CA Online

In a ruling that may have implications for gold mortgages, gold bonds and commodities derivative trading, Karnataka Authority for Advance Rulings has held that deposit of goods to a custodian with obligation to return on submission of electronic receipts would not be liable for GST. The ruling came in relation to applicability of goods and services tax in case of a derivative contract in diamonds through Indian Commodity Exchange. The authority held that mere deposit of diamonds with safe vaults acknowledged by electronic vault receipts does not constitute a supply for levy of GST. It observed that in such a transaction, there is only transfer of possession of diamonds where safe vaults hold them as a bailee with obligation to return them to depositor on submission of EVR. Since there is no consideration involved, the transaction would not qualify as a supply, it said. Derivative contract in e-units would constitute as security and accordingly any transaction in them shall remain out o…

Bank credit growth grew to 12.94 per cent as of the end of June 2018 on a year-on-year basis The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has estimated that bank credit growth to India’s private sector will touch 13.6 per cent by the end of the current financial year. The IMF’s estimates suggest after that it will decrease by 30 basis points to 13.3 per cent by the end of FY20. “The corporate sector has been deleveraging slowly and, while debt repayment capacity and profitability appear to have bottomed out, they remain weak in aggregate,” said the IMF in its Article IV report on India. Bank credit growth grew to 12.94 per cent as of the end of June 2018 on a year-on-year basis. At the end of FY18, bank credit growth to the private sector stood at 9.8 per cent, as compared to 8 per cent a year earlier. Bank credit to the commercial sector stands at Rs 92 trillion as of July 20, 2018, which is a growth of 11.9 per cent on a year-on-year basis, according to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data. …

Earlier, imports under advance authorisation were subjected to IGST Exporters have approached various courts over restrictions imposed for availing advance authorisation licences under the goods and services tax (GST) regime. The change in condition has led to directorate of revenue intelligence (DRI) issuing notices to exporters. One such case on a petition filed by an exporter came up for hearing in the Delhi High Court, which issued notices to the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) and the Directorate General of Foreign Trade and posted the matter for hearing in January. The gist of the case is that the CBIC had inserted a clause of “pre-import” for exempting imports done on advance authorisation licences from integrated goods and services tax (IGST). These licences are issued to allow duty free import of inputs, which are physically incorporated in export product. The clause meant that imports done after exports would not be allowed to avail exemptions from IGST. How…

GST Council has reduced rates on many items and services in the last round, says Goyal Finance Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday said the capacity to slash the GST rates on more items would go up as Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenues and the compliance rate increases and the economy formalises. Goyal was speaking in the Lok Sabha after moving four bills seeking to amend the Goods and Services Tax (GST) laws for consideration and passage. The bills were Central GST (Amendment) Bill, Integrated GST (Amendment) Bill, GST (Compensation to States) Amendment Bill and Union Territory GST (Amendment) Bill. His speech 45-minute speech was in-terrupted by Congress members who were in the Well raising anti-government slogans on various issues, including demanding setting up of a joint parliamentary committee to probe the Rafale jet fighter deal. The Minister said the "GST Council has reduced rates on many items and services in the last round. We want the consumer to be burdened less by ind…

Experts raise privacy concern; committee recommends codes of conduct to deal with insider trading A committee on fair market conduct has suggested that market regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), should seek powers to tap telephones and other electronic communication devices to check insider trading and other frauds. Currently, Sebi has the power to only ask for call records, which includes numbers called and the duration of calls made. If the recommendation is implemented, Sebi will be able to listen in on the calls, as well as intercept other forms of electronic communication. According to the recommendations of the report of the Committee on Fair Market Conduct, headed by former law secretary T K Viswanathan, “Currently there are several methods of electronic communication apart from telephone calls which are fairly widely used… interception of electronic communication should also be covered in the powers being sought”. The report was submitted on August 8. “The …

Backs decentralisation of power to RoCs & an in-house adjudication mechanism The 14-member expert committee set up by the government to suggest decriminalisation of less-significant violations of the companies law has favoured an increase in the threshold for cases referred to the National Company Law Tribunals (NCLTs). It has also backed decentralisation of power to the registrar of companies (RoCs), regional directors and an in-house adjudication mechanism to free up the overburdened NCLT benches. That could help speed up the resolution of banks’ bad loans as the tribunals are central to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) process. The changes can be implemented through modification of rules and won’t require amendments to law. The tribunals currently hear violations involving fines of more than Rs.5 lakh. The decision on what the new limit should be has been left to the government. “The enhancement of this limit, along with simultaneous operation of in-house adjudication mec…