(1)Where there has been an amalgamation of—(a)a company owning an industrial undertaking or a ship or a hotel with another company; or(b)a banking company referred to in clause (c) of section 5 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 (10 of 1949) with a specified bank; or(c)one or more public sector company or companies with one or more public sector company or companies; or(d)an erstwhile public sector company with one or more company or companies, if the share purchase agreement entered into under strategic disinvestment restricted immediate amalgamation of the said public sector company and the amalgamation is carried out within five years from the end of the previous year in which the restriction on amalgamation in the share purchase agreement ends,]then, notwithstanding anything contained in any other provision of this Act, the accumulated loss and the unabsorbed depreciation of the amalgamating company shall be deemed to be the loss or, as the case may be, allowance for unabsorbed depreciation of the amalgamated company for the previous year in which the amalgamation was effected, and other provisions of this Act relating to set off and carry forward of loss and allowance for depreciation shall apply accordingly:[Provided that the accumulated loss and the unabsorbed depreciation of the amalgamating company, in case of an amalgamation referred to in clause (d), which is deemed to be the loss or, as the case may be, the allowance for unabsorbed depreciation of the amalgamated company, shall not be more than the accumulated loss and unabsorbed depreciation of the public sector company as on the date on which the public sector company ceases to be a public sector company as a result of strategic disinvestment.Explanation.—For the purposes of clause (d),—(i)"control" shall have the same meaning as assigned to in clause (27) of section 2 of the Companies Act, 2013 (18 of 2013);(ii)"erstwhile public sector company" means a company which was a public sector company in earlier previous years and ceases to be a public sector company by way of strategic disinvestment by the Government;(iii)"strategic disinvestment" means sale of shareholding by the Central Government or any State Government in a public sector company which results in reduction of its shareholding to below fifty-one per cent along with transfer of control to the buyer.]
