The section defines four expressions for Chapter XII, subject to the context otherwise requiring. "Banking company" is a company to which the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 applies, and also takes in any bank or banking institution referred to in section 51 of that Act. "Primary agricultural credit society" and "primary co-operative agricultural and rural development bank" are not defined here at all — they carry the meanings given in section 150. "Specified sum" is any sum of money receivable, whether as advance or otherwise, in relation to the transfer of an immovable property, and "specified advance" is any sum in the nature of an advance, by whatever name called, in relation to such a transfer — both expressly applying whether or not the transfer actually takes place.
Why it is there
The Chapter restricts how certain payments and receipts may be made, and this section fixes the vocabulary it uses so that the restrictions cannot be argued around on the meaning of a term. The words "whether or not the transfer takes place" in clauses (c) and (d) exist so that a deal that falls through does not take the money outside the Chapter.
Who it applies to
Any person applying a provision of Chapter XII
A banking company, including a bank or banking institution referred to in section 51 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949
A person receiving money in relation to the transfer of immovable property
What this means in practice
There is nothing here to do or file; the section only supplies meanings for the operative provisions of Chapter XII. The point that matters when applying those provisions is that an advance or other sum taken in relation to an immovable property transfer stays a specified sum or specified advance even if the sale never completes and the money is returned. The two co-operative institution terms have to be looked up in section 150.
An example
Illustrative only, and invented for this page. The figures are chosen to show the rule biting, not taken from any real matter.
A firm receives Rs. 15 lakh from an intending buyer as an advance towards the sale of an office premises, and the sale is later abandoned and the money returned. The money does not escape Chapter XII by the deal falling through: clauses (c) and (d) define 'specified sum' and 'specified advance' to apply 'whether or not the transfer takes place', so both the receipt and its repayment stay inside the Chapter's restrictions on the mode of payment. A reader who then turns here for the meaning of 'primary agricultural credit society' finds nothing — clause (b) only sends him on to section 150.
Where you meet this section
Never on its own. You meet it through the sections whose vocabulary it fixes — the restrictions in sections 185 to 188 on how loans, deposits, specified sums and specified advances may be taken, accepted or repaid — and in any penalty proceeding on those sections, where the argument that a failed sale takes the money outside the Chapter is answered here.
The words themselves
"specified sum" means any sum of money receivable, whether as advance or otherwise, in relation to transfer of an immovable property, whether or not the transfer takes place
Section 189(c), Income-tax Act, 2025.
What people get wrong
Assuming a failed or abandoned transaction takes the money outside the Chapter. Clauses (c) and (d) both apply "whether or not the transfer takes place".
Looking here for the meaning of "primary agricultural credit society" or "primary co-operative agricultural and rural development bank". Clause (b) only points to section 150.
Reading "banking company" as limited to companies governed by the Banking Regulation Act. It also includes any bank or banking institution referred to in section 51 of that Act.
What this replaced
The correspondence is the Income Tax Department’s own, from its comparison utility for the 1961 and 2025 Acts. A renumbering is the easy half; whether the words changed is the half that decides cases.
269SS - Mode of taking or accepting certain loans, deposits and specified sum
269ST - Mode of undertaking transactions
269T - Mode of repayment of certain loans or deposits
A circular binds the department, not you and not a court. Every one below was written under the 1961 Act; it reaches this section because the department’s own concordance carries the provision it names to this one.
Circular No. 25/2022 — Clarification for the purposes of clause c of section 269ST of the income tax act 1961 in respect of dealership/distributorship co 2022-12-30
Circular No. 27/2017 — Clarification on cash sale of agricultural produce by cultivators/agriculturists 2017-11-03
Circular No. 556 — 1277. Clarification regarding applicability of section 269T to amounts kept by agriculturists out of sale proceeds with commissio 1990-02-23
Circular No. 522 — 384. Monetary ceilings prescribed in section 40A(3)/269SS/269T - Raised to Rs. 10,000, Rs. 20,000 and Rs. 20,000, respectively, by 1988-08-18
Circular No. 479 — 1275. Whether the payment in cash of periodical interest amount alone exceeding Rs. 10,000 would attract the provisions of sectio 1987-01-16
A notification is made under a power the Act gives and, within that power, is law. These too were made under the 1961 Act and are placed here by the department’s concordance.
Read this before you rely on it. Every decision below was decided under the Income-tax Act, 1961. It appears here because it is tagged to a 1961 provision that the department’s own mapping carries to section 189. That is an inference we have drawn, not a holding on the new section: where the words changed in the move, the reasoning may not survive. Treat this as the place to start looking, not as authority on the 2025 Act.
ADIT (Investigation) v Kum. A.B. ShanthiSupreme CourtHelps departmenttagged s.269SS You took a cash loan and now face penalty equal to the whole amount. Is there any relief?
CIT v Jai Laxmi Rice MillsSupreme CourtHelps taxpayertagged s.269SS The assessment in which the s.271E satisfaction was recorded has been set aside. Can the penalty stand?
RBANMS Educational Institution v B. GunashekarSupreme CourtHelps departmenttagged s.269ST The section 269ST penalty falls on the person who receives the cash. If I am the buyer paying cash for property, am I exposed at all?
CIT v Idhayam Publications LtdHigh CourtHelps taxpayertagged s.269SS Money moves both ways between me and my company on a current account. Is that a loan under 269SS?
CIT v Worldwide Township Projects LtdHigh CourtHelps taxpayertagged s.269SS The liability was created by a journal entry and no money moved. Does 269SS still apply?
JCIT v Ganesh AgarwalHigh CourtCuts both waystagged s.269ST The Assessing Officer referred my section 269ST case to the Joint Commissioner months ago and the show cause notice has only just come. When does the…
PCIT v Shree Madhi Surali VibhagHigh CourtHelps taxpayertagged s.269SS Our co-operative credit society took and repaid cash from its members and the appellate authorities deleted the 271D and 271E penalties on reasonable…
Sandeep Kaur Gill v Union of IndiaHigh CourtHelps taxpayertagged s.269T The financier insisted on cash. Can they penalise me under 271E for repaying the loan in cash?
DCIT v Umiya Co-operative Credit Society LtdITATHelps taxpayertagged s.269SS Our credit society takes deposits and repays loans in cash to members. Can the department levy 271D and 271E on the whole amount?
Delta Farm Services v ITOITATHelps taxpayertagged s.269ST I received cash of more than Rs. 2 lakh from farmer-buyers against genuine, fully accounted sales in the first year of section 269ST. Can a section…
Sanmathi Ambanna v Jt CITITATHelps taxpayertagged s.269SS I took a cash loan from my father-in-law. Can they levy 271D on a genuine family transaction?
Wahid Ali v JCITITATHelps taxpayertagged s.269SS I received sale consideration for my property in cash. Is that a 269SS breach attracting 271D?
CBDT Circular 22/2017CBDTHelps taxpayertagged s.269ST We take loan repayments in cash instalments. Do the instalments add up against the two lakh limit?
What this page does not tell you. It does not reproduce the section. Everything above was written from the section’s own text as the Income Tax Department publishes it — the text is here, and nothing here is advice on your facts. Where a figure matters, read the sub-section it comes from.