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Updates Of the Day 1.RBI lowered benchmarked repo rate by 50 bps to 6.75% while keeping CRR & SLR unchanged at 4% & 21.5% respectively. 2.DVAT Extending date of filing return in ECII & ECIII for Ist Qtr from 30.09.2015 to15.10.2015. However, date for Qtr 2 for E-Commerce remains same as 20.10.2015. Notification dated. 29.09.2015 3.PAN is mandatory in Annual Return Form MGT-7 Companies (Management and Administration) Second Amendment Rules, 2015 Dated 29 September 2015. 4.Rectification order u/s 154 cannot be made on debatable issue: [KKJ Foundations vs. ADIT High court of Kerala] 5.CBDT selected cases for scrutiny under CASS- AO to issue notice by today i.e. 30.09.2015 – Instruction No. 138 DIT (SYSTEMS) ARA Centre, Ground Floor, E-2, Jhandewalan Extension, New Delhi. 6.Today 30th September is last opportunity to declare undeclared foreign assets. Even esops held outside will fall within the rigour of the act. For more News Like us on https://www.facebook.com/caonli...

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday lowered its benchmark interest rate by a higher-than-expected 50 basis points to a four-year low, seeking to ease borrowing costs and stimulate economic growth by taking advantage of record-low consumer price inflation. Governor Raghuram Rajan reduced the repo rate, at which the central bank lends to commercial banks, to 6.75% from 7.25% in the fourth cut since the start of January. The repo rate has been cut by a total of 125 basis points this year. One basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point. Ten bank economists and executives polled by Mint had expected a cut of no more than 25 basis points. The higher-than-expected rate cut should silence critics who believe RBI’s insistence on inflation control above all else has come at the cost of economic growth, which slowed to 7% in the three months ended June from 7.5% in the preceding quarter. State Bank of India, the country’s largest lender, responded swiftly with a 40 basis ...

The RBI on Tuesday raised the debt limit for foreign investors to up to 5% of the current outstanding amount of bonds by March 2018, which will help in additional inflows of about Rs.1.2 lakh crore. The central bank also added that the limits for foreign portfolio investment in debt securities will henceforth be announced or fixed in rupee terms. The RBI has also allowed FPI investment into state development loans (SDLs), as part of a broad strategy to open up domestic markets. “Additionally, there will be a separate limit for investment by FPIs in SDLs, to be increased in phases to reach 2% of the outstanding stock by March 2018. This would amount to an additional limit of about Rs.50,000 crore by March 2018,” the RBI release said. The increase in limits will be announced every half year in March and September and released every quarter. The RBI also permitted the issuance of rupee bonds in offshore markets with a minimum maturity of 5 years. There shall be no restriction ...

Strict norms will kick in after the expiry of the threemonth-long ‘compliance window’ to declare assets in foreign shores ends Wednesday (September 30) even as the government ruled out any extension of the scheme. The penalties include a hefty 120% of the tax amount due and a jail term of up to 10 years for holding undisclosed foreign assets. The three-month compliance window scheme provided protection against prosecution by declaration of the assets and paying 60% tax and penalty. The Central Board of Direct Taxes has already warned that all “consequences” of law will follow and the taxman will go after black money hoarders who do not declare their illegal funds by Wednesday. According to a top government source, till September 23, not more than 30 entities had reported their foreign investments which totalled about Rs.2,500 crore. On a comparative scale, a tax amnesty scheme called the Voluntary Disclosure of Income Scheme (VDIS) in 1997 had fetched over Rs.10,000 crore. Th...

Minimum Wage, Maximum Damage Issue of minimum wage has been a contentious one for BPOs wanting to expand to non-metros The government's plan to push the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry to expand into non-metro and rural areas could trip on a long-standing issue -varying minimum wages across states. “The challenges come from domestic BPO margins being very low, and managing attrition, which is as high as 80% in the sector,“ said Sonal Arora, assistant vice-president at recruitment firm TeamLease Services. While there are no special minimum wages prescribed by the government for BPOs, a domestic BPO would come under the classification of a commercial establishment, said Arora, and since BPOs are no longer offering only voice services, companies incur significant cost in training, on-boarding and hiring people for specialised skills. The issue of minimum wage has been a contentious one for BPOs wanting to expand to non-metro cities, because they feel the minimum ...

If Bengaluru police intelligence wing has its way, then new recruits of startups and IT firms will need to undergo a compulsory background check from the police.This, police believe, is necessary to keep a check on terrorist activities. Apparently, the Ministry of Home Affairs through the Intelligence Bureau (IB) has told Karnataka Police that some engineers with a terrorism-linked past have infiltrated into Bengaluru's IT industry. “We plan to send a proposal to Police Commissioner and the DGP requesting them to issue a circular to all startups and IT companies in Bengaluru. We'll need to check their recruitment lists to do a background verification for new employees,“ DCP (Intelligence) Maheshwarappa S told ET. As of now, such verification is mandatory only for cab drivers and school staffers. In the calendar year up to Sep 21, the city police received only 13,824 applications for verification from the private sector, and the police are not happy about the number. Cit...

The Securities and Exchange Board of India ( Sebi) on Tuesday exempted the Centre from the takeover code obligations for its investment in Dena Bank, Bank of India and Corporation Bank. The Central government plans to infuse Rs.407 crore in Dena Bank, Rs.2,455 crore in Bank of India and Rs.857 crore in Corporation Bank. The infusion of capital, part of the government’s ‘Indradhanush’ initiative, would have triggered an open offer as the government’s stake in these banks would have increased by more than five per cent. In Dena Bank, the government’s stake is likely to increase 5.25 per cent - from 59.75 per cent to 65 per cent. In Bank of India, the government’s shareholding might raise from 64.43 per cent to 70.13 cent - an increase of 5.7 per cent. For Corporation Bank, the stake increase could be 5.78 per cent to 69.11 per cent. According to Sebi norms, when entities that hold 25 per cent or more equity in a company acquire an additional five per cent or more, they have to ma...

Seek relaxation of order restricting Aadhaar usage in PDS and LPG subsidies The Securities Exchange Board of India ( Sebi) and the Reserve Bank of India ( RBI) on Tuesday moved the Supreme Court for modification of the apex court’s order on Aadhaar, issued in August. The two regulators sought relaxation of the order, which stated the unique identity card should not be insisted upon except for public distribution scheme ( PDS) items such as food and kerosene, and for subsidised liquefied natural gas ( LPG). Considering a large number of similar applications, including that of the Centre and the governments of Gujarat and Jharkhand, the court set the hearing of the matter on October 6. According to Sebi, Aadhaar is useful in various ways for the development of the securities market. It works as a an easy and simplified mode of completion of know- your- client (KYC) requirement, while onboarding a client by any registered intermediary in terms of prevention of money laundering nor...