Assessee is the Indian subsidiary of the French Pernod Ricard group, engaged in the manufacture, import, and distribution of alcoholic beverages in India. The Transfer Pricing Officer (TPO) characterized a portion of the Assessee's Advertising, Marketing, and Promotion (AMP) expenses as a service rendered to its overseas parent. Applying a "bright-line test" against comparable companies' AMP-to-sales ratios, the TPO made a transfer pricing adjustment, arguing that the excessive spend created a brand-building benefit for the foreign AE.

Final Judgement:

• The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) originally ruled in favour of the Assessee and deleted the transfer pricing adjustment.

• The Delhi High Court subsequently upheld the ITAT's findings and dismissed the Revenue's appeal, noting that the parameters applied by the tax authority lacked statutory merit.

• The Principal Commissioner of Income Tax (PCIT) then filed a Special Leave Petition before the Supreme Court of India, accompanied by applications for condonation of a 384-day delay in filing.

• The Supreme Court of India ultimately dismissed the Revenue's Special Leave Petition (SLP) on both procedural and substantive grounds.

• The Court also highlighted that the Revenue failed to satisfactorily explain a gross delay in filing the petition and furthermore emphasized that it saw no good ground to interfere with the High Court of Delhi's order on the merits, leaving the ruling in favour of the Company.