Even a solitary transaction of redemption of (non-tradeable) mutual fund units amounts to a business activity for an assessee dealing in securities

CIT vs. Pooja Investment Pvt. Ltd (P&H High Court)

Merely because deposits in mutual funds are not traded in the nature of sale and purchase of equity shares and such transactions are different in effect and consequences is no ground to treat those differently. Frequency of dealings in deposits of mutual funds with the strategy of firstly investing in tenurial plans and then getting redemption within the same year of deposit and at times resulting in huge profits while at other times in loss, has been usual business activity of the assessee. Such before term redemption, is done in the usual course of business by the assessee clearly to increase its actual cash inflow to tide over its commitments made in the market and at times to earn higher interest in other lucrative investment plans contemporaneously emerging in the market. In this case, in the name of consistency the assessee had tried to hoodwink the authorities. Rather previous conduct of the assessee reveals that the accounts had been manipulated by the assessee to treat the investment as a capital asset only as a camouflage and smoke screen. It is a case where intention as also principle of consistency sought to be used by the assessee in its favour rather goes against it as year after year the same manipulation strategy and maneuverability had been adopted to hoodwink the revenue