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The consumer affairs ministry has drafted a fresh consumer protection Bill after incorporating suggestions of a parliamentary standing committee and hopes to introduce it in the ongoing session. The ministry has accepted some of the recommendations of the panel and finalised the draft bill,which has been vetted by a group of ministry, headed by Arun jaitely. Business Standard New Delhi,16th March 2017

The government has issued show-cause notices to 1,018 companies for non-compliance of CSR norms even as a parliamentary panel has suggested putting in place a “stricter monitoring and compliance mechanism“.Under the Companies Act, 2013, a certain class of profitable entities is required to shell out at least 2% of their three-year annual average net profit towards corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities in a particular fiscal. As many as 84 companies out of 226 PSUs and 411out of 7,108 private entities have reported no expenditure on CSR in 2014-15. Moreover, companies that have reported CSR have not been spending it as per the guidelines. The Economic Times New Delhi,16th March 2017

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council’s approval to key Bills on Thursday will play a crucial role for their passage in the current session of Parliament. This would also set the stage for tabling of the state GST (SGST) Bills in the respective state Assemblies, but the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Assembly will need to pass even central GST (CGST) and integrated GST (IGST) Bills as well. According to the Constitution, constitutional amendments do not directly apply to J&K, as it gets a special treatment. Government sources pointed out that CGST and IGST will appear in different forms in the case of J&K. Service tax for instance, which is a central levy, does not apply to J&K. But central excise is applicable. J&K Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu told Business Standard that no Act of the government of India can directly apply to J&K. Hence, it will have to follow a process to implement GST. “Unlike other states, which will need to get just SGST passed by thei...

The securties and exchange board of India (Sebi) on wednesday issued guidelines for mutual fund(MF) advertisements,allowing use of celebrities to increase awareness of the Rs. 17.9 lakh crore industry."Celebrity endoreement shall be allowed only at industry level for the purpose  of incresing awareness of MFs as a financial product category.such endoresement should not promote a scheme of a particular fund or be used as a branding exercise of a MF house,"the regulator said in a circular.Prior Sebi approval Will be needed for MF advertisements featuring celebrities,The circular said. The regulator also tweaked the performance disclosure requirement for MF advertisements. Business Standard New Delhi,16th March 2017

The Centre on Wednesday unveiled a code under which builders can be made liable for the safety of the structure. The code has been prepared by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) under the consumer affairs ministry. The code is voluntary but states can incorporate them in their building bylaws. "The code contains provisions on use of new/innovative materials and technologies and on prefabricated construction techniques that can give fillip to speedier construction to meet the objectives of housing for all by 2022," consumer affairs minister Ram Vilas Paswan said after releasing the code on the occasion of the World Consumer Rights Day in New Delhi. That apart, Paswan said the government has drafted a fresh consumer protection Bill after incorporating suggestions of a parliamentary standing committee and hopes to introduce it in the ongoing session. In August 2015, the Centre had introduced the consumer protection Bill in Lok Sabha to repeal the 30-year consumer pro...

Retirement fund body EPFO has asked its field offices not to insist on provident fund deduction from the salaries of Singaporean citizens working purely as temporary workers in India. "All field offices are therefore advised not to insist on deduction of EPF and EPS contributions from salaries of Singapore citizens working purely as temporary workers in establishments covered/coverable under the EPF & MP Act 1952 and who do not hold the status of permanent residents in India," the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) headquarters said in an order. Business Standard New Delhi,15th March 2017

Successors of those who migrated to Pakistan and China during Partition will have no claim over the properties left behind in India, with Parliament on Tuesday passing a Bill to change a 49yearold law. The Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2016, which changes the Enemy Property Act, 1968, was passed by voice vote in the Lok Sabha, incorporating the changes made by the Rajya Sabha last week Business Standard New Delhi,15th March 2017

Prosecution action by the Income Tax( IT) Department in black money cases has shot up three times with the taxman filing over 570 such charge sheets across the country till January this year. The department, according to an official report, has also directed its field offices to not spare cases of“serious irregularities” indeposits as certained by it under´Operation Clean Money´after demonetisation and file court cases against such entities. The latest prosecution figures do not include action linked to demonetisation as such cases are still in the investigation stage,a senior IT officer said. There port said IT prosecution action in cases of tax evasion hasjumped 300 percent to 570 complaints filed till January in FY17, as compared to 196 such complaints filed in courts during the corresponding period in the last financial year across the country. Business Standard New Delhi,15th March 2017

The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has, throughacircular dated March 6, laid down the procedure through which subscribers to shift their corpus fromarecognised provident/superannuation fund to the National Pension System (NPS). Experts say investors should weigh the pros and cons carefully before deciding whether to shift their corpus from the Employees´ Provident Fund (EPF) to NPS. The road map, as laid down by PFRDA, is as follows: An employee needs to have an active NPS TierIaccount, which can be opened through the employer, an eligible point of presence, or online through eNPS. Business Standard New Delhi,10th March 2017

The Centre has releasedaset of draft guidelines for digital wallet companies as part of its efforts to promote electronic payments while ensuring the security of transactions. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology issued on Wednesday the draft Information Technology (Security of Prepaid Payment Instruments) Rules 2017 for public consultation, and will take suggestions until March 20. The draft rules underline security parameters that digital wallet companies, such as Paytm, FreeCharge and Mobikwik, will have to follow. They also stipulate standards for data protection and customer grievance redressal. Every prepaid payment instrument (PPI), or digital wallet, has been asked to developasecurity policy based on the rules and standards set by the government. “Every ePPI issuer shall review the security measures at least onceayear, and after any major security incident or breach or beforeamajor change to its infrastructure or procedures,” read the draft rules. Besides, t...

Direct tax collection grew by 10.7 per cent in the first 11 months of this financial year (April 2016 till February 2017) over the same periodayear before, less than the set target. The fullyear target is Rs.8.47 lakh crore or 14.3 per cent more. With Rs.6.17 lakh crore collected in these 11 months, March has to seea20plus per cent growth to achieve the target. The subdued tax numbers were due to fall in growth of both corporation tax due to stillawaited recovery in the performance of companies and personal income tax in AprilFebruary compared to AprilJanuary period. “We are hopeful of achieving the target. Net tax collections have been low due to substantially higher refunds issued compared to the previous financial year. Besides, the corporate sector is yet to showapickup,” saidagovernment official. Corporation tax growth was 2.6 per cent up to February, slower than the 2.9 per cent in the period to January. Personal income tax grew 20 per cent up to February, against 23.1 per ce...