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Case law › Income-tax Act 2025 › Chapter XVII › Section 350
Chapter XVIIwas s.11

Section 350 of the Income-tax Act, 2025

Section 350 — Permitted modes of investment. Successor to s.11 of the 1961 Act.

Where this section sits

Section 350 is in Chapter XVII — Special Provisions Relating to Certain Persons, which runs from section 302 to section 355.

← Section 349  ·  Section 351 →

What this section does

Sub-section (1) provides that the modes of investing or depositing money under this Part shall be those specified in Schedule XVI. Sub-section (2) provides that modes of investing or depositing money under this Part other than those specified in Schedule XVI shall be specified by the Central Government by notification.

Why it is there

The Part restricts where money may be held, and the section keeps that list in a Schedule rather than in the section itself so it can be maintained without amending the operative provision. Sub-section (2) supplies the only route by which anything can be added — a notification by the Central Government — so the list is not open-ended.

Who it applies to

What this means in practice

There are only two sources of a permitted mode: Schedule XVI, and a Central Government notification under sub-section (2). A mode that is neither listed nor notified is not permitted, however sound or ordinary it may be commercially, and there is no general test of prudence in the section to fall back on. Note also that sub-section (2) confers the power on the Central Government by notification, not on the Board and not by any lesser instrument.

An example

Illustrative only, and invented for this page. The figures are chosen to show the rule biting, not taken from any real matter.

An organisation holding surplus funds under this Part places them in an instrument that is not listed in Schedule XVI. The investment is outside the permitted modes unless the Central Government has specified that mode by notification under sub-section (2); the fact that the instrument is safe, liquid and commonly used does not bring it within the section.

Where you meet this section

This is not a section anyone receives a notice under. It is the list against which investments and deposits held under this Part are checked, and the provision cited when an investment outside Schedule XVI is questioned.

The words themselves

The modes of investing or depositing the money under this Part, shall be such as specified in Schedule XVI .
Section 350(1), Income-tax Act, 2025.
The modes of investing or depositing money under this Part, other than the modes specified in Schedule XVI, shall be specified by the Central Government, by notification.
Section 350(2), Income-tax Act, 2025.

What people get wrong

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.

See the full 1961 to 2025 concordance.

Circulars of the Board on this section

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.

See every circular and notification on this section, or the circulars index.

Notifications that reach this section

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. We hold 697 in all; the 250 most recent are listed.

See every circular and notification on this section, or the notifications index.

Case law carried across

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 350. 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.

Explainers

Read with

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.