Corporate guarantees are outside the ambit of international transaction even after retro amendment to sec. 92B

The Tribunal held as under:

1)    Capital financing transactions (covered by the Explanation to section 92B) are international transactions only if they have any real bearing as distinct from contingent effect on the profits, income, losses or assets of the enterprise;

2)    When an assessee extends an assistance to the Associated Enterprise (AEs), which does not cost anything to the assessee, such an assistance or accommodation will not have any bearing on its profits, income, losses or assets, and, therefore, it is outside the ambit of international transaction under section 92B(1).

3)    Corporate guarantees issued for the benefit of AEs do not cost anything to the issuing enterprise and yet it might provide certain comfort levels to the parties dealing with the AEs;

4)    These guarantees do not have any impact on profits, income, losses or assets of the enterprise. Therefore, corporate guarantees do not fall within the scope of the term 'international transaction' even after insertion of Explanation to section 92B by Finance Act, 2012 with retrospective effect from 1-4-2002.- Bharti Airtel Ltd. v. ACIT [2014] 43 taxmann.com 150 (Delhi - Trib.)