CA Online

The government has extended the last day for filing GSTR-3B returns to October 25 in the backdrop of apprehensions over availing input tax credits for July 2017-March 2018.  “In view of the said apprehensions and with a view to give some more time to the trade and industry, the last date for furnishing return in the form GSTR-3B for the month of September 2018 is being extended up to October 25, 2018,” the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs said in a post on Twitter on Sunday. The original deadline was October 20. Industry has been worried about losing hundreds of crores of rupees in input tax credits due to mismatches in tax payment or reporting by their suppliers, who have time till October 31 to file their GSTR 1.  Tax experts said the extension doesn’t really help much because most companies would have filed their returns by October 20.  “Since there is no facility for amendment of the return, the companies cannot claim the credit which they might have mi...

Policy watchers surprised by the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) decision to hold rates in October against a widely expected hike are fairly certain that this interlude will be over as soon as December.  They are probably right.  The minutes of the October policy meet show that the central bank’s rate-setting committee members did not tone down their hawkishness or reduce their vigil on inflation when they had recommended a pause.  In fact, long-standing hawk and RBI executive director Michael Patra said monetary policy needs to be on “high alert” on inflation. He merely felt that the need to raise rates was less because the past two rate hikes still haven’t reached all corners of the economy. Chetan Ghate, who voted for a hike, felt that the sharp depreciation.  The members of the monetary policy committee flagged off several risks to inflation even as the headline number softened for three consecutive months. 3.28 the exchange rate and rise in oil prices would un...

The Reserve Bank of India is trimming its holding of US Treasuries joining many other emerging economies which have been selling off US bonds amid rising rates. Yet, it figures in the list of top-15 foreign lenders to the US government.  RBI sold $16.3 billion worth of US treasury (USTs) bonds since April with its stock slipping from $157 billion as of March-end to $140 billion as of August-end, according to the latest data released by the US Treasury department. In the same period, China sold USTs worth $22.6 billion, while Taiwan sold $6.9 billion worth of USTs. This could be to reduce their mark-to-market losses as bond prices fall when interest rates rise. In India’s case, it is also due to the fact that RBI needed US dollars to sell in the market to stop the steep currency slide. The Indian central bank sold foreign currencies worth $18.6 billion in the spot market since April to rein in the value of the rupee.  Foreign portfolio investors have pulled out more than $1...