India vs. Fulford (India) Limited, July 2011, Income Tax Appellate Tribunal

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Fulford India Ltd. imported active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) from related group companies and sold them in India. The TNM method was used for determening transfer prices.

The tax administration found the CUP method to be the most appropriate.

Fulford India argued that the CUP method requires stringent comparability and any differences which could materially affect the price in the open market should be taken into consideration. In the pharmaceutical world, APIs whith similar properties may still be different in relation to quality, efficiancy, impurities etc. Therefore, the two products cannot be compared.

In court, it was further explained that Fulford also performed secondary manufacturing functions, converting the APIs into formulations. Hence, Fulford could be descriped as a value added distributor.

The Court concluded that the selection of the best method should be based on functional analysis and the characterisation of the transactions and the entities. The fact that Fulford had secondary manufacturing activities had not previously been explained to the tax authorities. Accordingly, the case was returned to tax administration for a revised assessment.
 

Fulford_(I)_Ltd,_Mumbai_vs_Assessee

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