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SEBI board to vet National Stock Exchange colocation probe report The regulator has completed the investigation against 20 brokers, who allegedly gained unfair access to NSE's trading facility The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has completed its investigation of 20 brokers in the National Stock Exchange (NSE) colocation (colo) controversy. The regulator in August last year had ordered a joint forensic audit to probe the brokers, who had allegedly gained unfair access to trading data feed between December 2012 and May 2014. According to sources, the investigation report has a detailed analysis of brokers using the colo facility to churn out thousands of trades and make huge profits. “There is a high probability that some brokerages who were using dark fibre connections received preferential treatment from bourse officials,” said a person privy to the development. However, he refused to give further details of the findings. The report is likely to be tabled in ...

 Minister arrives today: India to push on huge trade deficit India's import from China was Rs 61.3 bn and exports stood at a much lesser Rs 10.2 bn, leaving in its wake a massive Rs 51.1 bn trade deficit in 2016-17 Chinese Commerce Minister Zhong Shan reaches New Delhi on Monday for official trade talks. In the backdrop of a possible trade war between the United States and China, India is looking to get China to reduce tariffs on our export, senior government officials suggested. The bilateral engagement, under the aegis of the India-China joint economic forum, will be significant for India since Beijing has decided to discuss India’s ballooning trade deficit, commerce and industry minister Suresh Prabhu said. India’s import from China was Rs 61.3 billion and exports stood at a much lesser Rs 10.2 billion, leaving in its wake a massive Rs 51.1 billion trade deficit in 2016-17. The government has been worried by increasing friction between the US — India’s largest export des...

Businesses with nil tax liability may get to file GST returns bi-annually Businesses having zero tax liability for six consecutive months under GST may soon get relief once the proposal to allow such entities to file returns only twice a year gets the GST Council's nod. According to recent data, as much as 40 per cent of return filers under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime have nil tax liability and will not have to file monthly returns once the new simplified return filing procedure is finalised. The GST Council, headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and comprising his state counterparts, will at its next meeting consider the proposal to simplify the GST return forms. "Taxpayers whose liability is nil for six consecutive months will be required to file six-monthly return," an official told PTI. As per the proposal prepared by the revenue authorities, the return filing date would be spread out. Businesses having annual turnover of up to Rs 1.5 crore wil...

 UIDAI set to introduce face authentication feature from July 1 The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is all set to make face authentication available alongside iris or fingerprint scan as means of verifying Aadhaar users from July 1, 2018.  The UIDAI, which is in-charge of the 12-digit identifier Aadhaar, in January had announced that it will introduce face authentication feature to help those who run into problems in biometric authentication due to old age, hardwork or worn-out fingerprints.  It had said that face authentication will be allowed only in fusion mode meaning it would be permitted along with either fingerprint or iris or OTP to verify the details of Aadhaar holders.  In a presentation to the Supreme Court last week where he emphasised the robustness of the Aadhaar encryption system saying breaking it may take "more than the age of the universe for the fastest computer on earth", UIDAI CEO Ajay Bhushan Pandey also informed that th...

Service tax can't be imposed in J&K, says tribunal of pre-GST levy The case was from the earlier service tax regime, prior to rollout of the current goods and services tax A tribunal has rejected indirect tax authorities’ demand to levy service tax for goods transported to Jammu and Kashmir on the reverse charge mechanism. The case was from the earlier service tax regime, prior to rollout of the current goods and services tax (GST). Experts say such a dispute would not arise in the GST regime. A company supplying petroleum products had got a notice for services given by a goods transport agency in J&K between April 2011 and September 2014. The company contended that service tax, imposed since 1994, excluded the state of J&K; hence, no such levy was possible. To which, the authorities said the tax should have been deducted by the company on the reverse charge mechanism. Generally, the seller of a service was liable to pay tax after deducting it from the service...

Vehicle scrap policy to go for Cabinet's nod in a month: Nitin Gadkari    The proposed vehicle scrap policy for mandatory disposal of more than 20 years old commercial vehicles will go for the Cabinet nod in a month and once brought in, will result in additional flow of Rs 10,000 crore into government coffers, Union minister Nitin Gadkari said.    The much-awaited policy was given 'in-principle' approval at a high-level inter-ministerial meeting at the PMO to pave way for scrapping of 20 years old commercial vehicles (CVs) from April 1, 2020.    "Old commercial vehicles are responsible for 65 per cent of the vehicular pollution. The policy to scrap these has got nod at a Secretary-level meeting at the PMO. Now stakeholders consultation will be done in a fortnight and it will go to the Cabinet in about a month's time," Road Transport, Highways, Shipping, Water Resources and Ganga Rejuvenation Minister Nitin Gadkari told PTI in an interview....

Service tax can't be imposed in J&K, says tribunal of pre-GST levy The case was from the earlier service tax regime, prior to rollout of the current goods and services tax A tribunal has rejected indirect tax authorities’ demand to levy service tax for goods transported to Jammu and Kashmir on the reverse charge mechanism. The case was from the earlier service tax regime, prior to rollout of the current goods and services tax (GST). Experts say such a dispute would not arise in the GST regime. A company supplying petroleum products had got a notice for services given by a goods transport agency in J&K between April 2011 and September 2014. The company contended that service tax, imposed since 1994, excluded the state of J&K; hence, no such levy was possible. To which, the authorities said the tax should have been deducted by the company on the reverse charge mechanism. Generally, the seller of a service was liable to pay tax after deducting it from the service...

Telangana slashes VAT on aviation fuel by 15% In a move likely to increase air traffic at the Hyderabad airport, Telangana industries minister KT Rama Rao on Friday announced a slash in Value Added Tax (VAT) on Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF). The minister said VAT had been cut down to 1% from 16%. He was speaking at an event marking 10 years of the airport’s functioning.The airport already handles 50% more traffic than its designed capacity, according to its CEO SGK Kishore. Kishore also announced plans for the airport’s expansion at the event. He said the capacity of the airport is 12 million per annum while it handled 18 million passengers last year. “We will incentivise the airlines which operate during off-peak hours and operate wide-body aircraft. The issue with Hyderabad airport is that traffic is bunched during the morning and evening hours. The issue is pending with the regulator and if approved, it will help us in utilising the infrastructure better,” said Kishor. He ad...

India must lead in defusing possibilities of a global trade war: Ficci  India should play a proactive role in defusing the emerging possibilities of a global trade war that can derail the positive outlook in the world trade, Ficci said today.  The industry body observed that protectionist measures by the US have raised serious concerns about a global trade war, highlighting the importance of keeping the World Trade Organisation (WTO) process intact and also making the multilateral institution stronger.  Moreover, with the WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo raising alarm on the issue at the two-day mini-ministerial in New Delhi early this week, it is high time countries across the world think beyond retaliatory measures to counter the challenges posed by the targeting of the WTO by the US and unilateral increase in tariffs, Ficci said.  India can play a significant role in guiding this exercise to defuse the emerging possibilities of a global trade war tha...

 MCA files Prosecution against 780 listed Companies for Non-Filing of Financial Statements and Annual Returns The corporate affairs ministry has filed prosecution against 780 listed firms for non- filing financial statements and annual returns, parliament wea told on friday. Chaudhary said there wre only 7,720 active lsted firms out of 1.7 million rgisteed as of december The Business Standard, New Delhi, 24th March2018

CBEC member holds meeting with exporters on GST refunds  At least ten export promotion councils and industry chambers on Friday discussed with the government solutions for expediting the process to clear pending dues to exporters on account of Goods and Services Tax (GST).  In a bid to expedite GST refund clearances to exporters, the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) took up issues like invoice mismatch and procedure to expedite shipments at Integrated Container Depots and asked the councils to share their issues.  “They want everyone to speak to members and know their issues,” said an industry representative who was present at the meeting.  The Centre and states have sanctioned more than Rs 10,000 crore as GST refunds to exporters.  Export promotion councils from engineering, chemical, pharmaceutical and leather sectors, among items took part in the meeting where initiatives under the ‘GST refund fortnight' were discussed.  The CBEC fi...