Direct Taxes
Atulesh Jindal to take over as new CBDT chairman tomorrow
Senior Indian Revenue Service officer Atulesh Jindal will tomorrow
take charge as the new chairman of the CBDT, the controlling body of
the Income Tax department. He will succeed incumbent AK Jain who
completes his term today. The appointments committee of the cabinet
headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had approved the appointment of
Jindal as the next Chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes on
January 22. Jindal, a 1978 batch IRS officer, is currently working
[….] Read more at:
Significant progress in tax cooperation with India: Swiss government
As
the fight against black money continues, Switzerland has said
cooperation with India on tax matters has made significant progress with
regular contacts between officials from the two sides. India and
Switzerland have been working closely on mutual administrative
assistance on tax matters and both sides have expressed their
willingness to step up the cooperation. Swiss government has said there
has been a regular dialogue at various levels since 2014. These
dialogues have contributed to [….] Read more at:
Mauritius to begin automatic tax information exchange from Sept 2018
Mauritius
will start automatic exchange of tax information with other nations
only from September 2018, as it has postponed by a year implementation
of global common reporting standard on tax matters. The delay could
impact Indian authorities' efforts to gather more tax-related
information from Mauritius, which is allegedly being used by some
entities to route illegal funds into India. Once the standard is in
force, there would be stringent measures to curb illicit fund flows,
including the [….] Read more at:
Indirect Taxes
Govt. releases integrated Central Excise and Service Tax Audit Manual
It
gives me immense pleasure to present this new integrated Central Excise
and Service Tax Audit Manual (CESTAM, 2015), which has been approved by
Board. 2. As you are aware, the existing Central Excise Audit Manual
and Service Tax Audit Manual were last updated in 2008 and 2011
respectively. Over the years the Central Excise and Service Tax statutes
have undergone many changes and there have been regular feedback from
field formation on the shortcomings in the existing audit manuals
[….] Read more at:
FM Arun Jaitley pushes GST, reassures on back taxes
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Saturday
he hoped the opposition Congress party will come round to backing a
proposed Goods and Services Tax (GST) that it has opposed despite being
the first to propose the reform. "I hope they are flexible and see the
rationale behind passing GST," Jaitley said in an interview at the
Economic Times Global Business Summit. Jaitley reiterated a reassurances
that India would not pursue foreign companies with new retroactive tax
claims, adding that he [….] Read more at:
Now Rajasthan VAT dealers have discretion to declare business manager
In
exercise of the power conferred by section 99 of the Rajasthan Value
Added Tax Act, 2003 (Act No. 4 of 2003), the State Government hereby
makes the following Rules further to amend the Rajasthan Value Added Tax
Rules, 2006, namely 1. Short title and commencement. --s(1) These Rules
may be called the Rajasthan Value Added Tax (Amendment) Rules, 2016.
(2) Provisions of rules 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9 and 10 of these amendment Rules
shall come into force with effect from [….] Read more at:
RVAT Last date for Filing Return for FY 14-15 is extended to 29 february 2016
Government
of Rajasthan Commercial Taxes Department Notification Jaipur, Dated:
January 30, 2016 In exercise of the powers conferred by sub sub-section
(3) of section 21 of the Rajasthan Value Added Fax Act, 2003 (Act No. 4
of 2003), 1, Vaibhav Galriya, Commissioner, Commercial Taxes, Rajasthan,
Jaipur, being of the opinion that it is expedient in the public
interest so to do, hereby, extend the date of submission of annual
return in Form VAT-10A, for the year 2014-15 required to be furni
[….] Read more at:
Company Law
INC-23, MGT-14 and INC-1 has been modified
Versions
of Forms INC-23 and MGT-14 is modified w.e.f 30th Jan 2016.
Stakeholders are requested to plan accordingly. [….] Read more at:
Applications for reservation of name redirected to CRC
All
applications for reservation of name (INC-01) has been directed to
"Central Registration Centre"(CRC) from 26th Jan 2016, as notified vide
the Companies (Incorporation) Amendment Rules 2016, dated 22nd Jan 2016.
The operations of CRC has been commenced with effect from 27th Jan
2016. [….] Read more at:
SEBI
Sebi tightens agri futures norms
In
continuation of SEBI circular No CIR/CDMRD/DMP/2/2016 dated January 15,
2016, the following directions are hereby issued with respect to
provisions of open position limits for futures contracts on agricultural
commodities: (I) Client level - a. Overall position limit for a
particular commodity shall be restricted to numerical position limits as
mandated from time to time. For the present, the numerical position
limits as existing shall be continued. It is clarified that client level
position [….] Read more at:
Sebi tightens agri futures norms
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Friday
imposed further restrictions on agri-commodities futures. Two weeks
ago, the commodity market regulator had restricted open positions in
near-month contracts. Now, more restrictions on position limits have
been announced with effect from March 1. The latest move follows suspension of castor-seed futures by the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange on Wednesday. Client-level position limit (no client sho [….] Read more at:
Mutual Funds roll out Aadhaar number facility for investors
To
make it easier for investors to buy or sell mutual fund products, fund
houses are offering the facility of investing in such products by using
the Aadhaar number. The investor can invest online in mutual fund
products even if the person is not compliant with Know Your Client (KYC)
details. The new service will help investors buy or sell mutual fund
(MF) products in a simpler and faster way. The move comes
after Sebi issued guidelines to change the existing norms for [….]
Read more at:
RBI
RBI policy, Q3 results key for markets this week
RBI policy review meet on Tuesday
and the next batch of quarterly earnings from blue-chips like Bajaj
Auto and Tata Steel would set the tone for the stock market this week,
say experts. "All eyes will be on the outcome of RBI's policy review;
macroeconomic data, next batch of December quarter corporate earnings,
sentiments in global markets, movement of rupee against the dollar
and crude oil price will dictate the trend," said Vijay Singhania,
Founder-Director, Trade Smart Online. The count [….] Read more at:
Electrosteels: a test case of RBI's SDR scheme
The Strategic
Debt Restructuring scheme introduced by the Reserve Bank of India is
set to change the managements of the companies which have failed to
repay bank loans despite repeated extensions. In a 10-part series, we
find out what ails these companies and why Kolkata-based Electrosteel
Steels, the first company where lenders invoked the strategic debt
restructuring after the Reserve Bank of India allowed banks to take
management control of defaulting companies last year, is set to get
[….] Read more at:
Miscellaneous Laws/News
Major changes proposed in Consumer Protection Act: Ram Vilas Paswan
There
are some major changes proposed in the Consumer Protection Act (COPRA)
to make it easy and user friendly, Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said
today. "The COPRA of 1986 had many flaws and was not viable for the era
of e-commerce and hence it required tremendous changes," the Minister
for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution told reporters here.
He said the proposed bill had been with (the) standing committee and
soon it would be given green signal as nothing is [….] Read more at:
Labour Min to trim cos' EPFO coverage threshold to 10 workers
In
a bid to provide social security to additional 50 lakh workers under
retirement fund body EPFO, the Labour Ministry has decided to halve the
threshold for coverage of firms to 10 workers through an executive
order. At present, it is mandatory under the Employees' Provident Fund
and Miscellaneous Provisions Act for firms having 20 or more workers to
subscribe to social security schemes run by the Employees' Provident
Fund Organisation (EPFO) "The Labour Ministry wants to reduce [….]
Read more at:
Ease of doing business: Government reviews over 50-year-old law
The
government has started reviewing an over 50-year-old law dealing with
specific fulfilment of a contract as part of its ease of doing business
policy, days after commercial courts were established and arbitration
law amended for faster disposal of business disputes. The committee set
up by the Legislative Department in the Law Ministry will review the
Specific Relief Act, 1963, keeping in mind the present scenario
involving contract-based infrastructure, public-private partnerships and
[….] Read more at:
Swaraj pushes for separate market for women entrepreneurs
Union
Minister Sushma Swaraj today pitched for a separate market for women
entrepreneurs to enhance their incomes and advised them to scale up
production of commodities they are selling. If the Centre gets a proper
blueprint of production of commodities in large volume, such a market
could be developed for thousands of women in the financial capital, she
said. She was interacting with over 1,000 women entrepreneurs belonging
to dozens of Mahila Bachat Guts [….] Read more at:
Double-digit growth possible if reforms go on: Panagariya
India
is expected to get on to a double-digit growth in the next 2-3 years if
reform process continues, NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Arvind Panagariya
said today. Besides, he expressed hope that GST will be implemented as
both parties concerned broadly agree on the comprehensive indirect tax
reforms. "The scope of India to expand is quite considerable as long as
our reform process moves in right direction. We have reason to expect
that we will, as I have been arguing, in next 2-3 years begin [….]
Read more at:
Govt must invest in infrastructure to drive growth: Birla
Stating
that there is a slowdown of private sector investments, Aditya Birla
Group Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla said government needs to invest in
infrastructure to set off "virtuous circle" of investment and economic
growth. "I think we have some issues to deal with. Clearly, there is
slowing down of investment in the economy specially in the private
sector and I think to kickstart that investment by the government,
infrastructure is something that becomes critical [….] Read more at:
VW halts production at two German plants
Volkswagen
is suspending production at its main gearbox plant as the carmaker
grapples with reduced demand and the effects of technical problems at
another German site. Europe's largest automaker will halt production in
some areas of its factory in Kassel on February 1, February 5 and February 8, a spokesman for the factory said on Friday,
confirming a report by regional newspaper Hessische Niedersaechsische
Allgemeine. Production at Kassel, where Volkswagen (VW) [….] Read
more at:
Obama calls Brazilian counterpart over spread of Zika virus
US
President Barack Obama spoke with his Brazilian counterpart Dilma
Rousseff to discuss shared concerns over the recent spread of the Zika
virus in the Western Hemisphere. "The leaders agreed on the importance
of collaborative efforts to deepen our knowledge, advance research, and
accelerate work to develop better vaccines and other technologies to
control the virus," the White House said after Obama's phone call. Obama
and Rousseff agreed to continue to prioritise building [….] Read
more at:
Demand for watches weak; sustaining 8% growth tough: Titan
Jewellery
and watches major Titan Company had a reasonably good festive season
in the third quarter as its retail sales, particularly in its diamond
segment— Tanishq— grew by 35 percent, says S Subramanian, CFO of the
company. Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Subramanian says gold jewellery segment
is doing well and he foresees positive growth from hereon. Absence of
Golden Harvest Scheme in the base quarter aided the company's revenue
growth, he adds. However, his demand outlook [….] Read more at:
Tax expenses, Bonus Act weighed on Q3 earnings: PVR
New
bonus act impacted earnings in the third quarter of FY15, Ajay Bijli,
Chairman & Managing Director of PVR said. Tax expenses, in the
last quarter, increased to Rs 11.92 crore from Rs 32 lakh year-on-year.
Multiplex operator PVR reported a 5.29 percent decline in profit to Rs
29.88 crore while the income rose 19.1 percent to Rs 500.5 crore in Q3
against Rs 420.3 crore in the same period a year ago. In an interview to
CNBC-TV18, Bijli discusses the third quarter results and forecast for
comi [….] Read more at:
Economy & News
India needs $1 trillion for new roads, ports, airports: Nitin Gadkari
Terming
infrastructure building as a "major challenge", Union Minister Nitin
Gadkari has said the country requires $1 trillion for the development of
new roads, ports and airports over the next few years. Upgrading
infrastructure is a major challenge for policy makers of the Asia's
third largest economy and India needs about $1 trillion (about Rs
67,00,000 crore) for new roads, ports and airports over the next few
years, Gadkari said at the inaugural edition of Rajya Sabha Television's
new flagship [….] Read more at:
Prime Minister Modi wants 50% farmers to join Crop Insurance Scheme in 2 years
Highlighting
benefits of the just-announced Crop Insurance Scheme, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi today said awareness about it should be spread across the
country so that at least 50 per cent of the farmers join it within two
years. In his monthly radio programme 'Mann Ki Baat', he also pitched
for continued efforts to popularise Khadi and awarness to save the girl
child, mentioned about the recently launched 'Start-Up India' programme
and talked about the upcoming International Fle [….] Read more at:
Union Minister Harsh Vardhan urges farmers to adopt improved technologies
Union
Minister Harsh Vardhan today urged farmers and entrepreneurs to adopt
improved technologies for cultivation of better varieties of medicinal
and aromatic plants to raise their income. Speaking at a Kisan Mela
(farmers' fair) organized at CSIR-Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic
Plants CSIR-CIMAP in Lucknow, he said this would also help in production
of quality raw material demanded by user industries. Stating that
medicinal and aromatic plants are the "valuable green wealth [….]
Read more at:
Government sets February 15 deadline to put stuck road projects on track
The
government has set a deadline of February 15 to resolve the issues
stalling highway projects worth Rs 30,000 crore, including fund crunch,
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said. The remark assumes significance as 14
projects worth Rs 30,000 crore are still stuck despite a marathon
meeting of bankers and developers last week to arrive at a solution and
with some of these facing termination. "We have set a deadline of 15
days to solve all issues of stuck 14 highway projects worth about
[….] Read more at:
India faces challenges in sticking to fiscal roadmap: S&P
India
will face challenges in sticking to the fiscal consolidation roadmap as
the expected revenues may not be fully realised and subsidy cuts may be
delayed, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said. "Although we
expect the administration to pursue its stated fiscal consolidation
programme, we foresee that planned revenues may not fully materialise
and subsidy cuts may be delayed," S&P Ratings Services India
Sovereign Analyst Kyran Curry told PTI. In the Budget 2015-16 government
deviated [….] Read more at:
Budget, 16
Budget 2016: Income Tax Expectations From Arun Jaitley
Finance
Minister Arun Jaitley will present the Budget for 2016-17 on February
29. The salaried class has a lot of expectations from the Budget.
Increase in the personal income tax exemption limit and a higher
deduction limit on home loan interest are among the common ones, say
analysts."Considering the increase in cost of living, the current basic
exemption limit of 2.5 lakh should be raised to Rs. 3 lakh. Also going
forward increase in basic exemption limit could be linked to the rate of
inflation and [….] Read more at:
Thanks & Regards,
Meetesh Shiroya
