Budget 2019- Exemption of interest income of a non-resident arising from borrowings by way of issue of Rupee Denominated Bonds referred to under section 194LC
The existing provisions of section 194LC of the Act provide that the interest income payable to a non-resident by a specified company on borrowings made by it in foreign currency from sources outside India under a loan agreement or by way of issue of any long-term bond including long-term infrastructure bond, or rupee denominated bond shall be eligible for TDS at a concessional rate of five per cent.
In order to incentivise low cost foreign borrowings through Off-shore Rupee Denominated Bond, the press release dated 17th September, 2018, inter alia, announced that interest payable by an Indian company or a business trust to a non-resident, including a foreign company, in respect of rupee denominated bond issued outside India during the period from September 17, 2018 to March 31, 2019 shall be exempt from tax. Consequently, no tax was required to be deducted on the payment of interest in respect of the said bond. The exemption announced through the said press release is proposed to be incorporated in the law by amending section 10 of the Act so as to provide exemption to income payable by way of interest to a non-resident by the specified company in respect of monies borrowed from a source outside India by way of issue of rupee denominated bond, as referred to in section 194LC, during the period begining from the 17th day of September, 2018 and ending on the 31st day of March, 2019.
This amendment will take effect from 1st April, 2019 and will, accordingly, apply in relation to the assessment year 2019-20 and subsequent assessment years.
Extract of Clause 6 of Finance Bill 2019
6. Amendment of section 10.
In section 10 of the Income-tax Act,––
(I) after clause (4B), the following clause shall be inserted, namely:––
“(4C) any income by way of interest payable to a non-resident, not being a company, or to a foreign company, by any Indian company or business trust in respect of monies borrowed from a source outside India by way of issue of rupee denominated bond, as referred to in clause (ia) of sub-section (2) of section 194LC, during the period beginning from the 17th day of September, 2018 and ending on the 31st day of March, 2019;”;
(II) with effect from the 1st day of April, 2020,––
(a) in clause (12A), for the words “forty per cent.”, the words “sixty per cent.” shall be substituted;
(b) in clause (15), after sub-clause (viii), the following sub-clause shall be inserted, namely:—
‘(ix) any income by way of interest payable to a non-resident by a unit located in an International Financial Services Centre in respect of monies borrowed by it on or after the 1st day of September, 2019.
Explanation.—For the purposes of this sub-clause,—
(a) “International Financial Services Centre” shall have the meaning assigned to it in clause (q) of section 2 of the Special Economic Zones Act, 2005;
(b) “unit” shall have the meaning assigned to it in clause (zc) of section 2 of the Special Economic Zones Act, 2005;’;
(III) in clause (34A), the brackets and words “(not being listed on a recognised stock exchange)” shall be omitted with effect from the 5th day of July, 2019.
Note on Clause 6 of Finance Bill 2019
Clause 6 of the Bill seeks to amend section 10 of the Income-tax Act relating to incomes not included in total income.
It is proposed to insert a new clause (4C) in the said section so as to provide for exemption in respect of any income by way of interest payable to a non-resident, not being a company, or to a foreign company, by any Indian company or business trust in respect of monies borrowed from a source outside India by way of issue of rupee denominated bond as referred to in clause (ia) of sub-section (2) of section 194LC issued during the period commencing from the 17th September, 2018 and ending on 31st March, 2019.
This amendment will take effect retrospectively from 1st April, 2019 and will, accordingly, apply in relation to the assessment year 2019-2020 and subsequent assessment years.
Further, clause (12A) of the said section provides that any payment from the National Pension System Trust to an employee on closure of his account or on his opting out of the pension scheme referred to in section 80CCD, to the extent it does not exceed forty per cent. of the total amount payable to him at the time of such closure or his opting out of the scheme, shall be exempt from tax.
It is proposed to amend the said section so as to increase the said tax exempt amount from forty per cent. to sixty per cent.
It is proposed to insert sub-clause (ix) in the clause (15) so as to provide that any income by way of interest payable to a non-resident by a unit located in an International Financial Services Centre in respect of monies borrowed by it on or after 1st September, 2019 shall be exempted from tax.
It is further proposed to insert an Explanation to define the expressions “International Financial Services Centre” and “unit”.
These amendments will take effect from 1st April, 2020 and will, accordingly, apply in relation to the assessment year 2020-2021 and subsequent assessment years.
Clause (34A) of the said section provides for exemption to any income arising to a shareholder on account of buy-back of shares not being listed on a recognised stock exchange by the company as referred to in section 115QA.
It is proposed to amend the said clause so as to provide the said exemption also to the income arising to a shareholder on account of buy-back of shares listed on a recognised stock exchange by the company as referred to in section 115QA.
This amendment will take effect from 5th July, 2019.
