Mere taking land on lease doesn’t cover research operations as contract farming

Profarm Seed India Private Limited Vs ITO (ITAT Hyderabad) ITAT Hyderabad held that merely because the assessee took the land on lease for conducting their research operations to produce the foundation seeds of the hybrid varieties, such a lease cannot ipso facto make the operations of the assessee as contract farming. Facts- The assessee engaged in the business of producing foundation seeds, by conducting agricultural operations on agricultural lands and have been selling the same which are sold to various seed Companies like Godrej Seeds, Nath Seeds, Super Agri Seeds etc. According to AO, th...