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The rupee may retrace up to 3% of its lost ground by the end of the calendar year, helped by the five-pronged strategy that the government announced to prop up the free-falling local currency, market participants expect.  A majority of the respondents in an ET snap poll predicted the local unit to see some signs of gains this week following the announcement. But that could be short-lived, as they expect the rupee to swing both sides in a wide range through the year amid continuing global uncertainties, and even hit a new low.  A meltdown in the Turkish lira and Argentine peso is clouding the prospects of emerging market investment, with investors seeking safe-haven assets. Foreign investors pulled out more than ?49,000 crore since January from India’s equity and bond markets, even as the rupee lost about 11% to the dollar to be one of the worst performing emerging market currencies this year.  Overseas Investors Wait for Details,  The local currency hit a record ...

The government has started the process of de-activating the identification numbers of nearly 2.1 million directors of companies as they failed to comply with KYC norms, according to a senior official.  The Director Identification Numbers (DINs) -- a unique number allotted to individuals who are eligible to have directorship on the boards of registered companies -- are being de-activated. They will be re-activated after a fee payment of Rs 5,000 along with the requisite form and the individuals concerned might also face action. The latest move by the Corporate Affairs Ministry also comes at a time when the government has intensified the crack down on shell companies, which are suspected to be conduits for illicit fund flows.  In June, the ministry decided to carry out KYC (Know Your Customer) process for all directors, including those who have been disqualified. The last date for complying with the new norms by way of submitting form 'DIR-3 KYC' without fee ended on Septemb...

Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has directed the NSE to keep four senior officials, served show-cause notices (SCN) in the co-location case, out of action. Sources said these four key managerial personnel (KMP) will have to remain out of the bourse’s “sensitive” and “confidential” matters until the probe is complete. The move is to ensure a fair trial in the colo case, which is nearing conclusion.  “These KMP have also been directed to recuse themselves from key decisions of the NSE. Further, they have been told not to participate in any of the core activities,” said a regulatory official. Meanwhile, the NSE has filed another consent application with Sebi based on fresh SCNs served on July 4. Notices have also been served to about 20 individuals. These include Ravi Varanasi, the exchange’s chief of business development, and Suprabhat Lala, senior vice-president (regulatory and investor services cell).  Sebi had, in March, returned the NSE’s previous consent...

India’s antiprofiteering officials will look into complaints alleging that many consumer goods companies have not fully passed on a recent reduction in the goods and services tax on their products to consumers.  According to the complaints, some makers of refrigerators, televisions, washing machines and water heaters haven’t reduced the prices of their products to reflect the cut in GST to 18% from 28%. However, white goods companies said the entire benefit has been passed on. “We have received many complaints... These will be looked into as per the process,” said a senior official with the National Anti-Profiteering Authority, the government entity that ensures traders don’t realise unfair gains by charging high prices from consumers in the name of GST.  The GST Council, which administers the tax, cut the rate for a host of white goods to 18% from 28% on July 21. Companies were directed to affix stickers with the new prices on old stock to ensure that the tax cuts are pas...

Amidst Centre may be gradually adding gold equivalent to the sale of sovereign gold bonds, says an analyst  Rajesh Bhayani. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is becoming consistent in adding gold to its foreign currency reserves.  In July the central bank added 6.8 tonnes, the highest monthly accretion after 2009. This came at a time when the central bank spent more than $25 billion defending the falling rupee. After buying 200 tonnes from the International Monetary Fund in 2009, the RBI made its first token purchase in December last year with 300 kg and then added more than 2.2 tonnes in March this year.  In 2018-19, in four months, it added 12.7 tonnes, of which 11.2 tonnes was purchased in June and July, according to the data released by the World Gold Council.  Analysts tracking the international gold reserves say the RBI’s action shows it is buying gold and adding it to its reserves without disturbing markets. The need was felt because Russia, Turkey and even ...

A seemingly missing provision from the fine print in the amendments to the central GST law approved by Parliament in the monsoon session has led to a furore in the industry,  A seemingly missing provision from the fine print in the amendments to the central goods and services tax (GST) law approved by parliament in the monsoon session has led to a furore in the industry.  Tax practitioners say the latest changes deny carryforward of credit for cesses, as intended, but credit for service tax has also been done away with. A government official, however, played down the concerns saying the interpretation being drawn is erroneous. He told ET that the government will issue a clarification if it is so needed as the intent of the law is very clear.  The issue, experts say, stems from the retrospective amendment to Section 140 (1) of the CGST Act 2017 that empowers assessees to transition the closing balance of cenvat (central value added tax) credit in the erstwhile indirect...

DIVERSIFYING ITS ASSETS Investing in gold is a prudent treasury move by the central bank at a time of rising yields.  The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has bought gold for the first time in nearly a decade, signalling that the metal could be in demand as a store of value when returns and capital values of fixed-income bonds are declining in a rising rate environment. The RBI added 8.46 metric tonnes of gold to its stock of holdings during the financial year 2017-18 that ended June 30, taking the level of gold reserves to 566.23 metric tonnes, according to its latest annual report.  It last bought 200 metric tonnes from the IMF to boost its reserves in November 2009.  Over the past nine years, the gold stock in RBI reserves was stable at 17.9 million troy ounce. But RBI has started adding to its stock since December 2017, data submitted to the IMF indicate. Stock of gold, as of June 30, amounted to 18.20 million troy ounce or equivalent to 566.23 metric tonnes, up from...

Officials said the tax department refunds Rs 750 bn in the first four months of the current financial year, half of what was refunded in the entire FY18. The government might be talking about the surge in filing of Income Tax returns till the August 31 deadline, but direct tax collection data available so far are unlikely to bring a loud cheer.  The numbers released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) on Friday revealed that direct tax collections grew by a meagre 6.6 per cent during April-July of the current financial year against the Budget target of 14.4 per cent for 2018-19. The growth was in comparison with the corresponding period of the last three years. Corporation taxes, in particular, disappointed the exchequer. These collections grew at just 0.57 per cent, the lowest in the first four months in at least seven years. Corporation taxes are budgeted to yield 10.15 per cent more revenues to the coffers at Rs 6,210 billion in FY2019 against Rs 5,637.45 billion in ...

This is the first time that the central bank is discussing its possible use in India.  RBI has constituted an inter-departmental group to explore the feasibility of introducing a rupee-backed digital currency to battle rising costs of managing paper currency. This is RBI’s first take on the possible use of digital currency.  “In India, an inter-departmental group has been constituted by RBI to study and provide guidance on the desirability and feasibility to introduce a central bank digital currency,” the RBI report stated.  “(Globally), the rising costs of managing fiat paper/metallic money, have led central banks …to explore the option of introducing fiat digital currencies”. For FY18, total cost of printing paper notes in India was Rs 636 crore, according to RTI response to India Today. It cited rapid changes in the payments industry and emergence of private digital tokens as the possible factors.  Digital currency, backed by an asset such as gold or fiat is k...

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said that it would review guidelines on the marginal cost of funds based lending rate (MCLR), potentially preparing to do away with the system for lending rate calculation less than three years after it was introduced.  In its 2017-18 annual report, RBI said it would review the MCLR guidelines as well subsidiarisation of foreign banks “for the purpose of fostering competition and re-orienting the banking structure in India.” It did not give more details. Bankers said a review was imminent because the MCLR system had not reflected the changes in rates. “World over, the bank rates have moved to an external benchmark which leads to uniform pricing. Currently banks in India calculate based on their internal benchmark which can be disputed and leads to a difference in rates between banks. This is likely to be changed,” said PK Gupta, managing director at SBI. The new MCLR regime was implemented in the fiscal year starting April 2016 and is close...

The committee has criticised RBI’s revised definition for recognising NPAs that saw a spike in the bad loans on the books of banks and said this could hit economic growth.  A committee of lawmakers thinks the Reserve Bank of India’s policies have accentuated the problem of non-performing assets of state-owned banks, and reduced amount at their disposal to lend; that banks do not have what it takes to fund long-gestation projects; and that it is important to remove the environment of fear in which bankers operate today, worrying that even a legitimate loan approval could engender an investigation. According to a senior lawmaker who spoke on condition of anonymity, the committee is likely to recommend in its report that India’s central bank relax some of these rules, thereby increasing the amount at the disposal of some state-owned banks to lend by around Rs5 lakh crore, and earning them additional interest income of around Rs45,000 crore.   Specifically, the committee ...