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Case lawIncome-tax Rules 2026 › Rule 5
Rules 2026s.2

Rule 5 of the Income-tax Rules, 2026

Rule 5 — Procedure for notification of a recognised stock exchange for the purposes of section 2(92). Made under s.2 of the Income-tax Act, 2025.

Where this rule sits

Rule 5 gives effect to Section 2 of the Income-tax Act, 2025. A rule cannot go beyond the section it serves: where the two seem to differ, the section governs.

← Rule 4  ·  Rule 6 →

What this rule does

Sub-rule (1) provides that an application for notification of a stock exchange as a recognised stock exchange for the purposes of section 2(92) may be made to the Member (Income Tax), Central Board of Direct Taxes, New Delhi. Sub-rule (2) lists what must accompany it: the approval granted by the Securities and Exchange Board of India for trading in derivatives; up-to-date rules, bye-laws and trading regulations of the stock exchange; confirmation regarding fulfilling the conditions referred to in clauses (b) to (f) of rule 4; and such other information as the stock exchange may like to place before the Central Government.

Sub-rule (3) lets the Central Government call for such other information from the applicant as it deems necessary for taking a decision. Sub-rule (4) requires the Central Government, after examining the information furnished under sub-rule (2) or sub-rule (3), either to notify the stock exchange as a recognised stock exchange for the purposes of section 2(92) or to issue an order rejecting the application, before the expiry of six months from the end of the month in which the application is received.

Sub-rule (5) fixes how long the notification lasts: it is effective until the approval granted by the Securities and Exchange Board of India is withdrawn or expires, or the notification is rescinded by the Central Government.

Why it is there

Section 2(92) works off a stock exchange having been notified, but says nothing about who applies, to whom, on what material, or by when a decision must come. This rule supplies all four. It also ties the tax notification to the sebi approval that underlies it, so the notification cannot outlive the regulatory permission it rests on.

Who it applies to

The figures, and what each one turns on

Read the condition in the same row. A figure quoted without it is a wrong answer with a citation attached.
WhatFigureThe condition on itWhere
Time to notify or reject the applicationBefore the expiry of six months from the end of the month in which the application is receivedRuns from the end of the month of receipt, not from the date of receiptRule 5(4)

What this means in practice

The application is made to a Board officer but the decision is the Central Government's, and sub-rule (4) gives that decision an outer date measured from the end of the month of receipt. A request for further information under sub-rule (3) does not create a fresh application; sub-rule (4) still requires the decision to be taken on the material furnished under sub-rule (2) or sub-rule (3) within the same six-month window. The confirmation required by sub-rule (2)(c) is a confirmation only — the substantive conditions live in clauses (b) to (f) of rule 4, and an exchange that cannot meet those is not helped by filing the confirmation. Once notified, the status is not permanent: under sub-rule (5) it falls away with the sebi approval, without any separate order being needed.

An example

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

A stock exchange files its application with the Member (Income Tax) on 12 May, enclosing its sebi derivatives approval, its current bye-laws and the rule 4 confirmation. The Central Government asks for further information in July under sub-rule (3). Whatever the date of that further material, the notification or the order of rejection must issue before the expiry of six months from the end of May, that is, by 30 November.

Where you meet this rule

You meet it as the notification itself — a trader or an assessee relying on section 2(92) checks whether the exchange is notified and whether that notification still stands. The exchange meets the rule directly, when applying and when its sebi approval comes up for renewal.

The words themselves

An application for notification of a stock exchange as a recognised stock exchange for the purposes of section 2(92) may be made to the Member (Income Tax), Central Board of Direct Taxes, New Delhi.
Rule 5(1), Income-tax Rules, 2026.
The notification referred to in sub-rule (4) shall be effective until the approval granted by the Securities and Exchange Board of India is withdrawn or expires, or the said notification is rescinded by the Central Government.
Rule 5(5), Income-tax Rules, 2026.

What people get wrong

Read with

What this page does not tell you. It does not reproduce the rule. Everything above was written from the rule’s own text as the Income Tax Department publishes it — the text is here. A rule is subordinate legislation: it prescribes the method, the form or the period, and it cannot enlarge the charge the section imposes. Where a figure matters, read the sub-rule it comes from.