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The two day summit to finalise the goods and services tax (GST) concluded in Srinagar on Friday with most of the job done, but leaving a lot unfinished. The rates of six categories of products, including bidis, gold, agriculture implements, textile, footwear and biodiesel, will now be taken up at another round of meeting on June 3 in New Delhi. While the GST Council, chaired by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, brain stormed on thousands of items ranging from consumer goods to luxury cars, steel and coal to betting and gambling, inaplush hotel against the backdrop of Dal Lake, the action shifted to historical ´Chashme Shahi´,aroyal spring at one of the Mughal Gardens, for announcing the outcome of the summit on Friday. The choice of venue becameatalking point as former prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi are believed to have often got water to Delhi from the Chashme Shahi spring.But the summit was all about business, even as some government officials were planning...

The Income Tax department on Thursday published names of five entities owing over Rs 10 crore in taxes, as part of its strategy to name and shame big defaulters. In an advertisement issued in leading national dailies, the department brought out the list of defaulters of income tax and corporate tax even as it advised them to pay their "tax arrears immediately". The department has begun this exercise of naming and shaming I-T defaulters since the last few years and had named at least 96 such entities which have huge tax liabilities on them and have either gone non-traceable or have shown no assets for recovery. The latest list has names of five such alleged defaulters, based in Delhi.A senior official said the public list, with details of the individual or entity like their PAN card number (in certain cases), last known address and assessment range and defaulted amount of tax, is also aimed to make aware the people at large so that they can inform the department in case ...

The “2011 vintage“ manufacturing policy is being modified to align it with initiatives like 'Make in India' as also Industrial Revolution 4.0, which refers to high end automation, industry minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said. The national manufacturing policy (NMP) “is of 2011 vintage“, which envisaged that manufacturing should contribute 25 per cent in India's GDP by 2022, she said.Currently, the sector contributes about 16-17 per cent to India's economic growth. The NMP, formulated in 2011, provides certain tax and other benefits to boost the sector's growth besides creating 100 million additional jobs.“Yes, we have initiated the process (to revamp the policy). I have instructed the secretary in the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) to get into the details of that,“ the commerce and industry minister told PTI in an interview. The Economic Times New Delhi, 19th May 2017

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday relaxed the branch authorization policy, bringing all branches and fixed business correspondent outlets under the definition of banking outlets and removing restrictions on opening branches in Tier 1 centres. According to the revised policy, RBI has defined “a banking outlet” for a scheduled commercial, a payments bank or a small finance bank as a fixed point service delivery unit, manned by either the bank’s staff or its business correspondent, where services of acceptance of deposits, encashment of cheques, cash withdrawal or lending of money are provided for a minimum of 4 hours per day for at least five days a week”. Those outlets which do not meet this criteria will be called “part-time banking outlet.” While the policy has removed restrictions on opening banking outlets in Tier 1 to Tier 6 centres without taking RBI’s permission in each case, the regulator has mandated that banks open 25% of these outlets in unbanked rural centres (...

The Narendra Modi government plans to enact a law under which any property owned by fugitive economic offenders involving amounts in excess of Rs 100 crore can be confiscated and vested with the government for expeditious disposal. The law is expected to deter economic offenders from fleeing the country like Vijay Mallya did.The draft Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill 2017 has been put in the public domain by the finance ministry, which is seeking public feedback until 3 June. The Central Bureau of Investigation has been investigating a case against Mallya and the companies he controlled over allegations of money laundering since early last year and secured a non-bailable warrant against the businessman in a case related to money laundering and wilful default of loans. Mallya, who fled to UK in March 2016, was briefly arrested by the Scotland Yard in London on 18 April on India’s request for his extradition on fraud charges. He was released on bail a few hours later after he appeare...

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council, at its meeting in Srinagar on Thursday, approved rates for about 1,200 items, boosting the chances of a July 1 roll-out and also sending a signal to the industry to be ready for the indirect tax regime. Inabid to ensure that the GST was noninflationary, the Council, chaired by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and comprising representatives of other states, kept more than 81 per cent of the items in the tax bracket of 18 per cent orlower. “We have approved rates for 1,211 items… Six categories are yet to be finalised.This will be taken up tomorrow (Friday), along with services,” said Jaitley. The complete list of the rates for these items was released late at night.Friday will be the second day of the 14th meeting of the Council.On Thursday, it also approved eight of nine GST rules, sending one to the legal committee for vetting. Taking into consideration food consumed by the poor, food grain and milk have been exempted from taxes.Cereals...

Markets regulator Sebi today fixed position limit for brokers and institutional investors, operating in international financial services centres (IFSCs), for cross-currency futures and options contracts. Position limit refers to the highest number of options or futures contracts an investor is allowed to hold on one underlying security.   In a circular, Sebi said that "gross open position across all contracts not to exceed 15 per cent of the total open interest or USD 1 billion equivalent, whichever is higher", for trading members, institutional investors and eligible foreign investors.   For other clients, open position across all contracts should not exceed 6 per cent of the total open interest or USD 100 million equivalent, whichever is higher.   The stock exchanges would impose penalties for violation of position limits by these market participants.Trading in currency derivatives has been allowed on stock exchanges operating in IFSC. ...

The Union cabinet on Wednesday decided to extend the maternity benefit scheme across India, under which pregnant and lactating mothers will get ?6,000 for their first born child. The scheme, which is presently under implementation on a pilot basis in 52 districts, provides financial assistance to pregnant women for the first two live births. It was launched by the women and child development (WCD) ministry in 2010.   The programme, which does not cover women working in state or central government, aims to ensure that beneficiaries are not deprived of nutrition before and after pregnancy, and also get partially compensated for the wage loss, in case they are working.   “Out of this, ?5,000 will be given by the WCD ministry and ?1,000 by the state,” Union power minister Piyush Goyal said at the cabinet briefing.   The scheme was originally called Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana. The programme will cost the government ?12,661 crore for f...

GST marks emergence of a new federal India: J&K FM Jammu and Kashmir finance minister Haseeb Drabu said the shift to goods and services tax marks the emergence of a new federal India and that the state will convene a special session in June to pass the law on its own terms to preserve its special status.   The crucial GST Council meeting -to be chaired by finance minister Arun Jaitley on May 18-19 -will decide on tax rates before GST rollout from July 1.The tax brackets are 5, 12, 18 or 28%.   Referring to GST as the most signifi cant tax reform since In dependence, he said sta te revenue is likely to go up about Rs 2,000 crore.   “We might be behind the schedule, but we will ta ke it to assembly and get the GST law passed, most probably in the last week of June. We will try our best to work out a system which is in consonance with the regime and also protect domestic inves tors,“ Drabu told ET.    Drabu said the decisions...

A new bench of the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) might be established and begin operation this year.The only bench at present is in Mumbai. The idea was proposed in the Union Budget last year, of amending the Sebi Act of 1992 to enable more benches, to expedite decisions on cases pertaining to the securities markets.   The proposed bench is expected to deal with matters pertaining to companies based out of the northern states.There will be a judicial member and technical member, beside support staff.The bench in Mumbai has a presiding officer and two other members.   Apart from appeals against decisions of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), the appellate body has begun hearing appeals against orders issued by the insurance and pensions regulators, from 2015.As a result, the number of cases are likely to increase in the coming months.   “On an average, the tribunal takes about a year to dispose of cases.A new bench will help,” s...

Input credit for old stock might go up; Council meets today to finalise rates In a relief for business, the government is considering easier provisions related to the Electronic Way (E-Way) Bill and input tax credit for old stock under the coming goods and services tax (GST) regime.   The GST Council will meet in Srinagar on Thursday and Friday, its 14th meeting, to discuss GST rates and finalise the rules.   On strong corporate demand, the government is considering whether to enhance the threshold limit under the under-draft E-Way Bill, beside removing intrastate supplies from its ambit. Under the draft rules, moving of goods worth more than Rs 50,000 under GST will require prior online registration of the consignment and securing of an e-way bill. The aim is to check tax evasion, by allowing officials to inspect consignments anytime during the transit.   The draft E-Way Bill, however, will not be discussed at Srinagar. “It is unlikely to...