CBDT Notifies Tax Exemption to Commissioners for the Rabindra Setu Under Section 10(46)

The Ministry of Finance (Department of Revenue) has issued a notification (Notification No. 143/2025/F. No. 300196/12/2025-ITA-I, dated September 2, 2025), granting tax exemption to ‘The Commissioners for the Rabindra Setu’, Kolkata, under Section 10(46) of the Income-tax Act, 1961, on specified income. This body was set up under the Howrah Bridge (Amendment) Act, 1965 (West Bengal Act XII of 1965).

This tax exemption applies to five financial years, including 2023-24 (AY 2024-25), 2024-25 (AY 2025-26), 2025-26 (AY 2026-27), 2026-27 (AY 2027-28), and 2027-28 (AY 2028-29).

As per the notification, the tax exemption is allowed on the following income earned by the body:

• Proceeds from Taxes of Municipalities/ Municipal Corporations and Railways;
• Miscellaneous income such as rental and maintenance charges, income from laying optical fibre cables, way leave rent, and amounts recovered as damage costs.
• Interest earned on bank deposits

The above incomes are tax-exempt, subject to the following conditions specified in the notification:

• the body should not be engaged in any commercial activity.
• their activities and the nature of the exempted income should remain unchanged throughout the mentioned financial years.
• It must file an income tax return (ITR) as per the provisions of section 139(4C)(g) of the Income-tax Act, 1961.