Company in which the Public Are Substantially Interested – Section 2(29) | Income-tax Act, 2025 vs 1961

§ 2(29) · Income-tax Act, 2025

Company in which the public are substantially interested

ITA 2025 · 2(29) ITA 1961 · 2(18)
Definition — Section 2(29)

Means a company falling under any of the following categories: (a) a company owned by the Government or the Reserve Bank of India, or in which at least 40% of shares are held individually or collectively by the Government, RBI, or a corporation owned by RBI; (b) a company registered under section 8 of the Companies Act, 2013 (not-for-profit company); (c) a company having no share capital declared by the Board to be such a company; (d) a mutual benefit finance company declared by the Central Government to be a Nidhi or Mutual Benefit Society; (e) a company wherein shares carrying not less than 50% of the voting power have been unconditionally allotted to or acquired by one or more co-operative societies throughout the tax year; or (f) a public (non-private) company whose shares were listed on a recognised stock exchange as on the last day of the tax year, or where shares carrying not less than 50% voting power are beneficially held throughout the tax year by the Government, a statutory corporation, or a qualifying subsidiary company.

Act Comparison
Income-tax Act, 2025
2(29)
Company in which the public are substantially interested
Income-tax Act, 1961
2(18)
Company in which the public are substantially interested
Key Points
  • Maps to Section 2(18) of the 1961 Act — six categories of widely-held companies in both Acts
  • Relevant for deemed dividend provisions under Section 2(40)(e) of the 2025 Act — widely-held companies are excluded from deemed dividend treatment
  • Closely-held private companies not falling under any of these six categories face deemed dividend risk on loans to shareholders
💡 Practical Note

Closely-held private companies not covered under any of the six categories face the risk of deemed dividend taxation when they lend money to shareholders holding 10% or more — under Section 2(40)(e) of the 2025 Act.

🧾 SimpliInvoice
Create GST invoices, Bill of Supply and non-GST invoices instantly with our free browser-based invoice generator.
Open Free GST Invoice Tool

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Demystifying Section 194LBA: A Guide for REIT & InvIT Investors

Fix: Utilty says JSON Generated but no file in folder in ITR Excel Offline Utility

ITR Forms for Lottery & Gaming Income