The Income Tax (I-T) Department has imposed two separate fines on ACC Ltd amounting to Rs 23.07 crore, which will be contested by the Adani Group firm before the appellate authorities.
The I-T department has slapped a penalty of Rs 14.22 crore allegedly "for furnishing of inaccurate particulars of income" for assessment year 2015-16. It has also levied a penalty amounting to Rs 8.85 crore "for under-reporting of income" for assessment year 2018-19.
"The company will be contesting both orders by filing appeals before the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) within the prescribed timelines and, in parallel, will seek a stay on the penalty demands raised under the respective orders," ACC said in regulator filings on Thursday. The company said these penalties will have no impact on financial activity.
ACC is a subsidiary of Ambuja Cement, the Adani Cement entity which owns over 50 per cent of the company. Both the I-T department demands are for the period before it became part of the Gautam Adani-led group. In September 2022, Adani Group had acquired Ambuja Cements and its subsidiary ACC Ltd from Switzerland's Holcim Group in a USD 6.4 billion deal.
The I-T department has levied a penalty under section 271(1)(c) for the assessment year 2015-16. "For financial year 2014-15 relevant to Assessment Year 2015-16, the I-T department had disallowed certain expenses aggregating to Rs 49.25 crore and consequently alleged such adjustments as furnishing inaccurate particulars of income to the extent of such disallowances," the filing said.
Consequent to the same, the I-T Department has now imposed a penalty amounting to Rs 14.22 crore, i.e, 100 per cent of the tax effect of the aforesaid disallowances.
While in the second demand, the I-T department for the Assessment Year 2018-19 had "disallowed claim for expenditure amounting to Rs 12.79 crore and accordingly alleged under-reporting of income to that extent". "Consequent to the disallowance, the Income Tax Department has levied a penalty amounting to Rs 8.85 crore, i.e., 200 per cent of the tax effect of the aforesaid disallowances," it said.
As per its latest annual report, ACC's revenue from operations in FY25 was Rs 21,762 crore, along with a cement sales volume of 39 million tonnes.
Also read: ED slaps ₹3.44 cr fine on BBC India for FEMA violation
Follow us
