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10. Then comes the mechanism through which this arm's length price is to be arrived at. Section 92C(1) lays down the manner in which arm's length price is computed, by providing that "the arm's length price in relation to an international transaction shall be determined by any of the following method, being the most appropriate method having regard to the nature of transaction, class of transaction or class of associated persons or functions performed by such persons or such other relevant factors as the Board may prescribe, namely (a) comparable uncontrolled price method; (b) resale price method; (c) cost plus method; (d) profit split method; (e) transactional net margin method; or (f) such other method as may be prescribed by the Board". The methodology of computing the arm's length price in this case, as adopted by the TPO, is Comparable Uncontrolled Price (CUP) method, which is explained by rule 10B(1)(a) as follows: "comparable uncontrolled price method, by which,--(i) the price charged or paid for property transferred or services provided in a comparable uncontrolled transaction, or a number of such transactions, is identified; (ii) such price is adjusted to account for differences, if any, between the international transaction and the comparable uncontrolled transactions or between the enterprises entering into such transactions, which could materially affect the price in the open market; (iii) the adjusted price arrived at under sub-clause (ii) is taken to be an arm's length price in respect of the property transferred or services provided in the international transaction 92."

24. As we part with this aspect of the matter, we, however, make it clear that as we deal with the question as to whether the ALP adjustment for interest-free debt funding to the SPV abroad is concerned, we are only concerned about its application under the CUP method as in this case. That cannot be an authority for the proposition that ALP adjustment cannot be made, under any other permissible method under the transfer pricing legislation, in respect of interest-free debt funding to the overseas SPV. The arm's length price is not something which is always from a world of a reality inasmuch as even a price of a hypothetical independent transaction, which will also be a hypothetical price in nature, is taken as arm's length price, and when comparable price based method, or traditional methods- as these are termed, ITA Nos: 7523/Mum/2014, 5827/Mum/2015, and 484/Mum/2017 Assessment years: 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13 cannot be pressed into service, transactional profit methods, of computing arm's length price, are pressed into service. Thus, when one is unable to find a comparable independent transaction, real or hypothetical, that is not the end of the road, and there is an arm's length price determination nevertheless, and that is where indirect methods or transactional profit methods such as TNMM (transactional net margin method) and PSM (profit split method), may actually have a critical role to play. The tested party, as is by and large a settled legal position, need not be the assessee and even its AE, when it is least complex party, can be a tested party. There could thus be several ways in which the SVP funding can be benchmarked, and we are not inclined to adjudicate whether or not such a benchmarking is possible. It is so for the reason that, in our considered view, such an adjudication is not really warranted on the facts of this case. In the present case, we are only concerned about the application of the CUP method on the facts of this case. The limited question before us was whether such an adjustment could be made, under the CUP method and on the given facts, in respect to the interest-free debt funding to the SPV. The observations should not, therefore, be construed as an authority for the proposition that no ALP adjustments can be made in respect of the interest-free debt funding to the SPVs under the transfer pricing legislation at all. Similarly, there have been many other facets of the arguments of the learned counsel for the assessee, which may need to be adjudicated in a fit case, but we have not dealt with those arguments because we have decided this issue on a short issue on which both the parties have been heard at length anyway. All these issues thus remain open for adjudication as and when really required.