was further submitted that the receipt of shares of the
amalgamated company does not amount to either a “sale”
or an “exchange”. It was urged that upon amalgamation, the
amalgamating company stands dissolved and consequently, its
shares cease to exist. Therefore, when shareholders receive
shares of the amalgamated company in lieu of the extinguished
shares of the amalgamating company, there is no subsisting
property capable of being exchanged and accordingly, no taxable
business income arises from such transaction. Moreover, the
definition of “transfer” under Section 2(47) is relevant only for
the purpose of computing capital gains and has no application
to stock-in-trade. Only the exploitation or realisation of stock-in-
trade gives rise to business income, which is to be computed
strictly in accordance with Section 28 of the I.T. Act.
4.2. Reliance was placed on the decision of this Court in Vania Silk
Mills P. Ltd v. Commissioner of Income-Tax 8, wherein it was
held that the mere destruction or loss of an asset does not
constitute a “transfer”. The term “transfer” in Section 45 connotes
that there must be something transferred to someone – some
property, right, or interest passing from one person to another.
When an asset ceases to exist, there can be no such transfer.
Further reliance was placed on Commissioner of Income-Tax,
Andhra Pradesh v. Motors & General Stores (P) Ltd9 wherein,
it was held that to constitute an “exchange”, there must be a
subsisting property capable of being transferred or exchanged.
Reference was also made to Rasiklal Maneklal, in which, it
was held that the receipt of shares of an amalgamated company
in lieu of shares held in the amalgamating company under an
approved scheme of amalgamation, does not amount to an
“exchange”. Consequently, it was submitted that the allotment
of shares in the amalgamated company, in substitution for the
7 (2020) 425 ITR 420 (SC)
8 (1991) 191 ITR 647 (SC)
9 (1967) 66 ITR 692 (SC)
530 [2026] 1 S.C.R.
Supreme Court Reports
shares held in the amalgamating company, does not amount
to a realisation of stock-in-trade by way of sale or exchange,
so as to give rise to taxable business income.
4.3. The learned Senior Counsel submitted that the authorities relied
upon by the High Court were distinguishable from the present
case. In Orient Trading, the assessee had exchanged shares
of one existing company for shares of another; that case did
not involve amalgamation or dissolution of the company whose
shares were exchanged. Likewise, the English decision in
Royal Insurance Co. Ltd v. Stephen10 dealt with realisation
of investments, not stock-in-trade by an insurance company
assessed under a special statutory regime, and is inapplicable
under Indian law. Similarly, Hindustan Lever and another v.
State of Maharashtra and another11 concerned the legislative
competence to levy stamp duty on an order of amalgamation.
Observations therein as to the transfer of property between
amalgamating and amalgamated companies were made in a
wholly different context and cannot govern the computation of
business income.
4.4. On the concept of accrual of business income, it was urged
that taxable income arises only when a debt in praesenti is
created in favour of the assessee, though payable in future,
as laid down in E.D. Sassoon & Co. Ltd v. Commissioner of
Income-Tax12. Hypothetical or illusory benefits cannot constitute
taxable income, as held in Commissioner of Income Tax,
Bombay City I v. Shoorji Vallabhdas & Co.13, State Bank
of Travancore v. Commissioner of Income-Tax, Kerala14,
Godhra Electricity Co. Ltd v. Commissioner of Income-Tax15
and Commissioner of Income-Tax v. Excel Industries Ltd.
and another16. Even if the fair market value of the shares allotted
in the amalgamated company on the date of allotment exceeds
10 14 Tax Cases 22
11 (2004) 9 SCC 438
12 (1954) 26 ITR 27 (SC)
13 (1962) 46 ITR 144 (SC)
14 (1986) 158 ITR 102 (SC)
15 (1997) 225 ITR 746 (SC)
16 (2013) 358 ITR 295 (SC)
[2026] 1 S.C.R. 531
M/s Jindal Equipment Leasing Consultancy Services Ltd. v.
Commissioner of Income Tax Delhi – II, New Delhi
the book value of the shares in the amalgamating company,
such appreciation is purely notional. Real income would arise
only upon the actual sale of the allotted shares, and until such
realisation no business income accrues.
4.5. It was also emphasized that the scheme of the Act itself supports
this view. Wherever the legislature intends to tax notional or
deemed income, it has enacted specific provisions, for example,
Section 28(iv) or valuation rules such as Rule 11UAB. Further,
Section 49(1)(iii)(e) specifically provides that for capital gains, the
cost of shares in the amalgamated company shall be deemed to
be the cost of shares in the amalgamating company. By parity
of reasoning, in the case of stock-in-trade also, the original cost
must be preserved and any profit should be recognized only
at the time of realisation.
4.6. It was finally submitted that the receipt of shares of the
amalgamated company in lieu of shares held in the amalgamating
company, even when such shares are held as stock-in-trade,
does not constitute a “sale” or “exchange” giving rise to taxable
business income. Any benefit is, at best, hypothetical until
the shares are actually sold. The impugned judgment of the
High Court, which disregards settled principles and binding
precedents, is erroneous and liable to be set aside.
5. On the other hand, the learned Additional Solicitor General appearing
for the respondent(s) – Department opposed the present appeals and
supported the impugned judgment of the High Court. It was submitted
that if shares are held as stock-in-trade, the profit accruing from the
receipt of shares of the amalgamated company in lieu of those of
the amalgamating company would be taxable under the head “profits
and gains of business or profession”. For the purpose of analyzing
this issue, it is assumed that the assessees held the shares of the
amalgamating company as stock-in-trade prior to the amalgamation,
though this issue remains to be decided by the Tribunal on remand.
5.1. It was submitted that the Tribunal fell in error in holding that no
profit accrues unless the shares held by an assessee are either
sold or transferred otherwise for consideration, irrespective of the
nature of holding. The Tribunal did not refer to any sub-section
of Section 28 of the I.T. Act to support its conclusion that a sale
or transfer alone can give rise to “profits and gains of business
532 [2026] 1 S.C.R.
Supreme Court Reports
or profession”. It failed to engage with Section 28 entirely,
relying instead solely on Rasiklal Maneklal. That decision, it
was pointed out, is relevant only to the taxation of capital gains
under the Income- tax Act, 1922, and has been clarified to be
inapplicable by this Court in Grace Collis. Since the issue of
Section 45 is not under contest in these proceedings, Rasiklal
Maneklal has no further bearing.
5.2. It was submitted that the High Court rightly held that the
spotlight should not entirely be on the concept of “transfer”
but instead on whether there is business income in the hands
of the assessee, and further that income is recognised when
it is earned or realized, irrespective of whether it is in cash or
kind”. This finding demonstrates that transfer is not a necessary
precondition for taxation of business income under Section 28.
5.3. According to the learned Senior Counsel, the appellants
themselves admitted in their written submissions that the
definition of “transfer” under Section 2(47) has no application
to the computation of business income. To this extent, the
appellants do not dispute the High Court’s finding. Yet, the
appellants continue to contend that realisation of stock-in-trade
giving rise to taxable business income can only be through
sale or exchange. Such a submission has no basis in light of
Section 28.
5.4. It was further submitted that the plain language of Section 28
makes it clear that profits and gains of business or profession
are chargeable irrespective of whether they arise by way of sale,
exchange, or otherwise. Unlike Section 45, which specifically
requires a transfer of a capital asset, Section 28 is agnostic to
the manner in which income accrues. In particular, Sections
28(i) and 28(iv) bring out this position, covering profits, gains,
and benefits arising from business activities, whether convertible
into money or not.
5.5. Reliance was placed on Orient Trading, where this Court held
that the exchange of securities by a share dealer amounted
to realisation of stock-in-trade, resulting in taxable profits. The
said decision directly answers the appellants’ contention as it
involved stock-in-trade and upheld that realisation may occur
upon exchange, and not merely upon sale.
[2026] 1 S.C.R. 533
M/s Jindal Equipment Leasing Consultancy Services Ltd. v.
Commissioner of Income Tax Delhi – II, New Delhi
5.6. Applying the above legal principles, the learned Senior Counsel
submitted that the High Court was correct in concluding that
upon amalgamation, the shares of the amalgamating company
cease to exist and their value stands realised either in cash
(for dissenting shareholders) or in shares of the amalgamated
company (for approving shareholders). Such realisation, when
resulting in profit, is taxable under Section 28.
5.7. The learned Senior Counsel submitted that the appellants’
reliance on cases such as E.D. Sassoon & Co. Ltd and
Motors & General Stores (P) Ltd is misplaced. E.D. Sassoon,
in fact, supports the Revenue’s case by holding that income
accrues when the right to receive is acquired, even if actual
receipt is later. Motors & General Stores has already been
distinguished in Orient Trading as being confined to the
meaning of “sale” in Section 10(2)(vii) of the 1922 Act, and
is therefore inapplicable. Similarly, Rasiklal Maneklal and
Vania Silk Mills pertain to capital gains and transfer under
Section 45, which the appellants themselves concede, have
no bearing on the computation of business income.
5.8. It was further submitted that the levy in the present case is
not on hypothetical income. As explained in Excel Industries,
income accrues when it becomes due and when there exists
a corresponding liability on the other party. Here, by virtue
of the amalgamation scheme sanctioned by the Court, there
was a corresponding liability on the amalgamated company
to issue shares (or pay cash to dissenters) in exchange for
the extinguished shares of the amalgamating company. This
satisfies the test of real income under Excel Industries.
5.9. Even assuming, without conceding, that the Tribunal was
correct in requiring a “sale” or “transfer”, it was argued that a
scheme of amalgamation itself has “all the trappings of a sale”,
as held in Hindustan Lever. Thus, even on the appellants’
theory, the taxable event occurred.
5.10. Finally, on the appellants’ contention regarding valuation of
shares, the learned Senior Counsel submitted that this issue
was considered and rejected by the CIT(A) with cogent
reasoning, and that the Tribunal may examine this factual
534 [2026] 1 S.C.R.
Supreme Court Reports
issue afresh on remand, if necessary. That issue, however,
need not detain this Court, which is concerned only with the
legal question.
5.11. Accordingly, the learned Senior Counsel submitted that the
High Court’s reasoning is sound, the Tribunal’s judgment
is unsustainable, and the present appeals deserve to be
dismissed.
ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS
6. We have heard learned counsel appearing for the parties and perused
the materials available on record.
7. By order dated 10.02.2021, this Court stayed the effect and operation
of the impugned judgment and order under challenge.
8. Apparently, the appellants were shareholders of JFAL. Pursuant to
the orders of the High Courts of Andhra Pradesh and Punjab and
Haryana dated 19.09.1996 and 03.10.1996, JFAL merged with JSL,
a widely held public company. Upon the amalgamation become
effective, JFAL ceased to exist as a legal entity. In terms of the
share exchange ratio approved under the scheme, shareholders
were allotted 45 shares of JSL against 100 shares of JFAL.
8.1. During the relevant assessment year, the appellants claimed
exemption under Section 47(vii) of the I.T. Act in respect of
the receipt of JSL shares, contending that the shares of JFAL
were held as capital assets. The Assessing Officer, however,
denied exemption, holding that the shares of JFAL constituted
stock-in-trade in the hands of the appellants. He accordingly
taxed the difference between the value of the JSL shares (as
on the appointed date) and the book value of JFAL shares. The
CIT(A) upheld this view, dismissing the appeals on the finding
that the appellants’ acquisition of shares was an adventure in
the nature of trade, attracting taxation under Section 28 of the
I.T. Act. Thus, there were concurrent findings that the assessees
belonging to the same group which controlled JFAL, engaged in
a scheme for profit-making by exchanging their stock-in-trade
holdings in JFAL for shares of JSL.
8.2. On further appeals, the Tribunal, by order dated 17.02.2005,
allowed the assessees’ claims. It declined to decide the factual
[2026] 1 S.C.R. 535
M/s Jindal Equipment Leasing Consultancy Services Ltd. v.
Commissioner of Income Tax Delhi – II, New Delhi
question whether the JFAL shares were held as capital assets or
as stock-in-trade, holding instead that no profit accrues unless
the shares are either sold or transferred for consideration,
irrespective of the nature of holding.
8.3. In the Revenue’s appeals, the High Court by the impugned
judgment, set aside the Tribunal’s order and remitted the matter
for fresh consideration. The High Court returned two findings:
first, that if shares are held as capital assets, an amalgamation
is indeed a transfer within the meaning of Section 2(47) of the
I.T. Act, though exempt under Section 47(vii). The assessees
no longer dispute this finding before this Court. Second, the
High Court held that if the shares are held as stock-in-trade, the
profit arising to the assessees from the receipt of JSL shares
in lieu of JFAL shares would be taxable as “profits and gains
of business or profession” under Section 28. It is the second
finding, which has necessitated the present appeals before
this Court.
9. At the outset, the learned Senior Counsel appearing for the appellants
raised a preliminary objection that the High Court had transgressed its
jurisdiction in remitting the matter to the Tribunal with an observation
that, if the shares were stock-in-trade, the taxability would arise under
Section 28 of the I.T. Act. It was urged that such an issue was neither
expressly framed as a substantial question of law by the High Court
nor raised by the Revenue in its appeals. Reliance was placed on
Shiv Raj Gupta, where this Court held that the High Court cannot
decide a new question of law without formally framing it under Section
260A (4) and without affording the parties an opportunity to meet
that case. The following paragraphs are apposite in this context:
“18. It can be seen that the substantial question of law
that was raised by the High Court did not contain any
question as to whether the non-compete fee could be
taxed under any provision other than Section 28(ii)
(a) of the Income Tax Act, 1961. Without giving an
opportunity to the parties followed by reasons for
framing any other substantial question of law as to
the taxability of such amount as a capital receipt in
the hands of the assessee, the High Court answered
the substantial question of law raised as follows:
536 [2026] 1 S.C.R.
Supreme Court Reports
(Shiv Raj Gupta case [CIT v. Shiv Raj Gupta, 2014 SCC
OnLine Del 7305: (2015) 372 ITR 337], SCC OnLine Del
paras 63 & 65)
“63. In view of the aforesaid discussion, we
deem it appropriate and proper to treat Rs 6.60
crores as consideration paid for sale of shares,
rather than a payment under Section 28(ii)(a)
of the Act. …
…
65. The substantial question of law is accordingly
answered in favour of the appellant Revenue and
against the respondent-assessee but holding
that Rs 6.60 crores was taxable as capital gains
in the hands of the respondent-assessee being
a part of the full value sale consideration paid
for transfer of shares. The appellant Revenue
will be entitled to costs as per the Delhi High
Court Rules.”
Clearly, without any recorded reasons and without
framing any substantial question of law on whether the
said amount could be taxed under any other provision
of the Income Tax Act, the High Court went ahead and
held that the amount of INR 6.6 crores received by
the assessee was received as part of the full value of
the sale consideration paid for transfer of shares —
and not for handing over management and control of
CDBL and is consequently not taxable under Section
28(ii)(a) of the Income Tax Act. Nor is it exempt as a
capital receipt being non-compete fee, as it is taxable as
a capital gain in the hands of the respondent-assessee
as part of the full value of the sale consideration paid for
transfer of shares. This finding would clearly be in the
teeth of Section 260-A (4), requiring the judgment to be
set aside on this score.”
9.1. Undoubtedly, Section 260A envisages that an appeal to the High
Court lies only where a substantial question of law arises. Sub-
sections (3) and (4) mandate the formulation of such questions,
[2026] 1 S.C.R. 537
M/s Jindal Equipment Leasing Consultancy Services Ltd. v.
Commissioner of Income Tax Delhi – II, New Delhi
while the proviso to sub-section (4) preserves the Court’s
power, for recorded reasons, to entertain any other substantial
question of law not earlier framed. For ease of reference, the
said provision is reproduced as follows:
“260-A. Appeal to High Court.—(1) An appeal shall
lie to the High Court from every order passed in
appeal by the Appellate Tribunal before the date of
establishment of the National Tax Tribunal, if the High
Court is satisfied that the case involves a substantial
question of law.
(2) The Principal Chief Commissioner or Chief
Commissioner or the Principal Commissioner or
Commissioner or an assessee aggrieved by any
order passed by the Appellate Tribunal may file an
appeal to the High Court and such appeal under this
sub-section shall be—
(a) filed within one hundred and twenty days from the
date on which the order appealed against is received
by the assessee or the Principal Chief Commissioner
or Chief Commissioner or Principal Commissioner or
Commissioner;
(b)….
(c) in the form of a memorandum of appeal precisely
stating therein the substantial question of law involved.
(2-A) The High Court may admit an appeal after
the expiry of the period of one hundred and twenty
days referred to in clause (a) of sub-section (2), if
it is satisfied that there was sufficient cause for not
filing the same within that period.
(3) Where the High Court is satisfied that a substantial
question of law is involved in any case, it shall
formulate that question.
(4) The appeal shall be heard only on the question
so formulated, and the respondents shall, at the
hearing of the appeal, be allowed to argue that the
case does not involve such question:
538 [2026] 1 S.C.R.
Supreme Court Reports
Provided that nothing in this sub-section shall be
deemed to take away or abridge the power of the court
to hear, for reasons to be recorded, the appeal on any
other substantial question of law not formulated by it,
if it is satisfied that the case involves such question.
(5) The High Court shall decide the question of law
so formulated and deliver such judgment thereon
containing the grounds on which such decision is
founded and may award such cost as it deems fit.
(6) The High Court may determine any issue which—
(a) has not been determined by the Appellate Tribunal;
or
(b) has been wrongly determined by the Appellate
Tribunal, by reason of a decision on such question
of law as is referred to in sub-section (1).
(7) Save as otherwise provided in this Act, the
provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5
of 1908), relating to appeals to the High Court shall,
as far as may be, apply in the case of appeals under
this section.”
9.2. The scheme is consciously modelled on Section 100 of
the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, which similarly confines
jurisdiction in second appeal to substantial questions of law.
Both provisions embody the legislative policy of limiting higher
appellate interference to questions of law, while at the same
time, permitting the Court to deal with necessary or incidental
questions that arise, provided reasons are recorded and parties
are heard. In a recent judgment in R. Nagaraj (dead) through
legal heirs and another v. Rajamani and others17, this Court
held that although a separate issue need not be framed on
every point, a finding on a disputed question, while deciding a
connected issue, is sufficient.
9.3. In the present case, the High Court did not specifically frame
the question of law as to whether the substitution of shares
17 2025 Livelaw SC 416
[2026] 1 S.C.R. 539
M/s Jindal Equipment Leasing Consultancy Services Ltd. v.
Commissioner of Income Tax Delhi – II, New Delhi
was taxable under Section 28 of the I.T. Act. However, the said
issue went to the very root of the matter, and the High Court
was bound to consider it in view of the issue already framed
by the Tribunal and the submissions advanced by both sides
before the Tribunal as well as before the High Court. Such a
question was incidental or collateral to the main issue, and the
absence of a formal formulation would not vitiate the impugned
judgment of the High Court.
9.4. Furthermore, the present case does not fall within the mischief
noticed in Shiv Raj Gupta for the following reasons:
• First, the Tribunal itself had framed the substantial issue
as “whether any income accrues to the appellants on
the event of substitution of shares of Jindal Ferro Alloys
Ltd. by the shares of Jindal Strips Ltd. under the scheme
of amalgamation approved by the High Court of Andhra
Pradesh and High Court of Punjab & Haryana”. While
answering this question in the negative, the Tribunal left
open the determination of whether the shares were held
as investments or as stock-in-trade. Once such a finding
was recorded, the real question of law was not merely the
applicability of Section 47, but more broadly the taxability
of the amalgamation transaction under the Act.
• Second, in appeal, the High Court framed the following
substantial question of law: “Whether the Tribunal was
correct in holding that where the assessee gets shares
of the amalgamated company in lieu of shares of the
amalgamating company, no transfer takes place?” This
formulation was wide enough to cover not only the
application of Section 47 but also the broader question of
taxability of such substitution of shares under the Act. The
High Court did not itself assess income under Section 28,
but only clarified that if the shares were stock-in-trade, the
exemption of Section 47 would not apply, and the matter
required reconsideration by the Tribunal so as to determine
whether the shares were held as stock-in-trade or as
capital assets, as without that determination the taxability
or eligibility for exemption could not be ascertained.
540 [2026] 1 S.C.R.
Supreme Court Reports
• Third, there was no violation of natural justice in the present
case, unlike in Shiv Raj Gupta where an altogether new
head of income was introduced without notice to the
assessee. Here, the High Court expressly recorded the
preliminary objections and submissions of the appellants
with respect to Section 28 and dealt with them. Thus, the
parties had full opportunity to address this aspect before
remand. Merely because a specific substantial question of
law was not framed, it cannot be concluded that prejudice
was caused to the parties, if both parties had the opportunity
to address the issues in dispute.
9.5. Reference may also be made to Mansarovar Commercial
Pvt. Ltd v. Commissioner of Income-Tax18, where a similar
contention was raised based on Shiv Raj Gupta. This Court
held that issues incidental or collateral, on which the parties
have been fully heard, can be considered by the High Court
even if not expressly framed as substantial questions of law,
especially where they arise directly from the Tribunal’s findings.
The following paragraphs from the said decision are pertinent
in this regard:
“45.13. As regards the reliance placed upon the
decision of this Court in Shiv Raj Gupta v. CIT [Shiv
Raj Gupta v. CIT, (2021) 11 SCC 58 : AIR 2020 SC
3556], by the learned Senior Counsel appearing on
behalf of the appellants on non-framing of substantial
question of law in terms of Section 260-A of the Act so
far as the interest liability is concerned, it is submitted
that the said decision shall not be applicable to the
facts of the case at hand and more particularly in
case of an interest which is automatic and mandatory.
It is submitted that in the said case, the dispute
was with respect to capital gains which by its very
nature is a separate head of income and the issue
relates to the very taxability. That therefore, failure
to raise a question of taxability of capital gains in a
particular case may tantamount to a failure in raising
18 (2023) 454 ITR 1 (SC)
[2026] 1 S.C.R. 541
M/s Jindal Equipment Leasing Consultancy Services Ltd. v.
Commissioner of Income Tax Delhi – II, New Delhi
a substantial question of law in terms of Section 260-
A of the Act. However, the same may not apply on
interest as the interest is automatic and mandatory.”
“85. As regards the submission on behalf of the
assessees that no substantial question of law
was framed on levy of interest, at the outset, it is
required to be noted that both the parties made
submissions on levy of interest elaborately which
have been dealt with and considered by the High
Court in light of the Constitution Bench decision
of this Court in Anjum M.H. Ghaswala [CIT v.
Anjum M.H. Ghaswala, (2002) 1 SCC 633]. Even
otherwise, the said issue can be said to be incidental
or collateral. Even otherwise, in view of the decision
of this Court in Anjum M.H. Ghaswala [CIT v. Anjum
M.H. Ghaswala, (2002) 1 SCC 633] holding that
the levy of interest under Section 234-A is statutory
interest and mandatory and automatic, thereafter the
said issue cannot be said to be a question of law.”
(Emphasis Supplied)
9.6. Accordingly, the High Court cannot be said to have exceeded
its jurisdiction under Section 260A in making the impugned
observation on Section 28 before remanding the matter. The
preliminary contention of the appellants is, therefore, devoid of
merit and stands rejected.
10. Now, another issue that arises for determination in these appeals is
whether the High Court, while remanding the matter to the Tribunal
to ascertain whether the shares of the amalgamating company
were held as stock-in-trade or as capital assets, was justified in
recording a finding that, if such shares were held as stock-in-trade,
the allotment of shares of the amalgamated company pursuant to a
court-sanctioned scheme of amalgamation would give rise to taxable
business income in the hands of the appellants under Section 28
of the I.T. Act.
11. These appeals, therefore, raise a substantial question concerning
the taxability of gains said to arise on amalgamation, where shares
of the amalgamating company held by the assessees as stock-in-
542 [2026] 1 S.C.R.
Supreme Court Reports
trade, stand substituted by shares of the amalgamated company.
The core controversy is whether such substitution, in and of itself,
constitutes a realisation giving rise to taxable business income under
Section 28 and if so, the conditions under which such accrual or
receipt can be said to arise in the commercial sense, or whether
the incidence of taxation arises only upon the subsequent sale of
the substituted shares.
12. Before proceeding further, it is apposite to refer to the statutory
framework covering the issue involved in the present appeals. The
relevant provisions of the I.T. Act are extracted below, for better
appreciation:
Section 2(1B) – Amalgamation
“‘amalgamation’, in relation to companies, means the
merger of one or more companies with another company or
the merger of two or more companies to form one company
(the company or companies which so merge being referred
to as the amalgamating company or companies and the
company with which they merge or which is formed as
a result of the merger, as the amalgamated company) in
such a manner that—
(i) all the property of the amalgamating company or
companies immediately before the amalgamation becomes
the property of the amalgamated company by virtue of
the amalgamation;
(ii) all the liabilities of the amalgamating company or
companies immediately before the amalgamation become
the liabilities of the amalgamated company by virtue of
the amalgamation;
(iii) shareholders holding not less than [three-fourths]
in value of the shares in the amalgamating company
or companies (other than shares already held therein
immediately before the amalgamation by, or by a nominee
for, the amalgamated company or its subsidiary) become
shareholders of the amalgamated company by virtue of
the amalgamation,
otherwise than as a result of the acquisition of the
property of one company by another company pursuant
[2026] 1 S.C.R. 543
M/s Jindal Equipment Leasing Consultancy Services Ltd. v.
Commissioner of Income Tax Delhi – II, New Delhi
to the purchase of such property by the other company
or as a result of the distribution of such property to the
other company after the winding up of the first-mentioned
company.”
Section 2(14) – Capital asset
“capital asset” means –
(a) property of any kind held by an assessee, whether
or not connected with his business or profession,
(b) …
(c) …
but does not include—
(i) any stock-in-trade [other than the securities referred
to in sub-clause (b)], consumable stores or raw
materials held for the purposes of his business or
profession.
(j) …”
Section 2(47) – Transfer
“transfer”, in relation to a capital asset, includes,
(i) the sale, exchange or relinquishment of the
asset; or
(ii) the extinguishment of any rights therein; or
(iii) the compulsory acquisition thereof under any law
…”
Section 28 — Profits and gains of business or profession
“The following income shall be chargeable to income-
tax under the head “Profits and gains of business or
profession”,—
(i) the profits and gains of any business or profession
which was carried on by the assessee at any time during
the previous year;
…
544 [2026] 1 S.C.R.
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(iv) the value of any benefit or perquisite arising from
business or the exercise of a profession, whether—
(a) convertible into money or not; or
(b) in cash or in kind or partly in cash and partly in kind;]
…
(vi-a) the fair market value of inventory on the date on
which it is converted into, or treated as, a capital asset
determined in the prescribed manner;
….”
Section 45(1) — Capital gains
“Any profits or gains arising from the transfer of a
capital asset effected in the previous year shall, save as
otherwise provided in sections 54, 54B, 54D, 54E, 54EA,
54EB, 54F, 54G and 54H, be chargeable to income-tax
under the head “Capital gains”, and shall be deemed to
be the income of the previous year in which the transfer
took place.”
Section 47 – Transactions not regarded as transfer
“Nothing contained in section 45 shall apply to the
following transfers:
….
(vii) any transfer by a shareholder, in a scheme of
amalgamation, of a capital asset being a share or shares
held by him in the amalgamating company, if—
(a) the transfer is made in consideration of the allotment to
him of any share or shares in the amalgamated company
except where the shareholder itself is the amalgamated
company, and
(b) the amalgamated company is an Indian company;
….”
12.1. The above provisions make it clear that the scope of taxability
on amalgamation depends on the nature of the shares held.
[2026] 1 S.C.R. 545
M/s Jindal Equipment Leasing Consultancy Services Ltd. v.
Commissioner of Income Tax Delhi – II, New Delhi
Section 2(14) excludes stock-in-trade from the definition of
a capital asset, while Section 2(47) defines “transfer” only in
relation to capital assets. Section 28 casts a wide net, taxing the
“profits and gains of business or profession”, including benefits
or perquisites arising from business, whether convertible into
money or not, or in cash or kind. Section 45 imposes capital
gains tax only on the transfer of a capital asset, subject to
exceptions under Section 47, including the transfer of shares
in a scheme of amalgamation. Section 47(vii) specifically
exempts from capital gains tax any transfer by a shareholder
of a capital asset being shares of the amalgamating company,
in consideration of the allotment of shares in the amalgamated
company, provided the amalgamated company is an Indian
company. There is a difference between a charging provision
and an exemption provision. A provision that enables the
levy of tax on a particular transaction is a charging provision.
Only a transaction that is covered by a charging provision
is taxable. Only if the transaction is taxable can there be an
exemption. Therefore, the transfer of shares arising out of an
order of amalgamation, even if it is treated as a capital asset,
is generally taxable but would be exempt from taxation only
if both the requirements under Section 47 (vii) are satisfied.
13. On behalf of the appellants, it was contended that no taxable event
arises at the stage of amalgamation. According to them, income
can be said to arise only upon the actual realisation or sale of the
substituted shares, and not at the point of their allotment in the
amalgamated company. The scheme of the Act, it was submitted,
proceeds on the foundational premise that only real income is taxable
unless Parliament, by express words, enacts a contrary legal fiction.
Illustratively, Section 28(via) expressly deems the fair market value of
inventory converted into a capital asset to be taxable, even without
the receipt of money. This demonstrates that where the legislature
intends to tax notional accretions, it does so explicitly. In the absence
of any analogous deeming provision in respect of amalgamations,
Section 28 cannot be judicially expanded to cover hypothetical or
unrealised gains.
14. Conversely, on behalf of the Revenue, it was submitted that
Section 28 does not predicate the existence of a “transfer”, “sale”
or “exchange”. What the provision taxes are the “profits and gains
546 [2026] 1 S.C.R.
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of business or profession”, which may be realised either in cash or
in kind. Where stock-in-trade ceases to exist and is substituted by
another commodity or asset of ascertainable value, profit accrues.
According to the Revenue, the language of Section 28 is wide enough
to encompass all benefits or advantages arising from business
activity, irrespective of the form of realisation. Therefore, once the
shares held as stock-in-trade in the amalgamating company ceases
to exist and are replaced by shares of the amalgamated company
of higher value, a business profit arises which is liable to be taxed
under Section 28.
Scope of Section 28
15. Before considering the rival submissions, it is necessary to delineate
the scope of Section 28. The provision contemplates the chargeability
of the “profits and gains of any business or profession” carried on by
the assessees during the relevant previous year. What is material,
therefore, is that there must be income arising from or in the course
of business to be treated as profits or gains. Such profit must be
ascertainable with reasonable definiteness at the relevant point of
time, and the assessees must have either received it, or acquired a
vested right to receive and commercially realise it, even if the receipt
is in kind. It is not necessary for the benefit to be capable of being
converted into money. Significantly, Section 28 does not prescribe
any precondition as to the precise mode through which the profit must
arise. The moment any income arises out of business or profession,
the provision becomes applicable. It does not incorporate the definition
of “transfer” under Section 2(47), unlike Section 45. It is sufficient if
there is “income”, and the “transfer”, whether it is actual, material,
or immaterial, is not relevant. The two provisions thus operate in
distinct and independent fields. As already mentioned, the language
of Section 28 – “the profits and gains of any business or profession”
is deliberately wide, i.e., the charge itself is cast in wide terms. It
is well settled that charging provisions, while construed strictly, are
not to be read in an unduly narrow manner when the language of
the provision itself is wide.
15.1. In Mazagaon Dock Ltd v. Commissioner of Income Tax
and Excess Profits Tax19, this Court held that the language
19 AIR 1958 SC 861
[2026] 1 S.C.R. 547
M/s Jindal Equipment Leasing Consultancy Services Ltd. v.
Commissioner of Income Tax Delhi – II, New Delhi
of Section 42(2) of the 1922 Act, though strict in nature, could
not be artificially restricted. Expressions such as “business’
and “profits derived” were held to be of wide import in fiscal
statutes and must be construed broadly to give effect to the
legislative intent. The Court rejected the narrow interpretation
urged by the assessee and clarified that wide words used
in charging provisions cannot be cut down merely to avoid
unusual or harsh consequences. Similarly, in Ujagar Prints
Etc. v. Union of India and others Etc.20, the Court reiterated
that wide statutory language must receive its full amplitude and
cannot be artificially confined. Further, in Commissioner of
Customs (Import), Mumbai v. Dilip Kumar and Company
and others21, this Court clarified that “strict interpretation” does
not connote a literal or pedantic reading. Instead, legislative
intent must be combined with the words of the statute to arrive
at a meaning that is neither too narrow nor too broad.
15.2. Thus, business profits may accrue or be realised in diverse
circumstances, even in the absence of a conventional sale,
transfer, or exchange in the strict legal sense. To confine the
operation of Section 28 to such modes would unduly restrict
a provision that Parliament has intentionally couched in broad
terms. Illustratively, waiver of a trading liability has been
treated as taxable business income under Section 28, as held
in Commissioner of Income Tax v. T.V. Sundaram Iyengar
& Sons Ltd.22 Again, in Commissioner of Income Tax v.
Meghalaya Steels Ltd23, this Court noted that under Section
28, income from cash assistance, by whatever name called,
received or receivable by any person against exports under
any scheme of the Government of India, would be income
chargeable to income tax under the head “Profits and gains
of business or profession”. It was held that if cash assistance
received or receivable against exports schemes is included
as income under the head “Profits and gains of business or
profession” subsidies which go to the reimbursement of cost
20 (1989) 3 SCC 488
21 (2018) 9 SCC 1 (5-Judge Bench)
22 (1996) 222 ITR 344 (SC)
23 (2016) 383 ITR 217 (SC)
548 [2026] 1 S.C.R.
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in the production of goods of a particular business would also
have to be included under the same head, and not under the
head “Income from other sources”. Likewise, in Commissioner
of Income Tax, Delhi v. Woodward Governor India P. Ltd24,
this Court held that foreign exchange fluctuations on trading
items directly affect the profit and loss account, thereby forming
part of the computation of business profits. Although that case
concerned the deduction of fluctuation losses, its reasoning
underscores that real income under Section 28 may accrue
without any conventional “transfer”.
15.3. It therefore emerges that Section 28 is a comprehensive
charging provision designed to bring within the tax net all real
profits and gains arising in the course of business, whether
convertible into money or received in money or in kind, and
irrespective of whether such accrual or receipt of income is
accompanied by a legal transfer in the strict sense.
Amalgamation – Concept and Legal character
16. Amalgamation, in corporate law, signifies the statutory blending of
two or more undertakings into one. It is distinct from winding up:
while the transferor company ceases to exist as a separate corporate
entity, its business, assets, and liabilities are absorbed into and
continue within the transferee. As held in Saraswati Industrial
Syndicate Ltd v. Commissioner of Income Tax25, the transferor
company ceases to exist, and the transferee emerges with a blended
corporate personality, inheriting all rights and liabilities. Stroud’s
Judicial Dictionary of Words and Phrases (9th Edn.) describes
amalgamation as the “welding or blending of two or more concerns
into one”. Black’s Law Dictionary (11th Edn.) similarly defines it as
the “act of combining or uniting; consolidation; amalgamation of two
small companies to form a new corporation”. In Walker’s Settlement,
In re26, amalgamation was explained as the state of two companies
being so joined as to form a third, or of one company being absorbed
into another [See: Religare Finvest Ltd. v. State (NCT of Delhi27].
24 (2009) 312 ITR 254 (SC)
25 (1990) Supp. SCC 675
26 1935 Ch 567 (CA)
27 (2024) 1 SCC 797
[2026] 1 S.C.R. 549
M/s Jindal Equipment Leasing Consultancy Services Ltd. v.
Commissioner of Income Tax Delhi – II, New Delhi
16.1. Notably, the Companies Act, 2013 contains no express
definition of amalgamation. Instead, Sections 230 – 232
prescribe the procedure and spell out the legal effect, namely,
the extinguishment of the transferor’s corporate identity and the
vesting of its assets, rights, and obligations in the transferee.
Thus, amalgamation – ordinarily effected through a scheme
of compromise or arrangement sanctioned by the Court or
Tribunal – is founded on agreement between shareholders
and creditors, but its legal effect is statutory: upon sanction,
all assets, rights, and liabilities of the transferor vest in the
transferee by operation of law. In other words, amalgamation
is more than a mere contractual transfer; it is a statutory
process of substitution.
16.2. In Commissioner of Income Tax v. Mahagun Realtors
(P) Ltd28, this Court explained that amalgamation is unlike
liquidation. Though the corporate shell of the transferor
disappears, its business continues within the transferee, and
courts therefore identify the successor-in-interest upon whom
rights and obligations devolve. The relevant paragraphs are
extracted below for proper understanding:
“19. Amalgamation, thus, is unlike the winding up
of a corporate entity. In the case of amalgamation,
the outer shell of the corporate entity is undoubtedly
destroyed; it ceases to exist. Yet, in every other
sense of the term, the corporate venture continues —
enfolded within the new or the existing transferee
entity. In other words, the business and the adventure
lives on but within a new corporate residence i.e.
the transferee company. It is, therefore, essential
to look beyond the mere concept of destruction of
corporate entity which brings to an end or terminates
any assessment proceedings. There are analogies in
civil law and procedure where upon amalgamation,
the cause of action or the complaint does not per se
cease — depending of course, upon the structure and
objective of enactment. Broadly, the quest of legal
28 (2022) 19 SCC 1
550 [2026] 1 S.C.R.
Supreme Court Reports
systems and courts has been to locate if a successor
or representative exists in relation to the particular
cause or action, upon whom the assets might have
devolved or upon whom the liability in the event it is
adjudicated, would fall.”
“21. In Saraswati Syndicate [Saraswati Industrial
Syndicate Ltd. v. CIT, 1990 Supp SCC 675], the facts
were that after amalgamation, the transferee company
claimed exemption from tax, of a sum which had
been allowed as a trading liability, on accrual basis,
in the hands of the transferee company which had
ceased to exist. The Revenue disallowed that claim;
that view was upheld. This Court stated that : (SCC
pp. 679-81, paras 5-6)
“5. … In amalgamation two or more
companies are fused into one by merger or
by taking over by another. Reconstruction
or “amalgamation” has no precise legal
meaning. The amalgamation is a blending
of two or more existing undertakings into
one undertaking, the shareholders of each
blending company become substantially
the shareholders in the company which
is to carry on the blended undertakings.
There may be amalgamation either by the
transfer of two or more undertakings to a
new company, or by the transfer of one or
more undertakings to an existing company.
Strictly “amalgamation” does not cover the
mere acquisition by a company of the share
capital of other company which remains in
existence and continues its undertaking
but the context in which the term is used
may show that it is intended to include
such an acquisition. See: Halsbury’s Laws
of England, 4th Edn., Vol. 7, para 1539.
Two companies may join to form a new
company, but there may be absorption or
blending of one by the other, both amount
[2026] 1 S.C.R. 551
M/s Jindal Equipment Leasing Consultancy Services Ltd. v.
Commissioner of Income Tax Delhi – II, New Delhi
to amalgamation. When two companies are
merged and are so joined, as to form a
third company or one is absorbed into one
or blended with another, the amalgamating
company loses its entity.
6. In General Radio & Appliances Co.
Ltd. v. M.A. Khader [General Radio &
Appliances Co. Ltd. v. M.A. Khader, (1986)
2 SCC 656], the effect of amalgamation
of two companies was considered. M/s
General Radio and Appliances Co. Ltd. was
tenant of a premises under an agreement
providing that the tenant shall not sublet the
premises or any portion thereof to anyone
without the consent of the landlord. M/s
General Radio and Appliances Co. Ltd.
was amalgamated with M/s National Ekco
Radio and Engineering Co. Ltd. under a
scheme of amalgamation and order of
the High Court under Sections 391 and
394 of Companies Act, 1956. Under the
amalgamation scheme, the transferee
company, namely, M/s National Ekco Radio
and Engineering company had acquired all
the interest, rights including leasehold and
tenancy rights of the transferor company
and the same vested in the transferee
company. Pursuant to the amalgamation
scheme the transferee company continued
to occupy the premises which had been
let out to the transferor company. The
landlord initiated proceedings for the
eviction on the ground of unauthorised
subletting of the premises by the transferor
company. The transferee company set
up a defence that by amalgamation of
the two companies under the order of
the Bombay High Court all interest, rights
including leasehold and tenancy rights
552 [2026] 1 S.C.R.
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held by the transferor company blended
with the transferee company, therefore the
transferee company was legal tenant and
there was no question of any subletting.
The Rent Controller and the High Court
both decreed the landlord’s suit. This
Court in appeal held that under the order
of amalgamation made on the basis of
the High Court’s order, the transferor
company ceased to be in existence in
the eye of the law and it effaced itself for
all practical purposes. This decision lays
down that after the amalgamation of the two
companies the transferor company ceased
to have any entity and the amalgamated
company acquired a new status and it was
not possible to treat the two companies as
partners or jointly liable in respect of their
liabilities and assets. In the instant case
the Tribunal rightly held that the appellant
company was a separate entity and a
different assessee, therefore, the allowance
made to Indian Sugar company, which was
a different assessee, could not be held
to be the income of the amalgamated
company for purposes of Section 41(1)
of the Act. The High Court was in error in
holding that even after amalgamation of
two companies, the transferor company
did not become non-existent instead it
continued its entity in a blended form
with the appellant company. The High
Court’s view that on amalgamation there
is no complete destruction of corporate
personality of the transferor company
instead there is a blending of the corporate
personality of one with another corporate
body and it continues as such with the
other is not sustainable in law. The true
[2026] 1 S.C.R. 553
M/s Jindal Equipment Leasing Consultancy Services Ltd. v.
Commissioner of Income Tax Delhi – II, New Delhi
effect and character of the amalgamation
largely depends on the terms of the scheme
of merger. But there cannot be any doubt
that when two companies amalgamate and
merge into one the transferor company
loses its entity as it ceases to have its
business. However, their respective rights
or liabilities are determined under the
scheme of amalgamation but the corporate
entity of the transferor company ceases
to exist with effect from the date the
amalgamation is made effective.”
“30. In Bhagwan Dass Chopra v. United Bank of
India [Bhagwan Dass Chopra v. United Bank of
India, 1987 Supp SCC 536] it was held that in every
case of transfer, devolution, merger or scheme of
amalgamation, in which rights and liabilities of one
company are transferred or devolved upon another
company, the successor-in-interest becomes entitled
to the liabilities and assets of the transferor company
subject to the terms and conditions of contract of
transfer or merger, as it were. Later, in Singer India
Ltd. v. Chander Mohan Chadha [(2004) 7 SCC 1] this
Court held as follows: (SCC p. 10, para 8)
“8. … there can be no doubt that when
two companies amalgamate and merge
into one, the transferor company loses its
identity as it ceases to have its business.
However, their respective rights and
liabilities are determined under the scheme
of amalgamation, but the corporate identity
of the transferor company ceases to exist
with effect from the date the amalgamation
is made effective.”
16.3. At this juncture, it must be noted that the High Court relied
on Hindustan Lever, which, though not in the context of
taxation, observed that amalgamation bears all the “trappings
of a sale”. We shall, however, proceed to analyse Section 28
554 [2026] 1 S.C.R.
Supreme Court Reports
in the context of amalgamation since the test under Section
28 is somewhat different: it does not hinge on whether there
is a sale, transfer, or exchange in the strict legal sense, as
already discussed. At the same time, it cannot be overlooked
that this Court in Grace Collis, overruling Vania Silk Mills,
held that amalgamation, for the purposes of capital gains under
Section 45, does involve a “transfer” of shares. Even if that
ratio was rendered in the context of capital gains, once this
Court has recognized that amalgamation entails a transfer,
that conclusion cannot be ignored while considering the ambit
of Section 28.
16.4. The real question, therefore, is whether an amalgamation –
though, in company law, it operates as a statutory substitution
of rights – nonetheless gives rise to taxable business profits
under Section 28 of the I.T. Act. That enquiry is not concluded
merely by characterising the event as a “transfer”. It requires
a deeper examination of whether the substitution of shares
results in real commercial profits, having accrued or arisen in
the course of business, so as to be chargeable as business
income under Section 28.
Whether there is receipt or accrual of income upon amalgamation
17. In the context of amalgamation, what transpires is essentially
a statutory substitution of one form of holding for another. The
shareholder’s interest in the transferor company is replaced by a
corresponding interest in the transferee company. For the purposes
of Section 28, the first test is whether such substitution constitutes
either a receipt or an accrual of income.
17.1. It is settled law that income yielding business profits may be
realised not only in money but also in kind. Thus, where an
assessee receives shares of the amalgamated company in
place of its shares held as trading stock, there is, in form, a
receipt of consideration in kind. Though such amalgamations
receive the sanction of the Court/Tribunal to be effectuated, they
are preceded by decisions taken in meetings of shareholders.
In such meetings, valuation reports are placed before the
shareholders, and for the amalgamation to be approved, 90%
of the shareholders must vote in favour of the amalgamation.
[2026] 1 S.C.R. 555
M/s Jindal Equipment Leasing Consultancy Services Ltd. v.
Commissioner of Income Tax Delhi – II, New Delhi
The report contains details of the share exchange ratio. Though
the value of each share is determined at that stage, it is not
tradable, as no right is vested at that point. Ordinarily, such
receipt arises only upon the actual allotment of shares, since
until that point no asset is placed in the hands of the assessee.
It cannot, however, be ruled out that in certain cases, the
terms of the sanctioned scheme may themselves create, from
an earlier date, a vested and imminent enforceable right to
allotment; in such situations, one may speak of “accrual”. The
general position, nevertheless, is that what the law recognises
in amalgamation is the receipt of shares in substitution of
trading assets.
Commercial realisability
18. Coming to the next test, it must be underscored that mere receipt of
shares does not suffice to attract Section 28; commercial realisability
is also required when income is received in kind. Moreover, in
Kanchanganga Sea Foods Ltd v. Commissioner of Income Tax29,
it was observed that the recipient of income must have control over
the income received, emphasising that mere receipt in kind is not
enough.
18.1. It must also be clarified at this stage that amalgamation, in strict
legal terms, does not amount to an “exchange.” In Rasiklal
Maneklal, this Court held that the allotment of shares in the
amalgamated company under a court- sanctioned scheme is
not the result of a bilateral bargain between two parties, i.e.,
there is no mutual or reciprocal transfer of ownership. Since
the amalgamating company itself ceases to exist, the element
of mutual transfer that characterises an exchange is absent.
Therefore, amalgamation, as held in other decisions, is to be
understood as a statutory substitution of holdings, and not as
an “exchange” in the legal sense.
18.2. Thus, the jurisprudence discloses three related strands:
first, cases such as Orient Trading, relying on English
decision (Royal Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Stephen), which will
29 (2010) 11 SCC 144
556 [2026] 1 S.C.R.
Supreme Court Reports
be discussed later, emphasise that receipt of an asset of
definite money’s worth in substitution for another may amount
to commercial realisation attracting Section 28; second, the
decision in Rasiklal Maneklal, which clarifies that allotment on
amalgamation is not an “exchange”, along with other decisions
holding it to be a statutory substitution; and third, the ruling in
Grace Collis, which makes it clear that, notwithstanding its
statutory character, amalgamation does involve a “transfer”
within the meaning of the Income-tax Act.
18.3. Reconciling these strands, the true test under Section 28,
as already noted, is not the legal label of “exchange” or
“transfer”, but whether the assessee, in consequence of the
amalgamation and thereby of its business, has obtained a
profit that is real and presently realisable. The well-known
real-income principle, as emphasised in E.D. Sassoon and
Shoorji Vallabhdas, must be applied. Therefore, the enquiry
for the Court is whether, as a result of the amalgamation, the
assessee has in fact realised a profit in the commercial sense.
This assessment may turn on whether:
(A) The old stock-in-trade has ceased to exist in the
assessee’s books;
(B) The shares received in the amalgamated company
possess a definite and ascertainable value; and
(C) The assessee, immediately upon allotment, is in a position
to dispose of such shares and realise money.
18.4. If these conditions are satisfied, the substitution bears the
character of a commercial realisation and the profit may be
taxed under Section 28. Where, however, the allotment of
shares is merely a statutory substitution mandated by the
scheme of amalgamation, without yielding an immediately
realisable benefit, no income can be said to accrue or be
received at that stage, and taxability arises only upon the
eventual sale of the shares. For instance:
(A) If a shareholder of Company A receives shares of
Company B pursuant to a court-sanctioned amalgamation,
but such shares are subject to a statutory lock-in
period during which they cannot be sold in the market,
[2026] 1 S.C.R. 557
M/s Jindal Equipment Leasing Consultancy Services Ltd. v.
Commissioner of Income Tax Delhi – II, New Delhi
the allotment cannot be equated with a commercial
realisation. It represents only a replacement of one form
of holding by another, without any immediate gain capable
of monetisation.
(B) Similarly, where the amalgamated company is closely
held and its shares are not quoted on any recognized
stock exchange, the mere allotment of such shares does
not generate a realisable profit, since no open market
exists to ascribe a fair disposal value.
18.5. These illustrations, which are not exhaustive, underline that
unless the assessee is, by virtue of the substitution, placed
in possession of an asset which is freely tradable and of an
ascertainable market value, the principle of real income bars
taxation at the stage of amalgamation. Thus, the substitution
of shares upon amalgamation does not, by itself, give rise to
taxable income under Section 28. What must be established
is that the transaction has the attributes of a commercial
realisation resulting in a real and presently disposable
advantage. Where this test is satisfied, taxability may arise
at the stage of substitution. Otherwise, the accrual or receipt
of income is deferred until actual sale.
18.6. In other words, as noted earlier, the governing test under
Section 28 is not the presence of a sale, exchange, or
extinguishment of rights in the technical sense, but whether the
assessee has, in consequence of business operations, come
into possession of a real and presently realisable commercial
benefit. This may take the form of money directly received,
or assets in kind capable of being immediately disposed of
for money’s worth. The shares, therefore, must be readily
available for trading to be treated as stock-in-trade.
19. We may now refer to the judgment in Orient Trading. Although it
dealt with an exchange, the observations therein as to the nature of
“realisation” are of general application. The Court, relying on English
decision (Royal Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Stephen), explained that a
realisation takes place when the old investment ceases to figure
in the affairs of the company and its worth – whether by way of
profit or loss – can be determined with finality in monetary terms.
At that point, the old investment is regarded as closed and a new
558 [2026] 1 S.C.R.
Supreme Court Reports
investment is treated as having commenced. The emphasis is that
realisation is not merely a matter of accounting entries, but arises
where the former asset is replaced by a new and distinct asset of
ascertainable value, thereby crystallising the economic outcome of
the earlier holding. Lord Trayner, in Californian Copper Syndicate
Ltd v. Inland Revenue30 observed that “no doubt here the price took
the form of fully paid shares in another company, but, if there can be
no realised profit except when that is paid in cash, the shares were
realisable and could have been turned into cash”. On this reasoning,
even the exercise of an option, such as the choice to accept shares
of the amalgamated company in lieu of the old holding, may amount
to a realisation of the old asset, subject to the other conditions being
satisfied, as discussed. The relevant portions of the judgment in
Orient Trading, are as under:
“8. The decision of Rowlatt, J. in Royal Insurance Co. Ltd. v.
Stephen [(1928) 14 TC 22 : 44 TLR 630] was approved in
the said case. In the case of Royal Insurance Co. Ltd. v.
Stephen [(1928) 14 TC 22 : 44 TLR 630] the appellant-
company had, under the Railways Act, 1921, to accept
new stocks in the amalgamated companies in exchange
for the stock held in the companies which were absorbed
and which resulted in loss to the appellant-company. The
claim of the appellant-company for deduction of such loss
was upheld by Rowlatt, J. who held: (TC pp. 28-29)
“At the bottom of this principle of waiting for a
realisation, I think there is this idea; while an investment
is going up or down for income tax purposes the
company cannot take any notice of fluctuations,
but it has to take notice of them when all that state
of affairs comes to an end, when that investment is
wound up I will say — ‘wound up’ is an unfortunate
expression perhaps and I will say when an investment
ceases to figure in the company’s affairs, when it is
known exactly what the holding of that investment has
meant, plus or minus to the company, and then the
company starts so far as that portion of its resources
30 5 TC 159
[2026] 1 S.C.R. 559
M/s Jindal Equipment Leasing Consultancy Services Ltd. v.
Commissioner of Income Tax Delhi – II, New Delhi
is concerned with a new investment. Then one knows
where one is and it is no longer a question of paper,
it is a question of fact and that is a realisation. I think
that is the point of view from which it ought to be
looked at, and looking at it from that point of view the
company is right. It has done with the investments in
the companies. They have disappeared. It is known
exactly in money. It is known now exactly what their
holding of them has meant to the company. They will
never more go up or down. What will go up or down
now are the different shares in the new companies,
altogether different investments really, and therefore
I think that the old investment is closed and realised
and a new investment is started.”
9. Similarly in Californian Copper Syndicate Ltd. v.
Inland Revenue (Harris, Surveyor of Taxes) [5 TC 159],
decided by the Court of Exchequer in Scotland, Lord
Trayner has said: (TC p. 167)
“But it was said that the profit — if it was profit — was not
realised profit and, therefore, not taxable. I think the profit
was realised. A profit is realised when the seller gets the
price he had bargained for. No doubt here the price took
the form of fully paid shares in another company, but,
if there can be no realised profit, except when that is
paid in cash, the shares were realisable and could
have been turned into cash, if the appellants had been
pleased to do so. I cannot think that income tax is due or
not according to the manner in which the person making
the profit pleases to deal with it.”
11. The subsequent decision of the House of Lords in
British South Africa Co. v. Varty (Inspector of Taxes) [1966
AC 381 : (1965) 2 All ER 395 : (1965) 3 WLR 47] does not
lend assistance to the submission of Shri Puri. In that case
the appellant-company in 1953 had lent 200,000 pounds
to a gold mining company and in return had received,
inter alia, an option to subscribe for 100,000 shares in the
mining company at 1 pound per share, the value of the
shares then being 19 Sh. 6 d a share. In 1954 when the
value of the shares had gone up to 43 Sh. 6 d a share
560 [2026] 1 S.C.R.
Supreme Court Reports
the appellant exercised the option and obtained shares
worth 217,500 pounds for which they paid 100,000 pounds.
The company was assessed for income tax on a profit of
11,75,000 pounds. On behalf of the company it was urged
that upon the exercise of the option there was a realisation
because the option which was a “trading asset” or an item
of “stock-in-trade” was exchanged for or was replaced
by a different item of stock-in-trade which had a value in
money›s worth. The said contention was rejected by the
House of Lords (Lord Guest, dissenting). It was held that
the appellant-company never, in fact, realised their option in
the sense of passing it on for a consideration to someone
else and that there was neither a sale of the option or its
exchange for something else and that when the company
exercised their option or used or availed themselves of their
rights they did not make the end of the trading transaction
and that there was merely the end of the beginning of a
trading transaction. It was emphasised that there was no
element of exchange as there was in Royal Insurance Co.
Ltd. v. Stephen [(1928) 14 TC 22 : 44 TLR 630] and in
Westminster Bank Ltd. v. Osler (Inspector of Taxes) [(1933)
1 ITR 65 : 1932 All ER Rep 917, HL]. (See Lord Morris of
Borth-Y-Gest at pp. 394-395.) Lord Guest, in his dissenting
judgment, however felt that the option was a trading asset
of the appellant-company and, applying the principles laid
down in Royal Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Stephen [(1928) 14
TC 22 : 44 TLR 630] and Westminster Bank Ltd. v. Osler
(Inspector of Taxes) [(1933) 1 ITR 65 : 1932 All ER Rep
917, HL], held that the exercise of option amounted to a
realisation of the option which resulted in a trading profit
of 11,75,000 pounds. This would show that the principles
laid down in Royal Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Stephen [(1928)
14 TC 22 : 44 TLR 630] and Westminster Bank Ltd. v.
Osler (Inspector of Taxes) [(1933) 1 ITR 65 : 1932 All ER
Rep 917, HL] have been affirmed by all the Law Lords
and the difference amongst them was only as regards the
applicability of the said principles to the facts of that case.
13. Having regard to the principles laid down in the decisions
aforementioned, it must be held that the High Court has
rightly taken the view that as a result of their having
[2026] 1 S.C.R. 561
M/s Jindal Equipment Leasing Consultancy Services Ltd. v.
Commissioner of Income Tax Delhi – II, New Delhi
taken the shares in the second company in exchange of
the shares of the first company the assessee had made
realisation of the value of the shares of the first company
and the difference between the price of the shares of the
first company and the second company on the date of such
exchange, i.e., Rs 4,06,000, has to be treated as a profit
of the assessee and has been rightly assessed as income
of the assessee. We, therefore, do not find any merit in
the appeal and the same is accordingly dismissed, but in
the circumstances with no order as to costs.”
20. The Privy Council in Raja Raghunandan Prasad Singh v.
Commissioner of Income Tax31, recognised that income may be
received in kind as well as in cash, and that the equivalent of cash
may constitute income, but stressed that what is received must
be “money’s worth”. It was clearly observed that there must be an
actually realised or realisable profit or loss. The following passages
are pertinent in this regard:
“Their Lordships fully recognise that income may be
received in kind as well as in cash and that the receipt
of an equivalent of cash may be a receipt of income.
In the case of Californian Copper Syndicate v. Harris
[(1905) 6 F. 894 : 5 Tax. Cas. 159.], a company which
dealt in mining properties sold certain property for
fully-paid shares in another company and was held
to be liable to income-tax on the profit made on the
transaction although no cash passed, but this was
on the ground that the shares taken in exchange
were realisable and were thus money’s worth and
the equivalent of cash. In the case of Royal Insurance
Company, Ltd. v. Stephen [(1928) 44 T.L.R. 630 : 14 Tax.
Cas. 22.], an insurance company, which admitted that
any profit which it made on the realisation of investments
was liable to tax, effected an exchange of securities in
pursuance of a railway amalgamation scheme. The new
stocks received in place of the surrendered stocks had at
the date of the exchange a definite market value which
31 (1933) 1 ITR 113 : 1933 SCC OnLine PC 8
562 [2026] 1 S.C.R.
Supreme Court Reports
was less than the original cost to the company of the
surrendered stocks. A claim was made by the company in
computing its profits to deduct the difference loss sustained
by it. For the Crown it was contended that there has been
no realisation of investments, but merely an exchange of
one set of investments for another. The company’s claim
was upheld by Rowlatt, J. on the ground that it had in
substance realised its former holdings and received for
them money’s worth of, a definite amount. The loss was
thus a realised loss susceptible of exact estimation in
money. The transaction was on “a money basis.” Reference
may also be made to the recent case in the House of
Lords of Westminster Bank, Ltd. v. Osler (15th November,
1932) [(1933) A.C. 139.], where the bank surrendered
certain holdings of National War Bonds in exchange for
other Government securities and the Crown claimed tax
oil the excess value of the substituted over the original
securities. The question was whether these transactions
were the equivalent of a realisation of the original holdings,
and it was held that they were. “The exchange effected
in the present case,” said Lord Buckmaster, “was in fact
the exact equivalent of what would have I taken place
had instructions been given to sell the original stock and
invest the proceeds in the new security.” The bank had
thus in effect realised its profit, for it had deceived it in
money’s worth of a I definitely ascertained amount. From
these cases it is plain that the essence of the matter
is that there must be an actually realised or realisable
profit or loss.
Applying this principle to the assessees’ transaction in
1904, their Lordships are of opinion that there was in the
circumstances no realisation of the principal and interest of
the original mortgage of 1894 and that when the assessees
received, the new mortgage for Rs. 7,33,135, which
included the principal and interest of the original mortgage,
they did not thereby receive payment or the equivalent
of payment of the principal and interest of the original
mortgage. No doubt the grantors of the new mortgage
were not identical with the grantor of the original mortgage
[2026] 1 S.C.R. 563
M/s Jindal Equipment Leasing Consultancy Services Ltd. v.
Commissioner of Income Tax Delhi – II, New Delhi
and the property mortgaged was greater in extent, but
the substitution effected cannot in any real sense, be
described as the equivalent of a realisation of the original
mortgage, principal and interest. What happened was that
the assessees received a new and substituted security for
an existing debt. To give security for a debt is not to pay
a debt. If the assessees had received payment in kind of
the amount outstanding on the original mortgage, in the
shape, say, of realisable shares or bonds, the case would
have been different, but they merely received further and
better security for their debt. It is, in their Lordships’ view,
quite immaterial that the assessees discharged the original
mortgage and all liability under it, for that was merely an
incident in the transaction whereby the new security was
substituted for the old. Their Lordships accordingly hold
that the assessees did not by virtue of the transaction of
1904 receive payment of the arrears of interest amounting
to Rs.2,33,135 then outstanding on the mortgage of 1894;
that the assessees were not liable to be taxed on this sum
as being income received when the new mortgage was
granted; and that this sum of arrears of interest (though
after 1904 secured by the new mortgage) continued to
retain its character and remain due to the assessees
down to the time of the judicial sales of November, 1924,
and January, 1925. In so holding their Lordships find
themselves in agreement in result with the Commissioner
and the High Court.”
21. In Raja Mohan Raja Bahadur v. Commissioner of Income
Tax32, this Court held that where commercial assets are received
in satisfaction of an obligation, income embedded in such assets
is deemed to be received when title passes, irrespective of actual
sale. The Court again took note of the observations made in the
Californian Copper Syndicate case. The following paragraphs from
the decision are apposite:
“4. Under Section 4 of the Income Tax Act, 1922, the
total income of any previous year of a resident assessee
32 (1967) 66 ITR 378
564 [2026] 1 S.C.R.
Supreme Court Reports
includes all income, profits and gains from whatever
sources derived which are received or are deemed to be
received in the taxable territories in such year by or on
behalf of such person, or accrue or arise or are deemed
to accrue or arise to him in the taxable territories during
such year, or accrue or arise to him without the taxable
territories during such year, or having accrued or arisen to
him without the taxable territories before the beginning of
such year and after the 1st day of April, 1933, are brought
into or received in the taxable territories by him during such
year. The Act does not contain much guidance as to cases
in which tax is to be levied on income received, and cases
in which tax is to be levied on income accrued or arisen.
Section 13 however requires that income, profits and gains
for the purposes of Sections 10 and 12 shall be computed
in accordance with the method of accounting regularly
employed by the assessee. If accounts are maintained
according to the mercantile system, whenever the right
to receive money in the course of a trading transaction
accrues or arises, even though income is not realised,
income embedded in the receipt is deemed to arise or
accrue. Where the accounts are maintained on cash
basis receipt of money or money’s worth and not the
accrual of the right to receive is the determining factor.
Therefore, if commercial assets are received by a trade
maintaining accounts on cash basis in satisfaction of
an obligation, income which is embedded in the value
of the assets is deemed to be received : the receipt
of income is not deferred till the asset is realized
in terms of cash or money. It makes no difference
whether the receipt of assets is in pursuance of an
agreement or that the trader is compelled by law to
accept the assets from the debtor. Once title of the
trader to an asset received is complete, whether by
a consensual arrangement or by operation of law,
he receives the income embedded in the value of
the asset. In Californian Copper Syndicate (Limited and
Reduced) v. Harris (Surveyor of Taxes) [5 TC 159] Lord
Trayner in dealing with a case of assessment to income
tax of a Company formed for the purpose, inter alia, of
[2026] 1 S.C.R. 565
M/s Jindal Equipment Leasing Consultancy Services Ltd. v.
Commissioner of Income Tax Delhi – II, New Delhi
acquiring and reselling mining property resold the whole
of its assets to a second Company and received payment
in fully paid shares of the purchasing Company, observed:
“A profit is realised when the seller gets the price
he has bargained for. No doubt here the price
took the form of fully paid shares in another
company, but, if there can be no realised profit,
except when that is paid in cash, the shares
were realisable and could have been turned into
cash, if the appellants had been pleased to do
so. I cannot think that Income tax is due or not
according to the manner in which the person
making the profit pleases to deal with it.”
Counsel for the appellant contended that the bonds were
intended to renew the promise to pay the amount due by
the debtor through his agent, and by the renewal of the
promise even if the original liability was extinguished and
a fresh liability was substituted, no income was received
by the appellant.
5. We are unable to agree with that contention. The
Government of the State undertook to pay the amount of
the bonds in satisfaction of the liability of the debtor. The
liability of the original debtor was extinguished and a fresh
obligation was undertaken by the State Government in
substitution of the original liability. The Government had
the right to recover the amount due under the bonds from
the landholder, but on that account the Government did
not become the agent of the landholder for payment of
his debts. Even if the Government was unable to recover
the money from the landholder, the liability undertaken by
the Government under the bond remained unimpaired.
The bond was a security for payment of the debt which
completely replaced the original liability of the debtor.”
22. This Court in Commissioner of Income Tax v. Ashokbhai
Chimanbhai33, reiterated that profits do not accrue from day to day
33 (1965) 56 ITR 42
566 [2026] 1 S.C.R.
Supreme Court Reports
but are ascertained by a comparison of assets at two points in time.
Further, the test of accrual is whether the person entitled thereto has
a right to claim the profits. The following paragraphs are relevant
in this regard:
“6. Under the Income Tax Act, income is taxable when
it accrues, arises or is received, or when it is by fixation
deemed to accrue, arise or is deemed to be received.
Receipt is not the only test of chargeability to tax; if
income accrues or arises it may become liable to tax. For
the purpose of this case it is unnecessary to dilate upon
the distinction between income “accruing” and “arising”.
But there is no doubt that the two words are used to
contradistinguish the word “receive”. Income is said to be
received when it reaches the assessee : when the right
to receive the income becomes vested in the assessee,
it is said to accrue or arise. Fletcher Moulton, L.J., in In
re The Spanish Prospecting Co. Ltd. [(1911) 1 Ch 92]
observed at p. 98:
“The word ‘profit’ has * * * a well-defined legal
meaning and this meaning coincides with the
fundamental conception of profits in general
parlance; although in mercantile phraseology
the word may at times bear meanings indicated
by the special context which deviate in some
respects from this fundamental signification.
‘Profit’ implies a comparison between the
state of a business at two specific dates
usually separated by an interval of a year. The
fundamental meaning is the amount of gain
made by the business during the year. This
can only be ascertained by a comparison of
the assets at the two dates.”
In the gross receipts of a business day after day or from
transaction to transaction lie embedded or dormant profit
or loss: on such dormant profit or loss undoubtedly taxable
profits, if any, of the business will be computed. But
dormant profits cannot be equated with profits charged
to tax under Sections 3 & 4 of the Income Tax Act. The
concept of accrual of profits of a business involves the
[2026] 1 S.C.R. 567
M/s Jindal Equipment Leasing Consultancy Services Ltd. v.
Commissioner of Income Tax Delhi – II, New Delhi
determination by the method of accounting at the end of the
accounting year or any shorter period determined by law.
If profits accrue to the assessee directly from the business
the question whether they accrue de die, in diem or at
the close of the year of account has at best an academic
significance, but when upon ascertainment of profits the
right of a person to a share therein is determined, the
question assumes practical importance, for it is only on
the right to receive profits or income, profits accrue to that
person. If there is no right, no profits will be deemed to
have accrued. This principle was applied by this Court in
E.D. Sassoon & Co. Ltd. v. CIT [26 ITR 27]. The material
facts bearing on that principle were these: E.D. Sassoon
& Co. Ltd, — called “Sassoons” — were the managing
agents of a Company which may be called ‘the United
Mills’ and were entitled to receive a percentage of annual
net profits of the Company as their remuneration. On
December 1, 1943 Sassoons assigned to Messrs Agarwal
& Co. their office as managing agents and all their rights
and benefits under the managing agency agreement.
Accounts of the managing agency commission payable
to the managing agents for the calendar year 1943 were
made up in 1944 and commission for the whole year was
paid to Messrs Agarwal & Co. thereafter. In the course
of assessment proceeding of Sassoons it was debated
whether in respect of commission earned by the managing
agency, tax was payable on the entirety of the commission
by Messrs Agarwal & Co. or by Sassoons or it was liable
to be apportioned between Messrs Agarwal & Co. and
Sassoons. This Court held (Jagannadhadas, J. dissenting)
that Messrs Agarwal & Co. alone were liable to pay tax on
the whole of the remuneration received under the contract
of service between the United Mills, because the managing
agency was entire and indivisible, and the remuneration
or commission fell due to the managing agents, only on
completion of a definite period of service and at stated
periods it being a condition of recovery of wages or salary
that the service or duty should be completely performed.
Remuneration as managing agents constituted according
to the Court “a debt” only at the end of each such period of
568 [2026] 1 S.C.R.
Supreme Court Reports
service and no remuneration or commission was payable
to the managing agents for broken periods. After referring
to the observations of Fletcher Moulton, L.J. in the Spanish
Prospecting Co. Ltd. case [(1911) 1 Ch 92] (already set
out), Bhagwati, J., observed that “it would be absurd to
suggest that the profits of the company could accrue from
day to day or even from month to month”. The working of
the company from day to day could certainly not indicate
any profit or loss, even the working of the company from
month to month could not be taken as a reliable guide for
this purpose. If the profit or loss has to be ascertained by
a comparison of the assets at two stated points, the most
businesslike way would be to do so at stated intervals of one
year and that would be a reasonable period to be adopted
for the purpose. In the case of large business concerns
the working of the company during a particular month may
show profits and the working in another month may show
loss. The business during the earlier part of the year may
show profit or loss and in the later part of the year may
show loss or profit which would go to counterbalance the
profit or loss as the case may be in the earlier part of the
year. It would therefore be reasonable to determine the
profit or loss as the case may be at the end of every year
so that on such calculation of net profits the managing
agents may be paid their remuneration or commission
at the percentage stipulated in the managing agency
agreement and the shareholders also be paid dividends
out of the net profits of the Company.
7. Counsel for the Commissioner submitted that the
judgment in E.D. Sassoon Co. Ltd. case [26 ITR 27]
proceeded upon the special character of a managing
agency agreement and did not purport to lay down a general
rule that accrual of income depends on quantification, or
that right to payment of an ascertainable amount does not
arise till accounts are made. Counsel also submitted that in
sale transactions of a trading venture profits accrue to the
trader from transaction to transaction and are embedded in
each transaction carried on by the trader, and the charge
imposed by Section 4(1)(a) is not deferred till settlement
[2026] 1 S.C.R. 569
M/s Jindal Equipment Leasing Consultancy Services Ltd. v.
Commissioner of Income Tax Delhi – II, New Delhi
of accounts. On that premise, counsel said, that profits
dormant or embedded in the transactions carried on by
Messrs Amrit Chemicals accrued from transaction to
transaction till November 12, 1955 and properly belonged
to the assessee and were liable to be taxed in the hands of
the assessee notwithstanding any subsequent disposition
of those profits by the assessee. In support of his contention
counsel relied upon Turner Morrison & Co. Ltd. v. CIT [23
ITR 152] — a case decided by this Court. In that case an
Indian Company received commission on sales effected
in India of goods received from a foreign company. The
Indian Company handled the cargo arriving at Calcutta
and made disbursements in connection therewith, collected
and after deducting expenses including their commission
remitted the balance to the foreign principal. It was held
by this Court that the income, profits and gains derived
from sale of goods by the Indian Company in British India
were assessable to tax under Section 4(1)(a) as income,
profits and gains received in the taxable territories by the
Company on behalf of the foreign principal. The Court in
that case observed at p. 160:
“There can therefore, be no question that when
the gross sale proceeds were received by
the Agents in India they necessarily received
whatever income, profits and gains were lying
dormant or hidden or otherwise embedded in
them. Of course, if on the taking of accounts it
be found that there was no profit during the year
then the question of receipt of income, profits and
gains would not arise but if there were income,
profits and gains, then the proportionate part
thereof attributable to the sale proceeds received
by the Agents in India were income, profits and
gains received by them at the moment the gross
sale proceeds were received by them in India
and that being the position the provisions of
Section 4(1)(a) were immediately attracted and
the income profits and gains so received became
chargeable to tax under Section 3 of the Act.”
570 [2026] 1 S.C.R.
Supreme Court Reports
8. These observations were, it may be noticed, made
in rejecting the contention raised by counsel for the
taxpayer that in the gross sale proceeds received by him
in India, there was no income at all. Counsel for the Indian
Company said that the gross sale proceeds were merely
credit items in the account and that several amounts were
to be debited in the same account and if there remained
any credit balance, such balance alone could be regarded
as stamped with the formal impress of income capable
of being dealt with as such : income could therefore be
said to have been received only at that stage. The Court
did propound that when gross sale proceeds are received
in which is embedded income, that income will enter
the ultimate computation of the total profits assessable
to tax. But that is not to say that the profits accrue or
arise to a trader from day to day or from transaction to
transaction. The observation that to the income, profits and
gains embedded in the gross receipts Section 4(1) was
immediately attracted also does not warrant the inference
that the Court intended to lay down that profits accrue to a
taxpayer before the right thereto has come into existence.
“Profits” as pointed out in E.D. Sassoon Co. Ltd. case
[26 ITR 27] do not accrue from day to day or even
from month to month and have to be ascertained
by a comparison of assets at two stated points. The
Court also pointed out in that case that the test for
ascertaining whether profits have accrued or arisen
is whether the person who is entitled thereto has a
right to claim the profits.”
23. Accordingly, where under a scheme of amalgamation the shareholder
merely receives, in substitution, shares of the amalgamated company
in lieu of the shares held in the amalgamating company, there is no
real or completed profit capable of being taxed under Section 28,
unless it is shown that the shares are held as stock-in-trade and
are readily available for realisation. In the absence thereof, what
takes place is only a statutory vesting and substitution of one form
of holding for another. Unless and until the substituted shares are
commercially realisable – whether saleable, tradeable, or by whatever
other mode of disposition so described – so as to yield real income,
no taxable event can be said to arise.
[2026] 1 S.C.R. 571
M/s Jindal Equipment Leasing Consultancy Services Ltd. v.
Commissioner of Income Tax Delhi – II, New Delhi
Definite valuation
24. The next test, which is well settled, is that profit must be capable of
definite valuation, so that the real gain or loss stands crystallized.
Judicial decisions have consistently underscored that “profits”, in
the commercial sense, are ascertainable only when the old position
is closed and the new position is determined in terms of money’s
worth – whether by sale, transfer, exchange, or statutory substitution.
This principle is an application of the doctrine of real income and
applies with equal force to stock-in-trade as it does to other forms
of commercial receipts. Therefore, the test is not satisfied merely
by the receipt of realisable shares in substitution of earlier holdings;
such shares must also be capable of quantification.
24.1. In Commissioner of Income Tax v. Woodward Governor
India (P) Ltd.34, this Court reaffirmed the settled principles
of commercial accounting, particularly that profits can be
ascertained only by a comparison of assets at two defined
points in time, and that unrealised gains embedded in stock-
in-trade are not brought to charge unless and until they are
crystallised in terms of money’s worth. The following paragraphs
are apposite:
“28. One more aspect needs to be highlighted.
Under Section 28(i), one needs to decide the profits
and gains of any business which is carried on by
the assessee during the previous year. Therefore,
one has to take into account stock-in-trade for
determination of profits. The 1961 Act makes no
provision with regard to valuation of stock. But the
ordinary principle of commercial accounting requires
that in the P&L account the value of the stock-in-trade
at the beginning and at the end of the year should
be entered at cost or market price, whichever is the
lower. This is how business profits arising during the
year need to be computed. This is one more reason
for reading Section 37(1) with Section 145.
34 (2009) 13 SCC 1
572 [2026] 1 S.C.R.
Supreme Court Reports
29. For valuing the closing stock at the end of a
particular year, the value prevailing on the last date is
relevant. This is because profits/loss is embedded in
the closing stock. While anticipated loss is taken into
account, anticipated profit in the shape of appreciated
value of the closing stock is not brought into account,
as no prudent trader would care to show increased
profits before actual realisation. This is the theory
underlying the rule that closing stock is to be valued
at cost or market price, whichever is the lower. As
profits for income tax purposes are to be computed
in accordance with ordinary principles of commercial
accounting, unless, such principles stand superseded
or modified by legislative enactments, unrealised
profits in the shape of appreciated value of goods
remaining unsold at the end of the accounting year
and carried over to the following year’s account in a
continuing business are not brought to the charge as
a matter of practice, though, as stated above, loss
due to fall in the price below cost is allowed even
though such loss has not been realised actually.
30. At this stage, we need to emphasise once again
that the above system of commercial accounting can
be superseded or modified by legislative enactment.
This is where Section 145(2) comes into play. Under
that section, the Central Government is empowered to
notify from time to time the accounting standards to
be followed by any class of assessees or in respect
of any class of income. Accordingly, under Section
209 of the Companies Act, mercantile system of
accounting is made mandatory for companies. In other
words, accounting standard which is continuously
adopted by an assessee can be superseded or
modified by legislative intervention. However, but for
such intervention or in cases falling under Section
145(3), the method of accounting undertaken by the
assessee continuously is supreme.
…….
[2026] 1 S.C.R. 573
M/s Jindal Equipment Leasing Consultancy Services Ltd. v.
Commissioner of Income Tax Delhi – II, New Delhi
33. It is well established, that, on general principles
of commercial accounting, in the P&L account, the
values of the stock-in-trade at the beginning and at
the end of the accounting year should be entered at
cost or market value, whichever is lower—the market
value being ascertained as on the last date of the
accounting year and not as on any intermediate date
between the commencement and the closing of the
year, failing which it would not be possible to ascertain
the true and correct state of affairs. No gain or profit
can arise until a balance is struck between the cost
of acquisition and the proceeds of sale. The word
“profit” implies a comparison between the state of
business at two specific dates, usually separated
by an interval of twelve months. Stock-in-trade
is an asset. It is a trading asset. Therefore, the
concept of profits and gains made by business
during the year can only materialise when a
comparison of the assets of the business at two
different dates is taken into account.”
24.2. Accordingly, in the context of amalgamation, the issue does
not turn on the accrual of income in the abstract sense, but on
whether the assessee has received a commercially realisable
consideration in kind. Upon sanction of the scheme, there is
only a statutory substitution of rights; no asset then exists
in the hands of the assessee that is capable of commercial
realisation. The charge under Section 28 crystallises only
upon allotment of the new shares, when the assessee actually
receives realisable instruments capable of valuation in money’s
worth. At that point, the old stock-in-trade ceases to exist and
stands replaced by new shares having a definite market value.
Since these shares are received in the course of business
and in substitution of trading assets, their receipt represents a
commercial profit or gain arising from business activity. What
attracts Section 28 is, therefore, the receipt of shares coupled
with their present realisability and their nexus with business.
These three conditions—actual receipt, present realisability,
and ascertainability of value—together determine the timing of
taxability in cases of amalgamation. Consequently, the profit
574 [2026] 1 S.C.R.
Supreme Court Reports
arising on receipt of the amalgamated company’s shares
may be taxed under Section 28 where the shares allotted
are tradable and possess a definite market value, thereby
conferring a presently realisable commercial advantage. This
conclusion flows from the real income principle and not from
any judicially created fiction. Equally, it must be emphasised
that where such attributes are absent, the Court cannot, by
analogy, extend Section 28 to tax hypothetical accretions in
the absence of an express statutory mandate.
24.3. It is further clarified that the principles enunciated herein lay
down a fact-sensitive test. The enquiry whether, consequent
upon an amalgamation, the allotment of new shares has
resulted in a real and presently realisable commercial benefit
must be determined on the facts of each case. The burden
lies on the Revenue to establish the same. It is thereafter for
the Tribunal, as the final fact-finding authority, to apply these
principles to the evidence on record.
Timing of Taxability
25. Having established that the charge under Section 28 may be attracted
if the shares are saleable, tradable, etc., and of definite market value,
thereby conferring a presently realisable commercial advantage, it
becomes necessary to clarify the general principle. In the context
of amalgamation, three points in time require to be distinguished.
First, the appointed date specified in the scheme, which determines
corporate succession and continuity between the transferor and
transferee companies. Secondly, the sanction of the scheme by
the Court, which gives statutory force to the amalgamation. At
these stages, however, there is only a substitution of rights by legal
fiction, without any asset in the hands of the shareholder capable
of commercial exploitation. Thirdly, the allotment of new shares in
the amalgamated company, which alone crystallises the benefit
in the shareholder’s hands, for it is only then that the old stock-
in-trade ceases to exist and is replaced by new shares of definite
market value capable of immediate realisation. Even if the scheme
contemplates the issue of shares in a certain ratio from the appointed
date, until allotment there is no identifiable scrip or tradable asset
in existence in the hands of the assessee. Thus, the charge under
Section 28 is not attracted on the mere sanction of the scheme or
[2026] 1 S.C.R. 575
M/s Jindal Equipment Leasing Consultancy Services Ltd. v.
Commissioner of Income Tax Delhi – II, New Delhi
on the appointed date, but only upon the receipt of the new shares,
when the statutory substitution translates into a concrete, realisable
commercial advantage.
26. Without prejudice to the broader question of chargeability under
Section 28, it was contended on behalf of the appellants that even
if the fair market value of the shares allotted in the amalgamated
company exceeded the book value of the shares held in the
amalgamating company, such excess would be merely hypothetical
and illusory until the shares were sold, given that market value
is inherently fluctuating. As discussed, the test under Section 28
is not postponed until an actual sale, but is satisfied once the
assessee comes into possession of an asset of determinable and
presently realisable value in substitution of its trading stock. The
fact that such value may fluctuate subsequently does not render
the benefit unreal; valuation for tax purposes is always carried out
at a particular point in time, notwithstanding subsequent volatility.
What matters is that, on the date of allotment, the assessee must
have received realisable instruments capable of being valued in
money’s worth, and such receipt constitutes a real, and not a
notional, commercial gain.
Distinction between Capital and Business assets
27. Notably, Section 47 of the I.T. Act expressly carves out an exemption
in respect of certain transfers in the context of amalgamation, but
that exemption is confined to capital assets. The rationale is plain.
Where a shareholder holds shares as an investment, the underlying
object is to remain invested in the corporate venture, and a mere
amalgamation ordinarily does not alter that position. While the
possibility of tax avoidance in the investment field cannot be ruled
out altogether, the legislative judgment reflects that the risk is
relatively low. The exemption under Section 47 is thus founded on
the recognition that amalgamation, in the capital field, is essentially
a corporate restructuring and not a true realisation of profit. It is also
common in business parlance for entities to hold shares either as
investments or as stock-in-trade.
27.1. By contrast, Section 28, which governs profits of business,
contains no such carve-out, nor could it be otherwise. The
nature of stock-in-trade is wholly different from that of an
576 [2026] 1 S.C.R.
Supreme Court Reports
investment. Stock-in-trade represents circulating capital: it is
held not for preservation or appreciation, but for conversion into
money in the ordinary course of business. In Commissioner of
Income Tax v. Express Newspapers Ltd.35 it was observed
as follows:
“... The profits and gains of business and capital gains
are two distinct concepts in the Income Tax Act: the
former arises from the activity which is called business
and the latter accrues because capital assets are
disposed of at a value higher than what they cost
the Assessee. They are placed under different heads;
they are derived from different sources; and the
income is computed under different methods…..”
27.2. In this context, the substitution of one trading asset by another,
such as the receipt of shares in an amalgamated company
in lieu of shares held as stock-in-trade in the amalgamating
company, cannot be equated with a mere continuation of an
investment. It represents a commercial realisation in kind, for
the new shares are distinct assets with a definite and presently
realisable market value.
27.3. If amalgamations involving trading stock were insulated from
tax by judicial interpretation, it would open a ready avenue for
tax evasion. Enterprises could create shell entities, warehouse
trading stock or unrealised profits therein, and then amalgamate
so as to convert them into new shares without ever subjecting
the commercial gain to tax. Equally, losses could be engineered
and shifted across entities to depress taxable income. Unlike
genuine investors who merely restructure their holdings, traders
deal with stock-in-trade as part of their profit-making apparatus;
to exempt them from charge at the point of substitution would
undermine the integrity of the tax base.
27.4. Accordingly, while the Act makes an express exception
for amalgamation of capital assets, no such exception is
contemplated in the case of business assets. Section 28 is
deliberately cast in wide terms to bring to tax real and presently
35 1964 INSC 152 : MANU/SC/0126/1964
[2026] 1 S.C.R. 577
M/s Jindal Equipment Leasing Consultancy Services Ltd. v.
Commissioner of Income Tax Delhi – II, New Delhi
realisable profits arising in the course of business, and in
the context of stock-in-trade, the allotment of shares upon
amalgamation constitutes precisely such a taxable realisation.
Application to the present case
28. In the present case, the Tribunal, relying on Rasiklal Maneklal, held
that no “transfer” occurs in a scheme of amalgamation. The High
Court, however, found this view unsustainable, observing that under
the 1961 Act, as clarified in Grace Collis, the extinguishment of rights
in the shares of the amalgamating company constitutes a “transfer”
within the meaning of Section 2(47). Since such transfer is exempt
under Section 47(vii) only in respect of capital assets, the High Court
proceeded to examine whether shares held as stock-in-trade would
nonetheless give rise to taxable business income under section 28.
28.1. The High Court reasoned that once the shares of the
amalgamating company ceased to exist and were substituted
by shares of the amalgamated company, there was a cession
of the old trading stock and its replacement by a new
commodity of ascertainable market value. On this footing,
it held that a realisation of business profit had occurred,
taxable under Section 28. Relying upon Orient Trading and
Hindustan Lever, the Court observed that shares received on
amalgamation are fundamentally new assets, and the process
results in realisation of value irrespective of shareholder status.
The taxable event, therefore, depends on the substance of
the transaction and not merely accounting entries. On this
reasoning, the Tribunal’s findings were set aside, the question
of law was answered in favour of the Revenue, and the matter
was remitted to the Tribunal.
29. As already noticed, the correctness of this reasoning constitutes
the core issue in the present appeals. In view of the foregoing
discussions, we reiterate that Section 28 of the I.T. Act is of wide
import and encompasses all profits and gains arising in the course
of business, even when such profit is realised in kind. The statutory
substitution of shares of the amalgamating company by shares of the
amalgamated company is not a mere neutral replacement; where the
new shares are freely marketable and possess a definite commercial
value, the event constitutes a commercial realisation giving rise to
578 [2026] 1 S.C.R.
Supreme Court Reports
taxable business income. The principle laid down in Orient Trading
and similar authorities makes it clear that such profit need not await
actual sale if the benefit received is real and presently realisable.
30. We thus hold that where the shares of an amalgamating company,
held as stock-in-trade, are substituted by shares of the amalgamated
company pursuant to a scheme of amalgamation, and such shares are
realisable in money and capable of definite valuation, the substitution
gives rise to taxable business income within the meaning of Section
28 of the I.T. Act. The charge under Section 28 is, however, attracted
only upon the allotment of new shares. At earlier stages namely,
the appointed date or the date of court sanction, no such benefit
accrues or is received.
31. Accordingly, the main issue is answered in favour of the Revenue,
in principle holding that the receipt of shares of the amalgamated
company in substitution of stock-in-trade can give rise to taxable
business profits under Section 28. However, the actual application
of this principle to the facts of the present case, including whether
the shares received are freely realisable or otherwise subject to
restrictions, or whether the shares are held only as investment, is
a matter requiring factual determination. In these circumstances,
the proper course is to remit the matter to the Tribunal for fresh
adjudication in accordance with law.
32. Before parting, we may observe that business, by its very nature,
admits of profits arising in diverse forms, whether in money or
in kind, yet the common denominator is that the benefit must be
concrete, capable of commercial realisation, and not a mere paper
re-arrangement. Amalgamation, as a statutory substitution, ensures
continuity of enterprise but also extinguishes one form of holding and
replaces it with another. As we have held, where such substitution
confers on the assessee realisable assets of definite market value,
a commercial realisation takes place, and Section 28 is attracted. At
the same time, courts must remain alive to the distinction between
genuine commercial gain and hypothetical accretion. The touchstone
is, therefore, the doctrine of real income, applied with due regard
to the facts of each case, ensuring that the tax charge operates
neither oppressively nor evasively, but in harmony with the legislative
design, to tax true profits of business, however manifested, while
eschewing illusory gains.
[2026] 1 S.C.R. 579
M/s Jindal Equipment Leasing Consultancy Services Ltd. v.
Commissioner of Income Tax Delhi – II, New Delhi
33. In fine, the judgment of the High Court is affirmed, and all these
appeals stand disposed of in the aforesaid terms. There is no order
as to costs.
34. Pending application(s), if any, shall stand disposed of.
Result of the case: Appeals disposed of.
†
Headnotes prepared by: Divya Pandey
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