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"Assessee Company was incorporated on 19/08/2013. No
business was conducted by the company during the period
since incorporation till February, 2015. In the month of
February 2015 running business of a property portal in the
name of MagicBricks.com was acquired through slump sale
from its holding company as part of the restructure of
business. The holding company is hosting
various websites such as indiatimes.com,
simplymarry.com, timesjob.com,:toi,in,et.in etc. The
real estate listing portal magicbrick.com was also hosted
by the holding company however, with a view to give
focused attention to this business and to meet the
challenge of competition from the rival real estate
listing portal such as 99acres.com and housing.com etc.
and to get the further visibility and presence of the web
I.T.A. No. 6295/Del/2018
portal hosted by the assessee company in the name of
magicbrick.com an advertisement campaign was planned
across all media format, as a result of which in a very
short spanMagicBricks.com became India's No 1 Property
portal and has been adjudged as the most preferred
property site in India, by independent surveys. The portal
provides a platform for property buyers and sellers to
locate properties of interest and source information on
the real estate space in a transparent and unambiguous
manner. With a view to be everytwhere at once and in
order to maintain the confidence of existing as well as to
attract new customers and real estate projects across the
depth and breadth of India and to create magic brick as a
credible and robust brand in this area, the advertisement
and the brand promotion expenses were incurred during
the year amounting to Rs.20.76 crores. Party wise and
media wise details of the same has already been
furnished.
9. It was contended by the assessee that it had to resort to
advertisement to disseminate the information about services rendered
through its website to be able to not only retain customers but also to
attract more customers and expand its outreach resulting in more
I.T.A. No. 6295/Del/2018
advertisements and more revenue. It was contended that the assessee to
make its presence felt in the competitive real estate market ran
advertisement campaigns in all forms of media - online, print, radio,
television etc. on all India basis to make consumers aware of its presence
during the year under consideration. It was contended that Assessee
continued the advertisement and promotion drive already undertaken
during the year by selling entity wherein RK Swamy BBDO advertising
agency to launched a high-pressure Marketing campaign with three TV
commercials (Vulture Vision (Giddh ki Aankh)", "Local Bond" and Mighty
Hudumba') extending to radio, digital and several other mediums.
(Source : information openly available on: prnewswire.comf. Further
new and noble advertisement by working in tandem and communicating
the proposition of "Property Sahi, Milegi Yahin" and these commercials
build on the premise that Magicbricks helps you take the right
decision - at every stage of the buying cycle. While the first commercial
stressed on the need for choice, the second and third ads drive home
the point that Magicbricks provides much more than just listings relevant
locality information, going rates and price trends give the buyer the
power of knowledge that helps him negotiate the best possible deal
before agreeing to one's lifetime extremely expensive commitment.
Thus catering to the young urban and semi urban customers.
13. Heard rival submissions perused the orders of the authorities
below. The Assessee company was incorporated on 19.08.2013, no
business was conducted since incorporation till February, 2015. The
I.T.A. No. 6295/Del/2018
Magicbricks portal was founded in 2006 and was hosted by Times Business
Solutions Ltd. till 31.03.2013. That w.e.f 01.04.2013, Times Business
Solution Ltd. got amalgamated with Times Internet Ltd. In February
2015, running business of a property portal in the name of
MagicBricks.com was acquired through slump sale from Times Internet
Limited (holding company) as part of the restructure of business.
Therefore the instant year was the first year of active operations post
slump sales of business.
14. The assessee is hosting a website 'magicbrick.com'. The website
mainly sell its webspace for advertisement to various real-estate
promotors to showcase their projects and retail properties for sale at
the same time making efforts to promote its website amongst the
buyers and customers to visit the website for their real estate buying
need. Assessee provides web-based platform, brings together various
property buyers and sellers to list and/or locate properties of interest
and source relevant information to assist in their property buying
decisions. Assessee functions in the service e- commerce space which is a
new- online platform, breaking away from the traditional model of
business of sale of services.