Deputy Commissioner Of Income Tax vs Industrial Cables (I) Ltd. on 24 October, 2003
In the case of Malwa Vanaspati & Chemicals Co, Ltd. v. CIT (supra), their Lordships at p, 659 observed "The question as to whether an item of expenditure is wholly and exclusively laid out for the purpose of business or not has to be decided on the facts of each case, the necessary condition being that it must be laid out or expended wholly or exclusively for the purpose of the assessee's business. The true test of an expenditure laid out wholly and exclusively for the purpose of trade or business is that it is incurred by the assessee as incidental to his trade for the purpose of keeping the trade going and of making it pay and not in any capacity other than as a trader. Section 37(1) of IT Act being a residual provision, it cannot be taken aid of, unless and until it is established that none of the provisions of Sections. 30 to 36 are applicable to a given case. The scope of Section 37(1) is essentially wider. The word 'business' used in Section 37(1) in association with the expression "for the purpose of is a word of wide connotation. In the context of taxing statute, the word 'business' would signify an organised and continuous course of commercial activity which is carried on with the end in view of making and earning profits".