Skip to main content

FinMin to look into tax issues of FPIs: Das

The finance ministry on Tuesday promised to look into some taxation issues raised by foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) and also certain suggestions made by them such as permitting them in short- term corporate paper. Some of these suggestions could be reflected in the Budget as well. After a meeting with FPIs here, Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das (pictured) said: “ Suggestions both in terms of process simplification as well as some new suggestions have come ... some taxation issues were raised. The Department of Revenue also participated in the meeting so we will examine and look at the suggestions they have made.” Sources said the finance ministry discussed the proposal to allow FPIs to invest in corporate paper with outstanding maturity of less than three years.
To attract sticky and long term foreign money, current rules don’t permit overseas investors to invest in ultra short- term or short- term debt. The minimum maturity requirement is set at three years and there has been demand by FPIs to lower the same, particularly in the corporate debt segment.
Also, the meeting discussed the possibility of tweaking the definition of broad- based funds. A fund has to have a minimum of 20 investors to qualify as broadbased fund in category- 2 of the FPI regulations. One proposal mooted was to define broadbasing of funds on investment amount instead of compulsory requirement of minimum set of investors, sources said.
FPIs also request to fasten the process to obtain a PAN number to ease their entry into the Indian market, they said.
FPIs have also been demanding that tax issues relating to proposed IndiaSingapore double taxation avoidance agreement ( DTAA) and General Anti- Avoidance Rule ( GAAR) be resolved.
Business Standard New Delhi,21st September 2016

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Household debt up, but India still lags emerging-market economies: RBI

  Although household debt in India is rising, driven by increased borrowing from the financial sector, it remains lower than in other emerging-market economies (EMEs), the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its Financial Stability Report. It added that non-housing retail loans, largely taken for consumption, accounted for 55 per cent of total household debt.As of December 2024, India’s household debt-to-gross domestic product ratio stood at 41.9 per cent. “...Non-housing retail loans, which are mostly used for consumption purposes, formed 54.9 per cent of total household debt as of March 2025 and 25.7 per cent of disposable income as of March 2024. Moreover, the share of these loans has been growing consistently over the years, and their growth has outpaced that of both housing loans and agriculture and business loans,” the RBI said in its report.Housing loans, by contrast, made up 29 per cent of household debt, and their growth has remained steady. However, disaggregated data sho...

External spillovers likely to hit India's financial system: RBI report

  While India’s growth remains insulated from global headwinds mainly due to buoyant domestic demand, the domestic financial system could, however, be impacted by external spillovers, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its half yearly Financial Stability Report published on Monday.Furthermore, the rising global trade disputes and intensifying geopolitical hostilities could negatively impact the domestic growth outlook and reduce the demand for bank credit, which has decelerated sharply. “Moreover, it could also lead to increased risk aversion among investors and further corrections in domestic equity markets, which despite the recent correction, remain at the high end of their historical range,” the report said.It noted that there is some build-up of stress, primarily in financial markets, on account of global spillovers, which is reflected in the marginal rise in the financial system stress indicator, an indicator of the stress level in the financial system, compared to its p...

Retail inflation cools to a six-year low of 2.82% in May on moderating food prices

  New Delhi: Retail inflation in India cooled to its lowest level in over six years in May, helped by a sharp moderation in food prices, according to provisional government data released Thursday.Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based inflation eased to 2.82% year-on-year, down from 3.16% in April and 4.8% in May last year, data from the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) showed. This marks the fourth consecutive month of sub-4% inflation, the longest such streak in at least five years.The data comes just days after the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Monetary Policy Committee cut the repo rate by 50 basis points to 5.5%, its third straight cut and a cumulative reduction of 100 basis points since the easing cycle began in February. The move signals a possible pivot from inflation control to supporting growth.Food inflation came in at just 0.99% in May, down from 1.78% in April and a sharp decline from 8.69% a year ago.A Mint poll of 15 economists had projected CPI ...