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4. The 1st ground of appeal is general in nature. We begin with the 2nd ground of appeal i.e. claim of IDC charges of Rs.95,62,479/- made by the appellant as non-taxable.

Before us, the Ld. counsel for the assessee submits that the appellant has entered into Infrastructure and Hosting Data Centre (IDC) agreements with its Indian group companies and has received revenues from them and under the said IDC agreement the appellant essentially provides IT infrastructure management and mail box/website hosting services to its Indian group companies and these IDC services are performed by the appellant's personnel in Singapore. It is stated that the Indian group companies directly remit IDC service payments towards appellant's bank account in Singapore.

 Administration and supervision of central infrastructure  Mailbox hosing services  Website hosting services It is explained that the gamut of IDC services are rendered with the help of servers located in Singapore and seasoned security professionals who understand global IT and security systems ; the IDC services ensure 100% uptime for critical external facing applications which need highly secured web environment and dedicated team of security experts to ensure 100% uptime of security systems (firewall, antivirus, access controls) which are also hosted on server in Singapore.

6. We have heard the rival submissions and perused the relevant materials on record. The reasons for our decisions are given below.

We find that (i) under the said IDC agreement, the appellant, essentially provides IT infrastructure management and mail box/website hosting services to its India group companies; these IDC services are performed by the appellant's personnel in Singapore ; the Indian group companies directly remit IDC service payments towards the appellant's bank account in Singapore, (ii) IDC is an ISO 27001 certified data centre owned by Edenred Pte. and located in Singapore ; IDC services are provided using the IDC and IT/security team in Singapore, (iii) the services under the IDC agreement comprise of administration and supervision of central infrastructure ; mailbox hosting services and website hosting services, (iv) IDC services ensure 100% uptime for critical external facing applications which need highly secured web environment and dedicated team of security experts to ensure 100% uptime Edenred Pte Ltd. 11 of security systems (firewall, antivirus, access controls) which are also hosted on server in Singapore.

However, we find that in the instant case, the appellant is only providing IDC service which includes administration and supervision of central infrastructure, mailbox hosting services and website hosting services and therefore, the ratio laid down in the above ruling is not applicable to the facts of the appellant's case.

6.3 From the enunciation of law in Bharati Axa General Insurance Co. Ltd; ExxonMobil Company India (P.) Ltd; Standard Chartered Bank v. DDIT; DCIT v. M/s Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd narrated at para 6.1 hereinbefore, it is quite luculent that revenues under the IDC agreement ought not to be taxed in the hands of the appellant as royalty under the Act and/or India-Singapore DTAA. Therefore, we delete the addition of Rs.95,62,479/- made by the AO towards IDC charges and allow the 2nd ground of appeal.