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There will not be many changes in the goods and services tax (GST) rates compared to what’s prevailing in the current indirect taxation regime, according to officials. They also said the rates would not be inflationary because foodgrains are likely to be exempted.  The next big thing in the GST regime will be rules and the item-wise rate structure. “We don’t want to make many changes in rates for goods under the new GST rate structure,” an official said. Another official said there would be a smooth landing for industry with respect to the rates. He said the fitment of items in the GST rates would be done to ensure that the consumer price index (CPI) did not spike. “We will do calculations to see to it that rates don’t lead to consumer price inflation,” he said. The GST Council, an official said, would decide if cesses over the peak rate of 28 per cent should continue after five years. All other cesses will be subsumed in the GST.  The official said the Centre would lose s...

RBI/2016-17/249 DGBA.GAD.No. 2376/42.01.029/2016-17 March 16, 2017 All Agency Banks Dear Sir / Madam, Reporting and Accounting of Central Government Transactions of March 2017 Please refer to  Circular DGBA.GAD.No.2968/42.01.029/2015-16 dated March 17, 2016  advising the procedure to be followed for reporting and accounting of Central Government transactions (including CBDT, CBEC, departmentalised ministries and non-Civil Ministries) at the Receiving/Nodal/Focal Point branches of your bank for the Financial Year 2015-16. 2. The Government of India has decided that the date of closure of residual transactions for the month of March 2017 be fixed as April 10, 2017 for the Financial Year 2016-17. In view of the ensuing closing of government accounts for the financial year 2016-17, receiving branches including those not situated locally, should adopt special arrangements such as courier service etc., for passing on challans/scrolls etc., to the Nodal/Focal Point bran...

You would soon be able to use a major chunk of your retirement money to buy a house. The government will amend Employees Provident Fund (EPF) scheme to enable members of EPFO to withdraw up to 90 per cent of their fund for making down payments while buying homes. The provisions to withdraw money from EPF account always existed but there was a restriction on the amount a person could withdraw. A subscriber can get a loan worth 24 times the wages (basic salary plus dearness allowance). Financial advisors say that an individual should dip into the retirement corpus only if it's a first house, and the property is not bought for investment. Breaking retirement corpus should be the last resort for any one. An individual should do it only if he can contribute that money back into the PF in due course of time, say, by increasing contribution. Therefore, only look at the PF money if you have at least 15 years of service left, that is, if you are not over 43-45 years old. Instead of usin...

The Narendra Modi government is planning the next big round of foreign direct investment (FDI) liberalisation, which could have significant implications for several sectors, including print media and retail. Economic ministries are learnt to be working onaproposal to step up the FDI limit in print news media to 49 per cent, from the current cap of 26 per cent. Also, there are plans to allow singlebrand retail companies with up to 100 per cent FDI to go through the automatic clearance route. Adraft Cabinet note on phasing out the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) is already in the making and could be ready for approval by the Union Cabinet by the end of April. FDI rules could be eased subsequently in some of the sectors. “Successive governments have done all they can in raising FDI limits across sectors. Further liberalisation can now happen through easing the rules governing approval routes,” saidasenior government official, aware of the interministerial deliberations. Prin...

Amendment empowers the Custodian of Enemy Property to sell such assets which wasn't permitted under the old Enemy Property Act, 1968 The passing of the Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Bill 2016 by both houses of parliament paves the way for the government to monetise assets worth more than `1lakh crore, which will come as a nice cushion at a time when the government is looking at ways to control the fiscal deficit. The amendment now empowers the Custodian of Enemy Property (CEP) to sell such assets, which wasn't permitted under the old Enemy Property Act, 1968. The official, appointed under the 1968 Act, was entrusted with the custody, management and administration of assets deemed enemy property after the India-China war of 1962 and the wars with Pakistan in 1965 and 1971. The authority, under the home ministry, can now sell these properties. Data provided in the report of the parliament select committee on the bill released in May last year reveals that there ...

All five Bills cleared, paving way for new indirect tax regime rollout from July 1 DILASHA SETH &INDIVJAL DHASMANA New Delhi, 16 March The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council on Thursday clearedaproposal to cap the cess on luxury cars and aerated drinks at 15 per cent over the peak rate of 28 per cent. The ceiling for the cess on “sin” goods would be much higher. An official said for paan masala, the cap would be 135 per cent. On tobacco and cigarettes, the cap would be 290 per cent, or Rs.4,170 per 1,000 cigarette sticks. Acall is yet to be taken on whether or notacess would be imposed on bidis. The cess on coal and lignite (environment cess) would have an upper limit at Rs.400 per tonne, the official said. However, the actual cess would be much lower —equal to the current indirect taxes on these goods. The cap would give headroom to the authorities to increase the cess in the future. After the meeting of the Council in New Delhi on Thursday, Union Finance Minister Arun...

The consumer affairs ministry has drafted a fresh consumer protection Bill after incorporating suggestions of a parliamentary standing committee and hopes to introduce it in the ongoing session. The ministry has accepted some of the recommendations of the panel and finalised the draft bill,which has been vetted by a group of ministry, headed by Arun jaitely. Business Standard New Delhi,16th March 2017

The government has issued show-cause notices to 1,018 companies for non-compliance of CSR norms even as a parliamentary panel has suggested putting in place a “stricter monitoring and compliance mechanism“.Under the Companies Act, 2013, a certain class of profitable entities is required to shell out at least 2% of their three-year annual average net profit towards corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities in a particular fiscal. As many as 84 companies out of 226 PSUs and 411out of 7,108 private entities have reported no expenditure on CSR in 2014-15. Moreover, companies that have reported CSR have not been spending it as per the guidelines. The Economic Times New Delhi,16th March 2017

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council’s approval to key Bills on Thursday will play a crucial role for their passage in the current session of Parliament. This would also set the stage for tabling of the state GST (SGST) Bills in the respective state Assemblies, but the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Assembly will need to pass even central GST (CGST) and integrated GST (IGST) Bills as well. According to the Constitution, constitutional amendments do not directly apply to J&K, as it gets a special treatment. Government sources pointed out that CGST and IGST will appear in different forms in the case of J&K. Service tax for instance, which is a central levy, does not apply to J&K. But central excise is applicable. J&K Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu told Business Standard that no Act of the government of India can directly apply to J&K. Hence, it will have to follow a process to implement GST. “Unlike other states, which will need to get just SGST passed by thei...

The securties and exchange board of India (Sebi) on wednesday issued guidelines for mutual fund(MF) advertisements,allowing use of celebrities to increase awareness of the Rs. 17.9 lakh crore industry."Celebrity endoreement shall be allowed only at industry level for the purpose  of incresing awareness of MFs as a financial product category.such endoresement should not promote a scheme of a particular fund or be used as a branding exercise of a MF house,"the regulator said in a circular.Prior Sebi approval Will be needed for MF advertisements featuring celebrities,The circular said. The regulator also tweaked the performance disclosure requirement for MF advertisements. Business Standard New Delhi,16th March 2017

The Centre on Wednesday unveiled a code under which builders can be made liable for the safety of the structure. The code has been prepared by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) under the consumer affairs ministry. The code is voluntary but states can incorporate them in their building bylaws. "The code contains provisions on use of new/innovative materials and technologies and on prefabricated construction techniques that can give fillip to speedier construction to meet the objectives of housing for all by 2022," consumer affairs minister Ram Vilas Paswan said after releasing the code on the occasion of the World Consumer Rights Day in New Delhi. That apart, Paswan said the government has drafted a fresh consumer protection Bill after incorporating suggestions of a parliamentary standing committee and hopes to introduce it in the ongoing session. In August 2015, the Centre had introduced the consumer protection Bill in Lok Sabha to repeal the 30-year consumer pro...