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www.caonline.in News... 1.Extent of tax payable by business entity on services provided by senior advocates via (Notification No. 34/2016-Service Tax - (06/06/2016)) 2.Service tax audits by department – A detailed legal analysis via (Mega Cabs Pvt. Ltd. Vs. Union of India & Ors. (Delhi High Court)) 3.RBI Keeps repo- rate unchanged at 6.5%, CRR also remains at 4%, Reverse Repo rate stays at 6%. 4.CII for Financial Year 2015-16 was 1081. 5.The CBDT vide Notification No: 42/2016 dtd. 2 June 2016 has notified the Cost Inflation Index (CII) at 1125 for Financial Year 2016-17.

The Commerce and Industry Ministry is rooting for comprehensive relaxation of visa norms to boost services trade, a proposal that is being taken up with the Prime Minister's Office (PMO). The proposal, according to an official, was discussed between Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia and officials of other departments, including the home ministry, at the PMO on Tuesday. The Economic Times New Delhi, 08th June 2016

The battle on labour reforms between some of Narendra Modi government’s ministers and the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh ( BMS), the trade union arm of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ( RSS), is increasingly reminiscentofthestormyrelationsbetween the two sides during the Atal Behari Vajpayee- led NDA government. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has had to withdraw several proposals because of the pressure from unions. Some of these being the rollback of tax on Employees Provident Fund ( EPF) withdrawals and the rollback of the 0.1 per cent cut in Public Provident Fund interest rates to 8.7 per cent. The government has also heeded the unions by not increasing the pensionable age from 50 to 55. Recently, the PM and the FM said the labour laws would not be amended without detailed consultations. In the past few months, the BMS has effectively stalled the labour reforms in Rajasthan by approaching the International Labour Organisation ( ILO). It has challenged Rajasthan government’s labour...

Building new markets and cross-selling of banking products will be key to the success of payments banks, companies shortlisted for such licences said. The banks would work particularly well for entities with good customer reach and a base of operations such as cellphone companies. Airtel M Commerce Services (a tie-up between Airtel and Kotak Bank), Department of Posts, Reliance Industries (in partnership with SBI), Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Vodafone m-pesa, National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL), Aditya Birla Nuvo and Fino PayTech are gearing up to set up payments banks. But at a time when bad loans are bleeding banks’ balance sheets, what is it that is keeping these entities hopeful? “We have set an year-end target for the launch, focussing on technology implementation and product development,” said GV Nageswara Rao, MD, NSDL. NSDL, India’s largest depository, handles securities held and settled in dematerialised form for investors and brokers. Vodafone an...

In what could be the best push for the longpending goods and services tax ( GST), West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday asked state finance minister and chairman of the empowered committee on GST, Amit Mitra, to arrive at a consensus on the issue soon. “So far, no one has been able to do it. Now, Amit Mitra is leading it. A lot has been said; now, it’s time for action,” Mamata said. “ We want a one- tax formula for the industry. We have had it in our manifesto since 2009. We are in the Opposition, but we are still fighting for GST.” However, she also chose to take on the Centre for creating an ‘ environment of mistrust’, so that her party’s support for GST would not be construed as support for the Modi government. Mamata also criticised the Centre’s smart city concept, though New Town Rajarhat on the northeastern fringes of Kolkata has been included in the latest list of smart cities announced by the Centre. “This is a completely flawed concept. The money is for...

Reserve Bank of India ( RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan has asked firms to not apply for a payments bank licence only because it is a valuable property. The central bank had earlier, too, cautioned that they incur a significant cost in assessing the applicants and so firms should apply only if they are completely committed. “Don’t just go in for licence because it’s a valuable property to have but instead do the due diligence on your own. And when you apply, it should be with the intent of fully carrying out,” Rajan said. The RBI governor said the central bank was “ not overtly perturbed” that a few firms have decided to drop their payments bank plans after they were granted an in- principle licence last year. “We are not overly perturbed that some people decided after analysis that they would not go forward. In fact it suggests that licencing has been adequately liberal and that we have a variety of players coming in,” he said. Tech Mahindra, Cholamandalam Investment and Finance ...

The Securities and Exchange Board of India ( Sebi) has issued guidelines on utilising the Investor Protection Fund (IPF) of depositories. It is for specific purposes like promotion of investor education, assistance in research activities for development of the securities market and to support initiatives of depository participants, went a Sebi circular issued on Tuesday. Permission to utilise must be taken from the regulator. Depositories must frame their internal guidelines and get it approved from their board of directors. Then, send it to Sebi within a month from now. Subsequent changes must also be intimated. The contribution to IPF would be five per cent of the profit made each year since 2012- 13 from depository operations. Also, all fines and penalties recovered from participants and other users to be deposited in it, including clearing members’ pool account penalty. Plus, deposit interest/ income from any investments made from the fund. “The management of an IPF wil...