Budget 2016: Raise tax deduction limit for long-term savings to Rs 2.5L, demands Assocham
Government
should hike tax-exempted savings limit to Rs 2.5 lakh from Rs 1.5 lakh
at present, and re-introduce standard deductions for salaried employees
to boost consumption, industry body Assocham has said. "As Finance
Minister Arun Jaitley begins engagements with stakeholders for the
ensuing Budget for 2016-17, Assocham has recommended to the government
to increase the deduction for long term savings to Rs 2.5 lakh (from Rs
1.5 lakh). "And re-introduce the concept of sta [….] Read more at:
Retrospective tax law hurt India, scared away investors: FM
Retrospective tax law has hurt the country as it scared away the investors, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday
said and stressed on the need for maintaining the standards of fairness
in taxation. Addressing the officer trainees of the Indian Revenue
Service, Jaitley said taxes which are realisable have to be collected,
but the taxes that are not realisable, should not be collected. "If you
ask me 4-5 years later, in Income Tax Act... did the provisions of the retrospective taxation help India or [….] Read more at:
New reporting norms for high value transactions from April 1
In
order to check black money, the CBDT has notified norms under which
cash receipts and high value transactions beyond a certain threshold
will have to be reported to the Income Tax authorities with effect from April 1.
Under the new norms, cash receipts, purchase of shares, mutual funds,
immovable property, term deposits, sale of foreign currency will have to
be reported to the tax authorities in a prescribed format, which is
Form 61A. The Finance Ministry notification said the registrar will
[….] Read more at:
Indirect Tax
Jaitley hopeful of GST Bill in ensuing Budget session
After
hitting the Congress wall in two successive Parliament sessions,
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today exuded confidence that landmark GST
Bill will be passed in the next session as numbers in the Rajya Sabha
will tilt in favour of the new indirect tax regime. "The next session is
going to be extremely important. And half way through the next session,
the numbers of the Upper House are also going to change. So I am
reasonably optimistic, as far as the next session is concerned, that we
may be [….] Read more at:
Company Law
Regional directors to receive report from ROC on violation of offences with imprisonment below 2 years
In
exercise of the powers conferred by section 458 of the Companies Act,
2013 (18 of 2013) the Central Government hereby delegates to the
Regional Directors at Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Delhi, Ahmedabad,
Hyderabad and Shillong, the power vested in it under section 208 of the
said Act for receiving the report from the Registrar (having
jurisdiction over the place of registered office of the company
concerned) or from the Inspector where such report recommends action for
violation of of [….] Read more at:
Share allotment to CDR lenders will not reduce loan: Unity Infra
Madhav
Nadkarni, CFO of Unity IndraProjects said that the interest on funded
interest term loan (FITL) is been converted into equities. Earlier, the
company had issued 1.19 crore shares to corporate debt restructuring
(CDR) lenders. Post this, the promoters shareholding stands at 62
percent, he said. Nandkarni further added that the company will have
another allotment of 38-39 lakh shares in the March quarter, which will
lower down promoter shareholding to 59 percent and bank’s stake will
[….] Read more at:
SEBI provides an option to avoid penalty on private placement of upto 200 investors for cases prior to 1-4-2014
Prior
to April 01, 2014, offers of securities - shares and debentures - by
companies to more than 49 persons were deemed to be public offers. SEBI
has initiated penal action on receipt of specific complaints against the
companies offering such securities without complying with the relevant
provisions of the Companies Act, 1956 and applicable SEBI Guidelines /
Regulations governing a public issue. Under the new Companies Act, 2013,
post April 01, 2014, any offer or allotment of securities shall be co
[….] Read more at:
SEBI revises Application-Cum-Bidding Form
SEBI
vide Circular no. CIR/CFD/POLICYCELL/11/2015 dated November 10, 2015
has streamlined the process of public issue of equity shares and
convertibles. Among several measures, all the investors applying in a
public issue are required to use only Application Supported by Blocked
Amount (ASBA) facility for making payment. 2. Considering the above,
format for application-cum-bidding-form and manner of disclsoure as
specified vide SEBI Circular no. CIR/CFD/DIL/4/20 [….] Read more at:
SEBI issues procedure to ensure compliance with securities contract regulations, 2012 by Listed Stock Exchanges
Procedures
for ensuring compliance with Securities Contracts (Regulation) (Stock
Exchanges and Clearing Corporations) Regulations, 2012 (SECC
Regulations) by Listed Stock Exchanges. 1. Regulation 45 of the SECC
Regulations provides for listing of stock exchanges. As per Regulation
45(2) of the SECC Regulations, the Board may specify such conditions as
it may deem fit in the interest of the securities market. 2.
Accordingly, it has been decided to prescribe the following modalit
[….] Read more at:
Now 'Gold Exchange Traded Funds' can invest in Gold Monetisation Scheme
Please
refer to SEBI circular dated February 15, 2013 read with circular dated
October 18, 2013 on investment by Gold ETFs in Gold Deposit Scheme of
Banks. 2. As per RBI notification dated October 22, 2015, the Gold
Monetisation Scheme, 2015 (GMS) will replace the Gold Deposit Scheme,
1999 (GDS). However, the deposits outstanding under the GDS will be
allowed to run till maturity unless these are withdrawn by the
depositors prematurely. 3. Considering the above, in partial [….]
Read more at:
Sebi slaps Rs 30-lakh penalty on Anand Rathi
The
Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) announced a Rs 30 lakh
fine on a leading financial services entity, Anand Rathi (AR), for
breaching the stock broker regulations. Sebi said AR had repeatedly
withdrawn funds from a designated client bank account to make payments
not to a client but to its own group company, the commodities brokerage
wing. In doing so, it had failed to exercise due skill and care in
conduct of business, breaching the statutory requirements under th
[….] Read more at:
Sebi issues modalities for stock exchange listing
Stock
exchanges will be allowed to go for listing from April this year. On
the first day of the year, the Securities and Exchange Board of India
(Sebi) issued the final circular in which it steered clear of any
dilution the “fit and proper”. However, shareholders would be allowed to
issue a self certification of their ‘fit’ status. In the circular, the
regulator said exchanges should make sure all shareholders are fit and
proper. At the time of listing, every shareholder would need to give a
declaration that [….] Read more at:
Sebi to tighten disclosure norms for rating agencies
Markets
regulator Sebi is set to tighten disclosure norms for rating agencies
as well as the companies being rated, as it seeks to check the menace of
'rating shopping' and a 'pick-and-choose' approach in disclosing rating
actions. The proposed regulatory moves follow the Amtek Auto fiasco
and a growing number of loan defaults triggering downgrade or suspension
of ratings without the same being properly communicated to
investors. It has been felt that the disclosure norms need to be tigh
[….] Read more at:
RBI
RBI revises criteria to extend credit facilities to step-down subsidiaries of Indian Companies
Please refer to our circular DBOD.IBD.BC.No.96/23.37.001/
SBI: Lending rate cut unlikely till end-Mar
State
Bank of India, the country’s largest lender, isn’t likely to cut its
key lending rate till at least end-March, chairman Arundhati
Bhattacharya told reporters after opening a digital (‘sbiINTOUCH’)
branch in south Mumbai. She was responding to queries on further room
for transmission of the Reserve Bank of India’s policy rate cuts. On Tuesday, HDFC
Bank had reduced its base rate (BR) by five basis points, to 9.3 per
cent. On September 29, 2015, SBI had reduced its BR by 40 bps to 9.3 p
[….] Read more at:
More economic reforms to drive markets in 2016
Hopes
of more reforms, coupled with lower commodity prices and rising
consumer confidence, are expected to aid key Indian indices in 2016 to
pare their losses in the year gone by. "The year 2016 is broadly
expected to deliver positive returns; for this it is important
for markets to have some momentum in reforms, private capex cycle,
global stability and growth," Devendra Nevgi, chief executive of ZyFin
Advisors, told IANS. According to Nevgi, other factors such as
improvement in bank [….] Read more at:
New-age app and green PIN to push PNB's digital drive
State-owned Punjab National Bank (PNB) on Saturday
said it has launched host of digital banking solutions including green
PIN and an enhancement of its mobile app. The bank launched mobile apps
enabling the customer to locate PNB ATM with PNB ATM Assist, it said in a
statement. The Android app facilitates the customer to use GPS and
reach the nearest PNB ATM, it also assists customer to instantly lodge
operational issues, reducing the resolution time considerably, PNB MD,
Usha [….] Read more at:
Miscellaneous Laws/News
IRDA enables online system for registration or renewal of broking licenses
ln
order to apply for licensing of new broker, an applicant is required to
register to the portal and user name and password would be generated by
the system and sent to the user through email. Subsequently application
can be submitted online by accessing the website: hftp://www.irdabap.orq.in.
The applications for new brokers licenses already received by the
department will be processed manually and all new licenses application
from 1st Jan 2016 shall be accepted ONLY through on-line mode. [….]
Read more at:
Telcos to ignore TRAI's directive till next court hearing
Telecom
operators, assuming the Delhi High Court order to be in their favor
have decided to ignore Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (TRAI)
directive to pay compensation for call drops. TRAI implemented the call
drop compensation from January 1, 2016 under which telcos are to
compensate the consumer Re 1 per call upto 3 dropped calls per day. The
top telecom companies plan to ignore this directive till the court gives
a final decision on the case. After the first hearing in [….] Read
more at:
JeM role not ruled out, India will give befitting reply: Rajnath
Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday
did not rule out the possibility of involvement of Pakistan-based
terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad in Pathankot attack and said India would
hit back hard if there is any terror strike on its soil. "Pakistan is
our neighbouring country. We want good relations with not just Pakistan
but with all our neighbours. We also want peace but if there is any
terror attack on India, we will give a befitting reply. We will hit
hard," he said. Asked about the [….] Read more at:
Government focusing on R&D in railways: Suresh Prabhu
Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on Saturday
voiced confidence that railways would help push India's GDP by 2.5
percent in the coming years, asserting that Narendra Modi government was
especially focusing on research and development works so that the
transporter acts as a growth engine. Earlier, little effort was made in
the field of research and development in the railways. However, the NDA
government has signed agreements with 14 countries including Japan and
Korea to undertake researc [….] Read more at:
IDBI Bank strategic stake sale unlikely this fiscal
Government
is unlikely to go for a strategic stake sale of state-owned IDBI
Bank during the current fiscal due to some procedural issues. "Strategic
stake sale in IDBI Bank may not happen this fiscal due to some
procedure issues but the bank can raise funds through QIP," sources
said. Last week, the government gave its approval to IDBI Bank for
raising Rs 3,771 crore during the year, by way of Qualified
Institutional Placement (QIP), a move which will dilute its holding by
about 26 per cent in t [….] Read more at:
Commerce Ministry to seek Cabinet approval for WTO pact soon
The
Commerce Ministry will soon seek the Cabinet's approval for the WTO's
trade facilitation agreement (TFA), which aims at easing customs
procedures to boost commerce. "The ministry has received comments on the
draft Cabinet note from all the departments and now the final note
would be soon sent for Cabinet's consideration," an official said. The
agreement (TFA) aims at simplifying customs rules, increasing
transparency and reducing transaction costs for traders. As part of
[….] Read more at:
Economy & News
Smart cities will tackle rapid urbanisation: PM Narendra Modi
Terming
rapid urbanisation as a challenge and critical for sustainability,
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Sunday said smart cities would make the
cities networked to become efficient, safe and better in delivery of
services. "For the first time in human history, we are in an urban
century. By 2050, two-thirds of the world's population will live in
cities and three billion people will join 3.5 billion dwellers, with 90
percent of the increase from developing countries," Modi said at the
103rd Indian Science [….] Read more at:
Wheat output may drop for 2nd year straight due to warm winter
Wheat
production in India, the world's second-largest producer, is likely to
fall below 90 million tonnes (MT) for the second year in a row in
2015-16 due to an unusually dry and warm winter. Wheat output had
declined to 88.95 MT in 2014-15 due to to poor monsoon and unseasonal
rains in February-March, as against a record 95.85 MT achieved in the
previous year. Sowing of wheat, a major rabi (winter) crop, begins from
October and harvest starts from April. "Wheat sowing is lagging [….]
Read more at:
Country's first Rs 250cr urban yacht marina project at Howrah
India's
first urban yacht marina project, along with a residential area, will
come up in Howrah on the banks of the Hooghly river. A marina is a
sheltered harbor area where private yachts and boats can be parked on
the water with fuel lines, fresh water supplies and shore power for the
boats. "Marina Grand is an urban yacht marina project on the banks of
Hooghly river on Howrah side, very close to the main city centre of
Kolkata. It will also have residential area connected to the Marina.
Such integr [….] Read more at:
Sweden can provide clean tech to India: Swedish Consul General
With
deteriorating air quality becoming an area of concern, Sweden said it
is keen to provide clean technology solutions to the country. "Sweden
has many years of experience in the field of clean technology. The much
debated air quality, for example, could benefit from Swedish solutions,"
Consul General of Sweden Fredrika Ornbrant told here. Sustainable
transport, an important part of the 'Smart City' concept, is another
area where Swedish companies are strong, she said. The [….] Read
more at:
Will offer attractive VRS: Anant Geete on Hindustan Cables shutdown
Government
plans to shut down terminally sick Hindustan Cables by offering an
"attractive VRS" to its 1,500 employees, a final decision on which is
expected in 2-3 months. "We will close down Hindustan Cables after
offering an attractive VRS package. We have sent the proposal to
Cabinet. A decision is expected in 2-3 months," Union Heavy Industries
and Public Enterprises Minister Anant Geete told PTI. The Cabinet had
earlier approved closure of seven terminally sick public sector [….]
Read more at:
Thanks & Regards,
Meetesh Shiroya
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