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The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is evaluating the category of benchmarks being currently used to compare the returns of mutual fund (MF) schemes. The net asset value (NAV) of MF schemes takes into account dividends for computing returns. The schemes are, however, benchmarked against “price return" indices that do not take into consideration the dividend component. On an average, the dividend yield for Indian equities works out to 1.25-2 per cent for a year. In other words, dividend yields can add anywhere between 1.25 per cent and two per cent to the returns of MF schemes “The NAV of schemes takes into consideration the valuation of the security as well as the dividend. So the NAV that comes out is a ‘total return’ NAV. The benchmark indices that are available are all ‘price’ indices. We need to move in a direction where there is a like-to-like comparison," said a Sebi official. Total return benchmark indices assume that any cash distribution, such a...

The government is considering allowing 100% foreign direct investment in insurance broking with a view to giving a boost to the sector and attracting more funds.The FDI policy, at present, allows 49% foreign investment in the insurance sector that encompasses insurance broking, insurance companies, third party administrators, surveyors and loss assessors as defined by DIPP. An official said representations have been made to the government that insurance brokers should be treated at par with other financial services intermediaries, where 100% FDI is permitted. The Economic Times New Delhi,22th March 2017

With the goods and services tax (GST) set to be rolled out from July 1, states have not made many changes in the indirect tax structure in their Budgets for 201718, assuming that adequate compensation would be provided to them for any shortfall in revenue receipts on this count,arecent study suggests. The Union Cabinet on Monday gave its nod to four of the five Bills approved by the GST Council. The Central GST, Union Territory GST, Integrated GST and Compensation Bills will now be tabled as money Bills in Parliament this week, which will do away with the need to get the nod of the Rajya Sabha where the ruling National Democratic Alliance does not haveamajority. The Council has approved four rates —five per cent, 12 per cent, 18 per cent and 28 per cent. Over the peak rate of 28 per cent,acess will be imposed on sin and luxury goods, as well as on coal. Money collected from the cess would go to states as compensation. The Centre has agreed to give full compensation to states for the ...

The NDA government has proposed to make Aadhaar mandatory for individuals to apply for a PAN (Permanent Account Number) card and file income tax returns from July 1 this year. Finance, Defence and Corporate Affairs Minister Arun Jaitley moved an amendment, to this effect, in the draft Finance Bill 2017 that was taken up by the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. Earlier this week, the Centre made it mandatory for beneficiaries to quote their Aadhaar number to avail themselves of benefits under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana for skill development, and the Self Employment Scheme for Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers. The Centre had identified 31 schemes in which the Aadhaar could be made mandatory. Notifications have been issued in recent months by departments to make Aadhaar compulsory for getting subsidised foodgrains under the National Food Security Act, jobs under the MGNREGA and pension benefits under the Employees’ Pension Scheme. The Hindu Business Standard New Delhi,22th M...

As the Finance Bill came up for debate in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, startups and some nonbanking financial companies (NBFCs) demanded an exemption fromaprovision of the draft legislation. According to the provision, income tax deduction is denied to those companies whose interest payment on overseas debt to associated enterprises exceeded 30 per cent of their earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda). Banks and insurance companies have already been exempted from the Budget proposal, technically calledaprovision on thin capital incorporated in the Bill following an action plan by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS). Eric Mehta, partnertransfer pricing, Price Waterhouse, said startups should be given exemption from this proposal as they have very low Ebitda in the initial years. Also, NBFCs should be out of this, in line with banking and insurance companies, he said. Sanjay Agarwal, ...

The Rs.3lakh limit proposed for cash payments in the Budget for 201718 would be brought down to Rs.2 lakh as part of an unprecedented 40 amendments to the Finance Bill. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley moved the amendments in the lower House on Tuesday. This is aimed at tightening the noose on those dealing in cash. Most other amendments —making Aadhaar mandatory for filing tax returns, applying for permanent account numbers (PAN) and allowing payments by only noncash modes such as cheques, bank drafts or electronic transfers for electoral trusts —are also aimed at curbing black money. Afew are aimed at rationalising tribunals by merging these to reduce the number to 12 from 40. The amendment related to reducing the cap on cash transactions comes amidst reports that digital transactions had declined afteraspurt after demonetisation. “In the amendment to the Finance Bill, the government has proposed the limit of Rs.3 lakh for cash transactions be reduced to  Rs.2 lakh,” Revenue S...

The Cabinet may on Monday take up for approval the supporting GST legislations, which will then be introduced in Parliament as the government sprints to meet the July 1 target date for rollout of the new indirect tax regime. A set of four supporting legislations -- the Compensation Law, the Central-GST or C-GST, Integrated-GST or I-GST and Union Territory-GST or UT-GST -- are likely to together go to the Cabinet for approval. Sources said the Cabinet meeting has been called for Monday morning and the agenda list may not be very long. The GST Council, in its previous two meetings, had given approval to the four legislations as also the State-GST (S-GST) bill. While the S-GST has to be passed by each of the state legislative assemblies, the other four laws have to be approved by Parliament. Once approved, levy of Goods and Services Tax (GST) will get legal backing. The government is hoping the C-GST, I-GST, UT-GST and the GST Compensation laws will be approved in the current se...

Barely 10 per cent of small businesses are inaGSTready position, and just about half have robust IT systems to comply with requirements of the new indirect tax regime, say experts As lawmakers are in the process of clearing the decks for the rollout of the goods and services tax by July 1, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) appear to be the weakest link in corporate India´s efforts to be GSTcompliant by the cutoff date. Of the estimated 8 million registered businesses under the VAT regime, around 90 per cent are SMEs. The GST applies to businesses withaturnover of Rs.20 lakh or more. The threshold is Rs.10 lakh for businesses in the northeastern states. While large companies have engagedabattery of experts to help them transition to the GST regime, SMEs are still struggling to assess the impact on their businesses. “Most remain unaware that the GST will driveabehaviour change and is not justatax change or rate change,” says Bharat Goenka, managing director, Tally Solutions. Tally,...

Inform the insurer about the damage within two to three days Atarecent seminar of insurance brokers and surveyors, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) ChairmanTSVijayan admitted that delays with regard to settlement of commercial claims like motor, fire, marine and others continued to be an issue. Lack of access to surveyors´ reports is another hurdle, especially for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Besides, while retail (individual) policy holders can approach the Insurance Ombudsman withagrievance, in the case of commercial claims there is no such recourse. According to Irdai guidelines, any nonmotor claim where the estimated amount is more than Rs.50,000 would require the appointment of an independent surveyor. Are surveyors truly independent? “These surveyors, though appointed by the insurance company, are independent intermediaries, as they are licensed and regulated by Irdai. They are accountable for the loss they assess to Irdai and n...

Before its pre- inital public offering the sharehoders of BSE fear higher taxes on bonus shares they got in 2007.The union buget had said the shares acquired after 2007 by non payement of secuirties transsaction tax(STT) will attract lomg term cappital gains tax. There is no instance of STT on shares obtained by way of bouns issue.Although the government has hinted that bouns and right issues would be exempt from the new provision,BSE shareholders have knoked on the door of the finance ministry and the sebi want clarity on the issue. Business Standard New Delhi,20th March 2017 

Barely four per cent of direct tax litigation cases pending with the income tax department came under the Dispute Resolution Scheme (DRS) of 2016, with total taxes to the tune of Rs1,250 crore. Extension of the scheme by a month till January 31 failed to elicit much response, resulting in 10,500 applications under the scheme making up for only two per cent of the disputed amount at the level of the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals). Among the total applications, the government has received Rs250 crore so far from the orders passed in 4,100 cases. The applicants will get about two months to pay the tax amount, interest and penalty from the date of orders.  The response suggests only small-value cases came under the scheme, with an average tax incidence of Rs11 lakh. “The scheme got a very poor response compared to what was expected. The scope of the scheme was very limited. Those hopeful of getting a favourable verdict at the appeals commissioner-level did not apply. But th...