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That's more than the average length of a Masters thesis in economics and was before the adoption of inflation targeting in 2016 The Reserve Bank of India has come a long way from the days when monetary policy statements would average 13,000 words.  That’s more than the average length of a Masters thesis in economics and was before the adoption of inflation targeting in 2016. Since then, the central bank has become briefer and less complex in its policy communication, according to a recent paper published by the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research in Mumbai.  RBI statements have averaged 3,084 words in the post-inflation targeting regime, still pretty high if compared to the Federal Reserve’s average of 500 words, the paper’s authors, Aakriti Mathur and Rajeswari Sengupta, say. The readability of the RBI’s statements —based on the number of one syllable words in the text — has also improved. The researchers matched the policy communication against financial ma...

The report said that the relatively high level of cash in circulation offers scope for a higher level of digitisation of payments The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday released a report on Benchmarking India’s Payments Systems, which provides a comparative position of the payments ecosystem in India relative to comparable payments systems and usage trends in other major economies.  The study found that India has a strong regulatory system and robust large value and retail payments structure, which have contributed to the rapid growth in the volume of transactions. There has been substantial growth in e-payments by the Centre and in digital infrastructure, in terms of mobile networks. The report, however, notes that India is required to take further efforts to bring down the volume of paper clearing and increase acceptance infrastructure to enhance digital payments. This echoes the targets of the RBI’s Payments Vision Report 2021 and recommendations of the Nandan Nilekani...

Likely to replace ordinance on ease of doing business, corporate governance The government has begun work to bring in legislation to replace an ordinance that it had promulgated to improve corporate governance, ease of doing business and reduce the caseload on company law tribunals.  It will reintroduce the Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2019 in the upcoming budget session of Parliament starting June 17, said a senior official at the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. The Bill will replace the ordinance re-promulgated in February.  The Bill seeks to help improve ease of doing business and reduce the caseload on the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). The ordinance, which first came into force in November last year, was re-promulgated in February after the replacement Bill was not ratified by the upper house of Parliament in the winter session because of time constraints. Bills replacing ordinances need to be placed before Parliament within six weeks of the reassembly of Parli...

Till about a month ago, the central bank was ranked 11th, but in March it added 3.7 tonnes of gold to its forex reserves and dislodged the Netherlands from the 10th spot The Reserve Bank of India purchased 52.3 tonnes gold in FY19 to augment its foreign exchange reserves, according to the latest data released on Tuesday by the World Gold Council. With this, it has entered league of world's top-10 gold holding central banks. RBI currently holds 612.6 tonnes of the metal as part of its foreign exchange reserves. Till about a month ago, the central bank was ranked 11th, but in March it added 3.7 tonnes of gold to its forex reserves and dislodged the Netherlands from the 10th spot.  The World Gold Council derives data on gold reserves from International Financial Statistics under International Monetary Fund. All signatory central banks have to provide monthly updates to the IMF on their gold purchases forming part of their foreign exchange reserves. The latest data shows the RBI’...

GST returns and accounts of firms to be audited for the first time; June 30 last date to file returns India Inc. is gearing up to face the first test of their goods and services tax filings, with the authorities looking to initiate audits by picking up returns for risk-based assessment from July.  “There is a direction that the audits should begin in July,” a government official said.  The audit is significant because this is the first time that GST returns and the accounts of companies will be scrutinised for compliance levels and the positions they had taken — whether they had interpreted tax provisions correctly and paid tax — after GST was introduced in July 2017. However, tax experts have called for the authorities to adopt a moderate approach during the reviews. Companies are required to file two returns by December 31, following the financial year ended March, although for FY18, the deadline was extended to June 30, 2019.  The returns are the GSTR9, or the an...

The NBFC sector wants securitisation guidelines to be amended to do away with the prescribed minimum holding period and minimum retention requirement. NBFCs are demanding relaxation of securitisation norms to ease funding woes and to defer the rules on working capital loans which they say are compounding their problems inflicted by the credit squeeze.  The NBFC sector wants securitisation guidelines to be amended to do away with the prescribed minimum holding period and minimum retention requirement. The sector wants minimum holding period for  loans with maturity of 2-5 years be reduced from 6 months to 3 months. On December 5, RBI issued a circular asking for compulsory bifurcation of the working capital for borrowers enjoying an aggregate  fund-based working capital finance of Rs 150 crore and above from the banks. In a letter to RBI governor, the NBFC sector has asked for a year delay in implementation of the new working capital norms  keeping in mind the cri...

The retail price inflation rose to a six-month high of 2.92 per cent in April, pushed up by costlier food items The beginning of the financial year 2019-20 saw a bit of rising inflationary pressures, but the rate of price rise was still below the average of the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) mandate of 2-6 per cent. Experts are divided whether the monetary policy committee (MPC) of the RBI will cut the policy rate in June.  The retail price inflation rose to a six-month high of 2.92 per cent in April, pushed up by costlier food items. However, food inflation was still 1.1 per cent in the month against 0.3 per cent in the previous month.  It was in March that food inflation broke the five-month trend of deflation. This may augur well for farmers who faced rural distress. Inflation in urban areas rose to 4.64 per cent in April from 3.47 per cent in the previous month, which may not go down well with the middle class, if the trend persists.  Much of the inflation in...

Goods and services tax (GST) collection touched a record high in April, exceeding Rs 1 trillion for the third time in four months. The mop-up was 10 per  cent higher over the previous year.  Gross collection for the month was Rs 1.13 trillion, said the finance ministry. Despite the recent rate rationalisation in December, a rise in collection  was reported.  Of the total collected, the CGST (central GST) contributed Rs 21,163 crore, the SGST (state GST) Rs 28,801 crore, the IGST (integrated GST) Rs 54,733 crore  (including Rs 23,289 crore on import) and cess Rs 9,168 crore (including Rs 1,053 crore on import). After settlement of the IGST and the balance IGST in a 50:50 ratio between the Centre and states on a provisional basis, the CGST stood at Rs 47,533 crore  and SGST at Rs 50,776 crore. The CGST target in the Union Budget for 2019-20 is Rs 6.1 trillion.  “The April collection indicates the tax base is increasing gradually, with GST getting sta...

Event Date Act Applicable Form Obligation 07/05/2019 Income Tax Challan No. ITNS-281 Payment of TDS Deducted in April 11/05/2019 Goods and Service Tax GSTR-1 Outward supplies of taxable goods and/or services for the Month of April 2019 turnover exceeding 1.5 Cr.) Monthly Return. 13/05/2019 Goods and Service Tax GSTR-6 Return by Input Service Distributor 15/05/2019 Providend Fund Electronic Challan cum Return (ECR) E-Payment of PF for Apr 15/05/2019 ESI ESI Challan Payment of ESI of Apr 15/05/2019 Income Tax Return No. 27EQ TCS Return of all collectors for March Quarter 15/05/2019 Income Tax Form No.27C (TCS) Exemption from TCS 15/05/2019 Income Tax Form No. 16 B Due date for issue of TDS Certificate for tax deducted under Section 194-IA in the month of March, 2019 20/05/2019 Goods and Service Tax GSTR-3B GSTR return for the month of April 2019 30/05/2019 Income Tax Form - 49C Statement b...

Data confidentiality part of pact The Income Tax Department will now share information — such as reported turnover and gross income declared — with the Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) to check tax evasion.  The I-T Department and GSTN will enter an agreement on the modalities of information sharing. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has said the agreement will include provisions for confidentiality, a mechanism for safe preservation of data and timelines for furnishing information. CBDT has left the onus of data-sharing on the principal director general of income tax (systems) or director general of income tax (systems). “Spontaneous exchange of data (is in the works), the modalities of which shall be decided by the concerned specified authorities,” an order issued by the CBDT said.  Details captured in returns, status of filing income tax returns (ITR) and turnover ratio will form part of the information package to be shared with GSTN. The data can be match...

Contributions to EPS limited and is not adequate to pay a higher pension, says EPFO The Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) plans to move the Supreme Court to review a high court order that allowed workers to draw pension on a wage above the current salary ceiling of  Rs. 15,000 per month.  The current monthly contribution toward employees pension scheme (EPS) is limited and is not adequate to pay a higher pension, according to the retirement fund body. Any binding order on it will make the organisation financially unviable, two government officials said requesting anonymity. “We are readying for a review petition. Pension contribution by EPFO subscribers is based on a  Rs. 15,000 salary ceiling. If pension outgo is calculated on the total salary above the  Rs. 15,000 threshold, it will be tough to maintain. It will be a negative cash flow and we may fall short of several thousand crores every year,” said one of the two officials mentioned above. At ...