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The GST Council meeting was postponed from November 25 to December 2 because the officers’committee was not ready with the revised draft Bills.Were there differences between central and state officials on major issues? The meeting was put off because the larger group of officials of all states and the Centre met on November 21 and 22 to look into the draft and clean it up.It had been looked in to by the technical committee of officers earlier,a smaller group.It was not possible look into the entire draft Bills and cleanup so early.That is why the GST Council meeting was postponed. Was every issue in the drafts sorted by consensus or a majority viewtaken? There was consensus on most points in the Bills. Wherever there are differences among state officials or between central and state officials,those could be taken up at the GST Council meeting. Rates were not given in the Bills. Will those come through notification? Those were not given because flexibility is required. Suppose we inclu...

With the last date for payment of tax instalment under Income Disclosure Scheme (IDS) drawing close, the Income Tax Department on Sunday warned declarants that non-payment of first instalment by November 30 will make declarations invalid. The IDS, which was open from June to September, provided a one-time opportunity to domestic blackmoney holders to disclose wealth and come clean by paying 45% tax and penalty. The first installment of tax of 25% is due to be paid by November end, to be followed by another installment of 25% by March 31, 2017. The remaining amount will have to be paid to the exchequer by September 30, 2017. "The first instalment of tax under the IDS is now due... Non payment of the instalment will render your declaration under IDS 2016 invalid," said the Income Tax Department advertisement. Under the scheme, as many as 64,275 declarants disclosed an amount of Rs 65,250 crore. This would yield Rs 29,362 crore in taxes to the government. The average declaratio...

SAYAN GHOSAL The government’s recent demonetisation scheme has given a fillip to digital transactions in the traditionally cash-based economy. Amid the changing times and the plethora of conveniences associated with e-payments, experts have again highlighted the lack of a comprehensive data protection and privacy framework. The Nilson Report, a trade newsletter covering the card and mobile payment segments, estimates fraud losses incurred by banks and merchants in electronic transactions reached the equivalent of $21.8 billion in 2015. This figure is expected to grow as more and more transactions go cashless. India’s recent brush with transactional fraud, involving 3.2 million debit cards, have highlighted the growing necessity of ensuring safety and security in the digital payment space. Advent of an e-payment regime now places a greater responsibility on the government, corporate entities and citizens alike to spread awareness about the associated risks, to ensure a well-protected f...

Ministries and government departments with a direct interface with the public on Friday got down to planning strategies to go cashless after Prime Minister Narendra Modi directed them to switch to online payments and cheques. The directives were issued by Mo di last night in a Cabinet meeting held to review the demonetisation drive. The steps to go cashless will be reviewed in a follow-up meeting next week. On its part, the labour ministry, along with the finance ministry, has decided to hold special camps in over 640 districts from Saturday to facilitate opening of bank accounts. Ministries and government departments with a direct interface with the public got down on Friday to planning strategies to go cashless after Prime Minister Narendra Modi directed them to switch to online payments and cheques. The directives were issued by Modi on Thursday night in a special cabinet meeting to review the demonetisation drive. The steps to go cashless will be reviewed in a follow-up cabinet me...

KYC norms to be modelled on SGX, LSE; exchanges may function 24/7, five days a week; trading of masala bonds to be allowed  The government is firming up regulations for the international stock exchanges to be set up in the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT). These exchanges may be operational for 24 hours facilitating market participants to carry out arbitrage between products of various exchanges across the world, according to recent discussions carried out between regulators, brokers and exchanges. The products to be traded will include currency, commodity and equity derivatives, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) as well as international & domestic mutual funds. Products such as quanto futures and masala bonds may also be allowed. Currently not traded on Indian exchanges, quanto futures and options are cash settled derivatives in which the underlying traded product is denominated in a foreign currency that is settled in another domestic currency at a fixed exchange rat...

Shortage of cash continues and in some places banks are enforcing their own limits on cash withdrawal The queues in banks have shortened considerably in the past few days and government’s decision to forbid exchange of certain notes on Thursday did not seem to have much adverse impact on the general public. However, shortage of cash continues and in some places banks are enforcing their own limits on cash withdrawal. For example, in pockets of Bengaluru, some branches have set a limit of Rs 10,000 withdrawal per week against the mandated Rs 24,000 as branches struggle to give cash to everyone in the queue.  "The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is not supplying enough cash. We are running out of cash, only a few thousands are left in the bank right now. Due to this, we're restricting the maximum withdrawal limits to Rs 10,000 per week, as opposed to Rs 24,000,” said a senior official at one of the branches of Canara Bank in Bengaluru.  According to the official, there was no cash ...

Amendments will be tabled in Parliament for approval by Monday or Tuesday  Those who deposited their black money in banks, disclosing it to be untaxed wealth, since the government announced demonetisation will now have to pay income tax at 50% and a quarter of the portion of the unaccounted income would remain with the government for four years, as per amendments planned to the Income Tax Act by the Centre. The amendments will be tabled in Parliament for approval by Monday or Tuesday, a top government official said on Friday. According to the amendments planned, those who deposit their unaccounted income in banks till the last date would have to pay a 50% tax and will have to forgo 25% of the deposited amount for four years. Those who do not disclose their black money and are caught by income tax (I-T) officer would have to pay 60% tax and 30% penalty, the official said. The government announced demonetisation of the old series Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes on November 8. Tho...

New Delhi Centre on Thursday asserted in the Supreme Court that the "bold move" of demonetisation would eradicate black money and slush funds operating since Independence, which created a "parallel economy" hitting the poor and middle classes. The Centre, which filed an affidavit on note ban, said the decision on which total secrecy was maintained, would now help in proper implementation of the ambitious Jan Dhan Yojana under which around 220 million bank accounts for poor people have been opened. 25TH NOVEMBER, 2016, THE BUSINESS STANDARD, NEW DELHI

The highest NPAs, of over 15 per cent, are in leather, textile and steel industries Banks concentrating on a few states has led to rising loan defaults (giving up of loan repayment) and non-payments in micro as well as small and medium enterprises (SMEs), a report by TransUnion Cibil said on Thursday. "Focusing on a few states deprive the lenders of an opportunity to exhibit calibrated loan growth. Currently, some banks tend to have analytical and strategic focus on five or at most 10 states and may not be fully sensitive to industry credit profile divergences," TransUnion Cibil India managing director and chief executive Satish Pillai said. He cited Rajasthan, which has the lowest non-performing assets (NPAs or bad loans) for commercial loans at two per cent, but also the lowest concentration of loans. According to the report, the NPA rate in micro enterprises has been range-bound between 6 and 6.5 per cent, but the SME segment shows a worrying trend in terms of loan qualit...

Govt extends exemptions till December 15; bans Rs 1,000 notes, exchange of old currency The Union Cabinet late on Thursday cleared a proposal to amend the Income Tax (I-T) Act to levy close to 60% deduction on unaccounted deposits in banks above a threshold, said sources. The decision was purportedly prompted by a surge in deposits — about ~20,000 crore, according to some reports — in Jan Dhan accounts since November 8, when the central government announced the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes. The amount deposited in this period is almost 50% of the total deposits in these accounts in the two years since their launch. The move is also aimed at preventing black money holders from circumventing existing I-T Act provisions. Also, earlier in the day, the government, facing severe attacks over difficulties in implementing demonetisation, extended till December 15 the facility of using old Rs 500 notes in public utilities and included more services such as mobile rechar...

An anti-profiteering clause with penal provisions has been proposed under the draft law NEW DELHI: India Inc will have to pass on any benefits derived from the proposed Goods and Services Tax (GST) to consumers in the form of reduced prices or face penal provisions, according to the draft law, which has proposed an anti-profiteering clause. An authority would be created or empowered under GST law to ensure that companies do not pocket gains in lieu of input tax credits or lower rates, according to the draft law circulated to state governments. “The central government may by law constitute an authority, or entrust an existing authority constituted under any law, to examine whether input tax credits availed by any registered taxable person or the reduction in the price on account of any reduction in the tax rate have actually resulted in a commensurate reduction in price of the said goods and or services supplied by him,” the draft says. The authority will be empowered to impose penalti...