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Centre proposes to extend Aadhaar linking deadline to those willing to enrol The government proposed extending the deadline for mandatory linking of Aadhaar with bank  accounts and mobile phones from December 31, 2017 to March 31, 2018, but only exclusively  for those who are “willing to enrol for Aadhaar”. A one-page note, with writing on both sides of it, passed on to a Bench led by Chief Justice  of India Dipak Misra on October 25 contained the proposal. Offering the three-month leeway  for the "Aadhaar-willing" citizens, the note however insisted that those already with  Aadhaar will be “required” to sync their Aadhaar numbers with SIM cards, bank accounts, PAN  and “other schemes where Section 7 (Aadhaar Act) notifications have been issued”. The government’s suggestion created such a furore in court that Justice Misra asked the  government to re-think its proposal to make it voluntary for Aadhaar-holders also. The court asked Attorney-General K.K. Venugopal, fo

IGST relief likely for foreign banks  MNCs  The government may be looking to give some respite to foreign banks and multinationals which  are saddled with the additional cost of paying 18% integrated goods and services tax (IGST)  on the services provided to their international offices, said two people close to the  development.  An advisory to this effect may be issued by the tax department in the coming weeks, one of  the persons cited earlier said, requesting not to be named.  “The tax officials realise that this (tax on multinationals) is an unintended consequence,  and this could get resolved in the coming weeks,” the other person said. Under the GST framework, a multinational — especially a foreign bank or infrastructure  company — that has a branch or operation in India, has to pay IGST. Many foreign banks have  already started paying 18% IGST to avoid any litigation. This tax liability has emerged  under the GST framework as it considers services provided by one branc

Sebi restructures expert panel on fair market conduct Regulator Sebi has reorganised its committee on 'fair market conduct' that advises it on measures to improve surveillance of markets and strengthen rules for algo trades. The fair market conduct committee is chaired by former law secretary T K Viswanathan. Besides Viswanathan, the panel consists of 14 members, including top executives of leading  bourses NSE and BSE as well as government representatives. Members of the committee include BSE's Ashishkumar Chauhan; NSE's Vikram Limaye; Anup  Bagchi, Executive Director of ICICI Bank; Kaku Nakhate, country head at Bank of America  Merrill Lynch; KPMG Chairman and CEO Arun Kumar and HDFC Mutual Fund Managing Director  Milind Barve. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had constituted this committee in August  this year. The committee is mandated to suggest measures for improvement in PIT (Prohibition of Insider  Trading) norms, PFTUP (Prohibitio