Skip to main content
Income-tax Act, 2025 | Section 87

Section 87 - Exemption of capital gains on transfer of assets in cases of shifting of industrial undertaking from urban area

Industrial undertakings shifting from an urban area can obtain rollover relief for qualifying new assets and relocation expenditure.

Reviewed by CA Nikhil Gupta · Updated 9 October 2026

Section 87: operativeEffective 1 April 2026Tax Year 2026-27 onwardReviewed 8 October 2026
Current-law control

Section 87 is presented using the consolidated Income-tax Act, 2025 as amended by the Finance Act, 2026. The general commencement date is 1 April 2026. Earlier years and saved proceedings may remain governed by the Income-tax Act, 1961 and the repeal/savings framework.

2-minute professional decode

Industrial undertakings shifting from an urban area can obtain rollover relief for qualifying new assets and relocation expenditure.

Professional checkpoint: Apply the provision only after checking the defined person, tax year, evidence, thresholds and any connected Rule or Schedule.

Who should test this section?

Section 87 matters to investors, property owners, promoters, companies, firms and advisers where the transaction involves exemption of capital gains on transfer of assets in cases of shifting of industrial undertaking from urban area; the charge, computation and relief steps should be separated.

Evidence to retain

The section 87 file should preserve acquisition and transfer instruments, valuation or stamp records, payment evidence, holding-period material and every document that supports the treatment of exemption of capital gains on transfer of assets in cases of shifting of industrial undertaking from urban area.

1961 Act bridge

Legacy provisionLegacy headingMapping
54GExemptionofcapitalgainsontransferofassetsincasesofshiftingofindustrialundertaking from urban area.Renumbered / mapped

The bridge is a research aid. Legacy case law carries over only after the current wording and transition rules are matched.

Rules and forms linked to this section

No provision-specific Rule was independently mapped from the current Rules register for this section. That does not mean the wider Rules are irrelevant.

Worked application

Prepare a hypothetical transaction involving exemption of capital gains on transfer of assets in cases of shifting of industrial undertaking from urban area. Identify the person, tax year, trigger, evidence and connected provision first; then apply section 87 step-by-step and document why each statutory condition is or is not met.

Common mistake

For section 87, do not jump from sale proceeds to a capital-gain number: first identify the transfer/charging event, then consideration, cost, timing and any exemption or rollover condition relevant to exemption of capital gains on transfer of assets in cases of shifting of industrial undertaking from urban area.

Compliance approach

Identify the statutory trigger for section 87, lock the relevant tax year, reconcile the facts to the operative sub-section, preserve the evidence trail and separately test every linked Rule, Form, Schedule and exception before finalising the return position.

Numeric / timing checkpoints in the operative text

Related provisions

Current statutory text

87. (1) If the assessee has— (a) capital gains arising from the transfer of capital asset, being machinery or plant or building or land or any rights in building or land used for the business of an industrial undertaking situated in an urban area, effected in the case of shifting of an industrial undertaking situated in an urban area (original asset) to any area [other than an urban area (new area)]; and (b) within one year before or three years after the date of such transfer,— (i) purchased new machinery or plant for business of the industrial undertaking in the new area; (ii) acquired building or land or constructed building for his business in the said area; (iii) shifted the original asset and transferred the establishment of such undertaking to such area; and (iv) incurred expenses on such other purpose as specified in a scheme notified by the Central Government for this section, then, instead of the capital gains being charged to income-tax as income of the tax year in which the transfer took place, it shall be dealt with as follows:— (A) if the cost and expenses incurred on all or any of the purposes mentioned in sub-clauses (i) to (iv) referred to as “new asset”,— (I) is less than the capital gains, the difference shall be charged under section 67 as the income of the tax year; or (II) is equal to or more than the capital gain, no capital gain shall be charged under section 67; and (B) for computing any capital gain arising from transfer of the new asset within three years of its being purchased, acquired, constructed or transferred, the cost shall be nil in case of sub-clause (A)(II) or shall be reduced by the amount of the capital gain in case of sub-clause (A)(I). (2) If the capital gain is not used by the assessee for the new asset within one year before the date of transfer of the original asset, or before filing the return of income under section 263, then— (a) the unutilised amount shall be deposited in a specified bank or institution and utilised as per the scheme notified by the Central Government; (b) such deposit shall be made before the filing of the return and not later than the due date applicable in the case of the assessee for filing the return of income under section 263(1); and (c) the proof of deposit shall be submitted along with such return. (3) For the purposes of sub-section (1), the amount already utilised for purchasing or constructing the new asset together with the deposited amount under sub-section (2) shall be deemed to be the cost of the new asset. (4) If the amount deposited under sub-section (2) is not wholly or partly utilised for the new asset within the period specified in sub-section (1), then,— (a) the unutilised amount shall be charged under section 67 as the income of the tax year in which the period of three years from the date of the transfer of the original asset expires; and (b) the assessee shall be entitled to withdraw such unutilised amount in accordance with the scheme referred to in sub-section (2). (5) For the purposes of this section, the expression “urban area” means any area within the limits of a municipal corporation or municipality, declared to be an urban area by the Central Government for the purposes of this section, having regard to— (a) the population; (b) concentration of industries; and (c) need for proper planning of the area and other relevant factors.

Primary-source trail

Source status: full Section 87 statutory text in the local source corpus; reconciled to the current consolidated Act control on 8 October 2026.

Related Finin2min guides