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The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has suggested payments banks that have been granted the in- principle licence to ensure there is sharing of infrastructure among banks. The regulator believes this will help achieve the spirit of financial inclusion more efficiently. “The idea by the banking regulator is that there should be sharing of resources and functional interoperability which will also allow us to keep the costs under check,” said one of the applicants, who had attended the meeting last week. For payments banks keeping acheck on the cost will be an important concern. As part of the mandate, these banks need to reach the unbanked area where infrastructure sharing will become a key to ensure cost efficiency, say analysts. Shinjini Kumar, leader (banking and capital markets) at PwC India, explains this sharing of infrastructure will lead to more efficiency in the system. “ New banks will be required to fulfil the expectation of payment access points within 15 minutes of walking...

Aspirants can't even `fill' new online form launched last month for registering new cos unless promoters' Aadhaar credentials are validated online Even though the Su preme Court has only allowed Aadhar to be used `voluntarily for a few social welfare schemes the Modi government has made it compulsory for any budding en trepreneur to submit her or his Aadhaar number in order to reg ister a new business. In fact, aspiring startups can't even `fill' a new online form for registering new enterprises intro duced last month unless the Aad haar credentials of their promo ters (sought in the first column of the form) are validated online The ministry for micro, small and medium enterprises had last month notified Udyog Aadhaar taking a cue from the prime minis ter's radio show Mann Ki Baat where he had talked about simpli fying procedures to start a busi ness with a single-page registra tion form. Experts said this move is a violation of the Supreme Court order on...

LOG ON Move likely to reduce cost of buying MFs and attract more investors who can save on fee to the intermediary The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is eyeing India's booming ecommerce segment to make mutual funds schemes available to a wider section of investors at a cheaper cost. The capital market regulator has sounded out e-commerce companies about the possibility of these firms selling financial products on their platforms. Sebi chief UK Sinha met Nandan Nilekani -former chairman of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) -who heads the regulator-appointed committee to suggest measures to reduce cost structure of mutual funds, and representatives of e-commerce companies such as Flipkart, Scripbox, FundsIndia.com and Paisabazar.com, among others, in Bengaluru on Thursday in this regard. “Sebi wants automation of mutual fund sales architecture including e-KYC (know your client) which will reduce the cost of buying mutual fund schemes. This will m...

RBI guv wants an environment that would enable `Make in India' to succeed Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan called for a “transparent and predictable“ tax regime as part of an “enabling environment“ for business, setting the broader economic context needed for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's `Make in India' initiative to succeed. “Let's create the framework, let's make business easier.Let's make taxation more transparent, more predictable. Let's do all the things necessary to allow our businesses to create what is needed,“ Rajan said on the sidelines of a conference in Mumbai on Monday. “I say Make in India, but do not restrict making in India to just a few industries,“ the governor said. He also expanded on his criticism of loose-money policies practised by the majority of the world's central banks without regard for what they are doing to the global economy. Global multilateral agencies such as the International Monetary Fund (...

Surge in money sent for `maintenance of close relatives' & `studies abroad' There is a sudden, inexplicable surge in money that Indians are sending abroad for “maintenance of close relatives“. Such fund transfers typically add up to $10-20 million a month. But in July 2015, according to the latest available data, total remittance under this head crossed $124 million. Also, money remitted in July to students studying in foreign colleges and universities rose more than six times in one year to $113.9 million. What has caused the spurt in remittance? Tax experts suspect this could be an attempt to escape the American tax authorities. Two senior financial services professionals ET spoke to believed that a large part of fund flow -particularly, remittance to relatives -could have been triggered by USbased Indians trying to escape the American tax authorities. Ever since the US government passed the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) to unearth black money of US...

Updates Of the Day 1.Bank of Baroda invite applications for empanelment for Concurrent Audit. 2.Bad debts can be claimed in subsequent assessment years even if bad debts write off in earlier years (Calcutta High Court ) [Duncan International Limited. vs. CIT.] 3.Penalty under section 271C exigible if delay in remittance of TDS for unreasonable cause. (Kerala High Court) [Classic Concept Home India Private Limited vs CIT ] 4.CBDT issued instruction on framing of scrutiny assessments in cases of assessee engaged in the business of mining. 5.CBDT issued revised and updated guidance for implementation of transfer pricing provisions. For more News Like us on https://www.facebook.com/caonlineofficial Or Subscribe on mail visit : www.caonline.in

NEW DELHI In a bid to broad base retail participation in stock markets the Department of Disinvestment (DoD) has suggested tax incentives for small investors to invest in the equity market. The DoD wants a broad based retail market to be created to get good value for the government stake sale planned in several PSUs. The department has made a formal proposal for tax incentives to the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) in finance ministry, a senior official said. Economic Times, New Delhi, 19 October 2015

NEW DELHI Looking to streamline the taxation procedure, CBDT has issued detailed guidelines on trans fer pricing cases that are expected to bring about uniformity in determining arm's ength price in similar instances. As per the regulations, each Transfer Pricing Officer (TPO) will be assigned a given number of important and complex cases not exceeding 50. The Assessing Officer will be required to record in writing that the TP case falls in his jurisdiction and also the income involved in international transactions before proceeding with the case and referring it to TPO for further action. Economic Times, New Delhi, 19 October 2015

NEW DELHI Finance ministry has sought views of India Inc on firming up provisions with regard to Place of Supply (PoS) rules in five sectors, ncluding e-commerce and banking, for a smooth rollout of the Goods and Services Tax.The ministry has asked industry associations to submit their views on the transitional provisions and core exemptions to ensure hassle free implementation of the new indirect tax regime, a government official told PTI. Since GST s a destination based levy, the tax has to be mposed at the PoS of goods or services. Economic Times, New Delhi, 19 October 2015

A charitable institution is entitled to set apart 25 per cent of the total income for charitable purposes even if it is not spent in the assessment year. It is an option permitted in the Income Tax Act but the limit should be observed. The Supreme Court stated that both the commissioner of appeals and the Andhra Pradesh High Court erred while allowing a larger percentage in the case, CIT vs G RGovindarajulu. The total income was Rs.99 lakh out of which Rs.47 lakh was spent on charity and Rs.32 lakh was set to be spent for charitable purposes in the following year. The assessee claimed that it was therefore entitled to have deduction of the entire amount and its tax liability was nil. The assessment officer did not agree stating that no option for the purpose was exercised before filing the returns and it was not done in a valid manner. Though the appellate authority and the high court accepted that contention, the Supreme Court pointed out that Rs.32 lakh was more than 25 per cent of ...

In a bid to attack domestic black money, the government has set sights on India’s vast mining sector. The Central Board of Direct Taxes ( CBDT) under the finance ministry has instructed income tax ( I- T) officials to scrutinise production details and tax returns filed by the companies engaged in mining activities and take appropriate action in case of any discrepancy. “The government is quite serious about curbing the black money menace, be it stashed abroad or domestically. To curtail domestic unaccounted income, we’ve identified specific target sectors. Mining is one such sector where we’ve discovered serious instances of tax evasion,” said a government official. The government has discovered significant differences in the annual returns filed by mining firms with the Indian Bureau of Mines ( IBM) and the companies’ income tax returns. In an instruction issued to all chief commissioners as well as the director- general, CBDT said: “ While scrutinising cases of entities engaged in t...