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Government extends deadline for filing April GSTR-3B by 2 days till May 22 The government has extended the due date for filing GST summary sales returns for April by two days till May 22. An official statement said that certain technical issues are being faced by the taxpayers during the filing of GSTR-3B for April. "In order to resolve the same, emergency maintenance is being carried out on the system. Therefore, in the interest of taxpayers it has been decided to extend the last date for filing of returns in GSTR-3B for the month of April by 2 days till May 22," the statement said. The goods and services tax (GST) mop-up in April -- the first month of current fiscal -- came in at Rs 1.03 lakh crore. From 2018-19 fiscal year that began last month, the government has shifted to a cash basis of accounting where revenues accrued at the completion of a month would be taken on record immediately at the end of the month. Accordingly the Rs 1.03 lakh crore GST collected in ...

RBI slaps Rs 5-cr penalty on South Indian Bank The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed a penalty of Rs 5 crore on South Indian Bank (SIB) for non-compliance with its directions on Income Recognition and Asset Classification (IRAC) norms, Know Your Customer (KYC) norms and treasury function.The central bank, in a statement, said the penalty has also been imposed on the Thrissur-headquartered private sector bank for deficiencies in its compliance function and compliance culture.The penalty was imposed by the RBI by an order dated May 14, 2018. “This penalty has been imposed in exercise of powers vested in RBI under the provisions of …the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, taking into account failure of the bank to adhere to the aforesaid directions issued by RBI.“This action is based on deficiencies in regulatory compliance, and is not intended to pronounce upon the validity of any transaction or agreement entered into by the bank with its customers,” the RBI said in a statement.In ...

IT dept cautions TDS deductors against quarterly filing default The Income Tax department on Friday cautioned tax deducted at source (TDS) deductors to adhere to the stipulated deadline of 31 May for filing their statements failing which they would invite a penalty of Rs200 for each day of default. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), that frames policy for the department, issued an advertisement in leading national dailies in this context. It said: Attention tax deductors. The last date to file tax deducted at source (TDS) statement for the January-March quarter is 31 May. “For delay in filing TDS statement, you pay a fine of Rs200 for each day of default,” the advertisement cautioned. It added that the deductors who have deducted the tax and have not deposited the same by the due date must do so “immediately” and that all deductors must register themselves at the official website of the I-T department meant for this job—https://www.tdscpc.gov.in.The I-T department ad als...

RBI Modifies Norms on IFSC Banking Units Modifying the norms for setting up IFSC banking units, RBI said today that the parent bank will be required to provide and maintain at all times a minimum capital of Dollar 20 million to its IBU. In April 2015, the Reserve Bank had formulated a scheme for setting up of International Financial Services Centres (IFSC) Banking Units (IBUs) by banks in IFSCs. RBI said modification has been made based on suggestions from stakeholders to consider minimum prescribed regulatory capital at the parent level rather than at the IBU level. — PTI The Economic Times,New Delhi,18th May 2018

Centre may ask RBI to ease prompt corrective action framework Government to ensure adequate working capital and credit for MSMEs The Centre may ask the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to consider revising the prompt corrective action (PCA) framework so that a complete restriction on fresh lending does not affect credit flow to business, particularly small and medium enterprises. Piyush Goyal, who recently assumed charge as finance minister till Arun Jaitley recovers from an operation, held a review meeting with the top management of 11 public sector banks under the PCA framework on Thursday. Officials of the department of financial services also held a one-on-one meeting with the executives of the banks to take stock of their plans. “The RBI has put a complete lending ban on Dena Bank. This may impact the credit to the small industries that are mainly dependent upon banks facing PCA. The government may ask the RBI to revise the PCA framework so that such specific lending restri...

  Sebi Extends FPI Monitoring Deadline Again Markets regulator Sebi today further extended the deadline till June 1 for putting in place a new system for depositories to monitor the foreign investment limits in listed Indian companies. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has extended the last day for the second time after taking into consideration representations from various quarters. Earlier, the deadline was May 18 and prior to that it was May 1. In a circular, the regulator said, “the new system for monitoring foreign investment limits in listed Indian companies shall be made operational on June 1, 2018”. — PTI The Economic Times,New Delhi,18th May 2018

  RBI Brings Out Final Norms on Basel III Investment The Reserve Bank of India on Thursday announced final guidelines on net stable funding ratio (NSFR) according to the Basel III framework. Basel III has two liquidity frameworks one called liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) dealing with short term liquid investments by banks and another called NSFR which promotes resilience over a longer-term time horizon by requiring banks to fund their activities with more stable sources of funding on an ongoing basis. In a notification RBI said that banks must publish their NSFRs according to a common template, according to their financial results. — Our Bureau The Economic Times,New Delhi,18th May 2018

  Legal Shield in the Works for Foreign Investments Aimed at promoting & protecting investments; will spell out rights and obligations of investors   India is working on a framework that will provide legal backing for a stable and predictable foreign investment regime in the country as it looks to attract more capital to help create jobs and accelerate economic growth. The law that is in the works in the finance ministry is aimed at promoting and protecting foreign investments. It will spell out the rights and obligations of foreign investors and remove the grey areas that exist in the current system. While Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) deals with cross-border capital controls, a legal framework to guide foreign investment is still not in place. Bilateral Investment Promotion Agreements (BIPAs) have provisions but do not enjoy the force of law. “There is no law governing the foreign investment framework... this would provide the legal backing to these ...

Cabinet Nod for Out-of-court Dispute Resolution for PSUs The Cabinet approved a mechanism within the government for speedy resolution of commercial disputes of central public sector enterprises without cases going to courts. A new two-tier mechanism will be put in place of the existing Permanent Machinery of Arbitration mechanism to resolve such commercial disputes. At the first level (tier), a committee comprising of secretaries of the relevant administrative and secretary department of legal affairs will look at the dispute.At the second level (tier), in case the dispute remains unresolved, it will be referred to the Cabinet Secretary, whose decision will be final and binding on all concerned. For the prompt disposal of disputes, a time schedule of 3 months at the first level has been prescribed. The government said it would reduce “the number of litigations regarding commercial disputes in Court of Law and also avoid wastage of public money. Among other decisions, the Cabi...

India May Not Reach Clean Energy Target’ Safeguard duty doubts, weak distributor financials: Survey India could fall short of its target of adding 175 GW of clean energy by the end of 2022 due to uncertainty around safeguard duty and weak financial position of power distributors, a survey by renewable energy consultancy firm Bridge to India shows. The survey, which covered top executives of over 40 Indian and international companies, also points to prospects for domestic solar manufacturing remaining bleak, which could cap growth of India’s total integrated module manufacturing capacity at below 3 GW by 2022. “India is expected to add total solar and wind capacity of 66 GW and 52 GW by March 2022, 66% and 87%, respectively, of the targets set by the government,” said the RE CEO Survey 2018, which was shared exclusively with ET.Clean energy players including Hero Future Energies, Engie, Aditya Birla Group, Sembcorp, Azure Power, Trina Solar, Schneider Electric and Larsen &...

Over 1,600 merger cases pile up before NCLT as insolvency takes precedence Sources say the time taken by the tribunal to approve mergers is more than what high courts used to take With the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) gaining precedence before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), merger and amalgamation cases are beginning to pile up before the quasi-judicial body set up to fast-track issues related to domestic corporates. Industry players say several companies, particularly small- and medium-sized, which had requisitioned for approval of mergers, have been facing challenges as the Bench is preoccupied with IBC cases. Some of these firms are said to have approached market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India and Ministry of Corporate Affairs seeking an intervention. Earlier, companies had to approach high courts to seek approval for any merger or scheme of arrangement. Now, the NCLT is the judicial body for approving such schemes. The rationale ...