TMI Blog2015 (9) TMI 1630X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ACCOUNTANT MEMBER For The Appellant : Shri. Kanchan Kaushal, C.A. For The Respondent : Smt.Neera Malhotra, CIT(DR) ORDER Per N. V. Vasudevan, Judicial Member This appeal by the assessee is against the order dated 20.09.2011 of the Deputy Commissioner of Income-Tax, Range-11(2), Bangalore passed u/s. 143(3) r.w.s. 144C of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (Act) relating to AY 2007-08. 2. The only issue raised by the Assessee in Grounds of appeal 1 to 5 relate to the addition made by the AO of ₹ 3,75,68,967/- to the total income of the Assessee on account of adjustment in the arm s length price(ALP) of international transaction entered into by the Assessee with it s Associated Enterprise (AE) under the provisions of Sec.92 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (Act). 3. The Assessee provided Software Development Services to its AE. The said transaction was an international transaction with an Associated Enterprise (AE) and have to pass the Arm s Length Price (ALP) test as provided u/s.92 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (Act). In grounds No.1 to 5 the dispute is with regard to addition made consequent to determination of ALP and consequent upward revision and adjustment ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Software Ltd 19.37% 1.70 15 Mediasoft Solutions Ltd 3.66% 1.85 16 Megasoft Ltd 60.23% 139.33 17 Mindtree Ltd 16.90% 590.35 18 Persistent Systems Ltd 24.52% 293.75 19 Quintegra Solutions Ltd 12.56% 62.72 20 R S Software (India) Ltd 13.47% 101.04 21 R Systems International Ltd (Seg.) 15.07% 112.01 22 S I P Technologies Exports Ltd 13.90% 3.80 23 Sasken Communication Technologies Ltd (Seg.) 22.16% 343.57 24 Tata Elxsi Ltd (Seg.) 26.51% 262.58 25 Thi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... transfer pricing adjustment suggested by the TPO. The adjustment confirmed by the DRP was added to the total income of the assessee by the AO in the fair order of assessment. Against the said order of the Assessing Officer, the assessee has preferred the present appeal before the Tribunal. 7. The assessee filed a chart showing, the turnover and the margins of the 26 comparable companies finally chosen by the TPO after giving effect to adjustment towards working capital as allowed by the TPO and also as claimed by the Assessee. The Chart also explains as how some of the comparable companies chosen by the TPO were not comparable for the reason that these companies were not functionally comparable. The Chart also gives the cases decided by various Benches of the ITAT where the comparable companies have been held to be not comparable with that of an Assessee providing IT Software development Services. We will proceed to consider the comparability of companies chosen by the TPO and listed in para- 4 of this order. 8. As far as comparable companies listed at Sl.No.1,2,3 and 12 of the final list of comparable companies chosen by the TPO viz., M/S.Accel Transmatic Limited (seg.), Av ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... egmental details, Avani Cincom cannot be considered as comparable to the assessee who was rendering software development services only and it was held as follows:- 7.8 Avani Cincom Technologies Ltd. ( Avani Cincom ): Here in this case also the segmental details of operating income of IT services and sale of software products have not been provided so as to see whether the profit ratio of this company can be taken into consideration for comparing the case that of assessee. In absence of any kind of details provided by the TPO, we are unable to persuade ourselves to include it as comparable party. Learned CIT DR has provided a copy of profit loss account which shows that mainly its earning is from software exports, however, the details of percentage of export of products or services have not been given. We, therefore, reject this company also from taking into consideration for comparability analysis. It was also highlighted that the margin of this company at 52.59% which represents abnormal circumstances and profits. The following figures were placed before us:- Particulars FYs 05-06 06-07 07-08 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ue Expenditure (page 30 of PB-II). This amounts to nearly 8.28 percent of the sales of this company. It was therefore submitted that the acceptance of this company as a comparable for the reason that it is into pure software development activities and is not engaged in R D activities is bad in law. 43. Further reference was also made to the decision of the Mumbai Bench of the Tribunal in the case of Teva Pharma Private Ltd. v. Addl. CIT ITA No.6623/Mum/2011 (for AY 2007-08) in which the comparability of this company for clinical trial research segment. The relevant extract of discussion regarding this company is as follows: The learned D.R. however drew our attention to page- 389 of the paper book which is an extract from the Directors report which reads as follows: The Company has developed a de novo drug design tool CELSUITE to drug discovery in, finding the lead molecules for drug discovery and protected the IPR by filing under the copy if sic (of) right/patent act. (Apprised and funded by Department of Science and Technology New Delhi) based on our insilico expertise (applying bio-informatics tools). The Company has developed a molecule to treat Leucoderma ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... business. It was submitted that, however, from the above extracts it is clear that this company is not into software development activities, accordingly, this company should be rejected as a comparable being functionally different. 45.From the material available on record, it transpires that the TPO has accepted that up to AY 06-07 this company was classified as a Research and Development company. According to the TPO in AY 07-08 this company has been classified as software development service provider in the Capitaline/Prowess database as well as in the annual report of this company. The TPO has relied on the response from this company to a notice u/s.133(6) of the Act in which it has said that it is in the business of providing software development services. The Assessee in reply to the proposal of the AO to treat this as a comparable has pointed out that this company provides software products/services as well as bioinformatics services and that the segmental data for each activity is not available and therefore this company should not be treated as comparable. Besides the above, the Assessee has point out to several references in the annual report for 31.3.2007 highlighting ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... revenue and therefore the salary cost filter test fails in this case. Reference was made to the Pune Bench Tribunal s decision of the ITAT in the case of Bindview India Private Limited Vs. DCI, ITA No. ITA No 1386/PN/1O wherein KALS as comparable was rejected for AY 2006-07 on account of it being functionally different from software companies. The relevant extract are as follows: 16. Another issue relating to selection of comparables by the TPO is regarding inclusion of Kals Information System Ltd. The assessee has objected to its inclusion on the basis that functionally the company is not comparable. With reference to pages 185-186 of the Paper Book, it is explained that the said company is engaged in development of software products and services and is not comparable to software development services provided by the assessee. The appellant has submitted an extract on pages 185-186 of the Paper Book from the website of the company to establish that it is engaged in providing of I T enabled services and that the said company is into development of software products, etc. All these aspects have not been factually rebutted and, in our view, the said concern is liable to be exclud ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nally different from the assessee company as it was engaged in the services in the form of ACCEL IT and ACCEL animation services for 2D and 3D animation and therefore assessee s claim that this company was functionally different was accepted. DRP therefore directed the Assessing Officer to exclude ACCEL Transmatic Ltd. from the final list of comparables for the purpose of determining TNMM margin. 49. Besides the above, it was pointed out that this company has related party transactions which is more than the permitted level and therefore should not be taken for comparability purposes. The submission of the ld. counsel for the assessee was that if the above company should not be considered as comparable. The ld. DR, on the other hand, relied on the order of the TPO. 50. We have considered the submissions and are of the view that the plea of the assessee that the aforesaid company should not be treated as comparables was considered by the Tribunal in Capgemini India Ltd (supra) where the assessee was software developer. The Tribunal, in the said decision referred to by the ld. counsel for the assessee, has accepted that this company was not comparable in the case of the assess ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... involved in the development of software as compared to the assessee, which is only into software services. Similarly, as regards Ishir Infotech Ltd., the Tribunal has considered the decision of the Tribunal in the case of 24/7 Co. Pvt. Ltd to hold that Ishir Infotech is also out-sourcing its work and, therefore, has not satisfied the 25% employee cost filter and thus has to be excluded from the list of comparables. As the facts of the case before us are similar, respectfully following the decision of the co-ordinate bench, we hold that these two companies are also to be excluded. 11. Respectfully following the decision of the Tribunal referred to above, we direct the AO/TPO to exclude the aforesaid companies from the final list of comparable companies for the purpose of determining ALP. 12. As far as comparable companies listed at Sl.No.16 of the final list of comparable companies chosen by the TPO viz., M/S.Megasoft Limited is concerned, this Tribunal in the case of First Advantage Offshore Services Pvt.Ltd. Vs. DCIT IT (TP) No.1086/Bang/2011 for AY 07-08 held that the aforesaid companies are not comparable companies in the case of software development services provider. The ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... % to 60% would constitute customized capabilities and expenses related to travelling, boarding and lodging expense. Based on the above reply, the TPO proceeded to hold that the comparable company was mainly into customization of software products developed (which was akin to product software) internally and that the portion of the revenue from development of software sold and used for customization was less than 25% of the overall revenues. The TPO therefore held that less than 25% of the revenues of the comparable are from software products and therefore the comparable satisfied TPO s filter of more than 75% of revenues from software development services. The basis on which the TPO arrived at the PLI of 60.23% is given at page-115 and 116 of the order of the TPO. It is clear from the perusal of the same that the TPO has proceeded to determine the PLI at the entity level and not on the basis of segmental data. 25. In the order of the TPO, operating margin was computed for this company at 60.23%. It is the complaint of the assessee that the operating margins have been computed at entity level combining software services and software product segments. It was submitted that the pro ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... M/S.Curam Software International Pvt.Ltd. Vs. ITO ITA No.1280/Bang/2012 for AY 08-09 order dated 31.7.2013 has held that the aforesaid companies are not comparable companies in the case of software development services provider. The following were the relevant observations in the case of M/S.Curam Software International Pvt.Ltd.(supra): 12. (4) Infosys Technologies Ltd . 12.1 This was a comparable selected by the TPO. Before the TPO, the assessee objected to the inclusion of the company in the set of comparables, on the grounds of turnover and brand attributable profit margin. The TPO, however, rejected these objections raised by the assessee on the grounds that turnover and brand aspects were not materially relevant in the software development segment. 12.2 Before us, the assessee contended that this company is not functionally comparable to the assessee and in this context has cited various portions of the Annual Report of this company to this effect which is as under :- (i) The company has an Intellectual Property (IP) Cell to guide its employees to leverage the power of IP for their growth. In 2008, this company generated over 102 invention disclosures and filed a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ral grounds like functional dis-similarity, brand value, size, etc. The TPO, however, brushed aside the objections of the assessee and included this company in the set of comparables. 13.2 Before us, the assessee contended that this company is functionally not comparable to the assessee for several reasons, which are as under : (i) This company owns significant intangibles in the nature of customer related intangibles and technology related intangibles and quoted extracts from the Annual Report of this company in the submissions made. (ii) The TPO had adopted the consolidated financial statements for comparability purposes and for computing the margins, which contradicts the TPO s own filter of rejecting companies with consolidated financial statements. 13.3. Per contra, the learned Departmental Representative supported the action of the TPO in including this company in the set of comparables. 13.4.1 We have heard both parties and carefully perused and considered the material on record. We find merit in the contentions of the assessee for exclusion of this company from the set of comparables. It is seen that this company is engaged both in software development and pr ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the list of comparables. 14.3 Per contra, the learned Departmental Representative supported the stand o the TPO in including this company in the list of comparables. 14.4.1 We have heard both parties and carefully perused and considered the material on record. From the details on record, we find that this company is predominantly engaged in product designing services and not purely software development services. The details in the Annual Report show that the segment software development services relates to design services and are not similar to software development services performed by the assessee. 14.4.2 The Hon'ble Mumbai Tribunal in the case of Telecordia Technologies India Pvt. Ltd. V ACIT (ITA No.7821/Mum/2011) has held that Tata Elxsi Ltd. is not a software development service provider and therefore it is not functionally comparable. In this context the relevant portion of this order is extracted and reproduced below :- . Tata Elxsi is engaged in development of niche product and development services which is entirely different from the assessee company. We agree with the contention of the learned Authorised Representative that the nature of product dev ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ed any separate segmental profit and loss account for software development services and product development services. (ii) In the case of E-Gain communications Pvt. Ltd. (2008-TII- 04-ITAT-PUNE-TP), the Tribunal has directed that this company be omitted as a comparable for software service providers, as its income includes income from sale of licences which has increased the margins of the company. The learned A.R. prayed that in the light of the above facts and in view of the afore cited decision of the Tribunal (supra), this company ought to be omitted from the list of comparables. 15.2 Per contra, the learned Departmental Representative supported the action of the TPO in including this company in the list of comparables. 15.3 We have heard the rival submissions and perused and carefully considered the material on record. It is seen from the material on record that the company is engaged in product development and earns revenue from sale of licenses and subscription. However, the segmental profit and loss accounts for software development services and product development are not given separately. Further, as pointed out by the learned Authorised Representative, the Pu ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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