(23FA)any income by way of dividends, other than dividends referred to in section 115-O, or long-term capital gains of a venture capital fund or a venture capital company from investments made by way of equity shares in a venture capital undertaking :Provided that such venture capital fund or venture capital company is approved, for the purposes of this clause, by the Central Government on an application made to it in accordance with the rules22 made in this behalf and which satisfies the prescribed conditions :Provided further that any approval by the Central Government shall, at any one time, have effect for such assessment year or years, not exceeding three assessment years, as may be specified in the order of approval :Provided also that nothing contained in this clause shall apply in respect of any investment made after the 31st day of March, 2000.Explanation.—For the purposes of this clause,—(a)"venture capital fund" means such fund, operating under a trust deed registered under the provisions of the Registration Act, 1908 (16 of 1908), established to raise monies by the trustees for investments mainly by way of acquiring equity shares of a venture capital undertaking in accordance with the prescribed guidelines;(b)"venture capital company" means such company as has made investments by way of acquiring equity shares of venture capital undertakings in accordance with the prescribed guidelines; and(c)"venture capital undertaking" means such domestic company whose shares are not listed in a recognised stock exchange in India and which is engaged in the—(i)business of—(A)software;(B)information technology;(C)production of basic drugs in the pharmaceutical sector;(D)bio-technology;(E)agriculture and allied sectors; or(F)such other sectors as may be notified by the Central Government in this behalf; or(ii)production or manufacture of any article or substance for which patent has been granted to the National Research Laboratory or any other scientific research institution approved by the Department of Science and Technology;
