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Consumers will Be Biggest Beneficiaries of GST PM Modi The Goods and Services Tax (GST) is increasing competition among manufacturers, which will help bring down prices, making consumers the biggest beneficiaries of the new tax regime, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said.“With GST, a new business culture is developing and in the long term, consumers will be the biggest beneficiaries. Increased competition due to the GST will lead to moderation in prices. It will directly benefit poor and middle class consumers,“ Modi said in his address at an international conference on consumer protection held in the city on Thursday . The PM also said the new consumer protection Act would give more teeth to the consumer, making issues like consumer awareness and grievance redressal simpler and less time consuming.“The proposed Act lays great emphasis on consumer empowerment. Rules are being simplified to ensure that consumer grievances are redressed in a time-bound manner and at least possible co...

Govt working on new consumer protection law says PM Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday vowed to protect consumer interest, saying a new law is on the anvil that will crack down on misleading advertisements and provide time-bound redressal of their grievances. Listing consumer-friendly measures taken by the BJPled government in the past three-and-half years, he said a simplified goods and services tax (GST) has ended a plethora of state and central taxes and laid the ground for reduction in prices in the long run.Rigour for use of energyefficient LED bulbs has not just brought down their prices but also helped save  Rs 20,000 crore in electricity bills, Modi said Besides, he said, the government has brought down prices of life-saving heart stent implants as well as knee implants. He also said that paying consumers subsidy directly on cooking LPG has led to a saving of Rs 57,000 crore.Addressing a global conference on consumer affairs, Modi stressed that consumer intere...

SC offers relief to MNCs over India outsourcing biz tax The Supreme Court in a recent judgment has ruled that the outsourcing of work to India by multinational companies (MNCs) per se would not give rise to any permanent establishment (PE) in the country and, hence, the global income of these MNCs attributable to this back-office work cannot be taxed in India.The judgment will have repercussions for taxing outsourcing businesses as well as subsidiaries of MNCs. The apex court upheld the ruling of the Delhi High Court and rejected the contention of the revenue department in this regard.The case relates to taxation matters relating to two US-based companies e-Fund Corporation (e-Fund Corp) and e-Fund IT Solutions Group Inc (e-Fund Inc). These companies have paid taxes on their global income in the US. e-Fund Corp is a holding company with almost a 100 per cent stake in IDLX Corporation, another company based in the US. IDLX Corporation holds almost a 100 per cent stake in IDLX Intern...

Sebi revises block deal norms Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Thursday revised the framework for ´block deals´ by providing two separate trading windows of 15 minutes each and increasing the minimum order size to Rs 10 crore.The move is aimed at ensuring confidentiality of the large trades and stable prices for such transactions. The block deal window is provided for buyers and sellers to execute trades foralarge number of shares.Such deals are usually negotiated before their execution.Under the new rules, Sebi would provide two block deal windows —morning and afternoon —of 15 minutes´ duration each. Besides, the regulator has increased the minimum order size for execution of trades in the block deal window to Rs 10 crore.Currently, block deals for shares worth Rs 5 crore through a single transaction is allowed.The decision has been taken as Sebi received suggestions from market participants to review the block deal framework. The final norms have ...

Govt extends date to claim GST transition credit The government on Thursday extended the deadline by a month till November 30 for businesses to claim credit of transitional stock in the goods and services tax (GST) regime.TRAN1 is to be filed by those businesses that are keen to claim credit for taxes paid before the launch of GST on July 1. The Business Standard, New Delhi, 27th October 2017

Centre proposes to extend Aadhaar linking deadline to those willing to enrol The government proposed extending the deadline for mandatory linking of Aadhaar with bank  accounts and mobile phones from December 31, 2017 to March 31, 2018, but only exclusively  for those who are “willing to enrol for Aadhaar”. A one-page note, with writing on both sides of it, passed on to a Bench led by Chief Justice  of India Dipak Misra on October 25 contained the proposal. Offering the three-month leeway  for the "Aadhaar-willing" citizens, the note however insisted that those already with  Aadhaar will be “required” to sync their Aadhaar numbers with SIM cards, bank accounts, PAN  and “other schemes where Section 7 (Aadhaar Act) notifications have been issued”. The government’s suggestion created such a furore in court that Justice Misra asked the  government to re-think its proposal to make it voluntary for Aadhaar-holders also. The court asked Attorney-Ge...

IGST relief likely for foreign banks  MNCs  The government may be looking to give some respite to foreign banks and multinationals which  are saddled with the additional cost of paying 18% integrated goods and services tax (IGST)  on the services provided to their international offices, said two people close to the  development.  An advisory to this effect may be issued by the tax department in the coming weeks, one of  the persons cited earlier said, requesting not to be named.  “The tax officials realise that this (tax on multinationals) is an unintended consequence,  and this could get resolved in the coming weeks,” the other person said. Under the GST framework, a multinational — especially a foreign bank or infrastructure  company — that has a branch or operation in India, has to pay IGST. Many foreign banks have  already started paying 18% IGST to avoid any litigation. This tax liability has emerged  under the G...

Sebi restructures expert panel on fair market conduct Regulator Sebi has reorganised its committee on 'fair market conduct' that advises it on measures to improve surveillance of markets and strengthen rules for algo trades. The fair market conduct committee is chaired by former law secretary T K Viswanathan. Besides Viswanathan, the panel consists of 14 members, including top executives of leading  bourses NSE and BSE as well as government representatives. Members of the committee include BSE's Ashishkumar Chauhan; NSE's Vikram Limaye; Anup  Bagchi, Executive Director of ICICI Bank; Kaku Nakhate, country head at Bank of America  Merrill Lynch; KPMG Chairman and CEO Arun Kumar and HDFC Mutual Fund Managing Director  Milind Barve. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had constituted this committee in August  this year. The committee is mandated to suggest measures for improvement in PIT (Prohibition of Insider  Trading) norms,...

Govt waives fine for delayed filing of Aug Sep GST returns The government on Tuesday waived penalty on delayed filing of the initial goods and services tax (GST) returns for the months of August and September.“To facilitate taxpayers, late fee on filing of GSTR3B for August and September has been has been waived,” Finance Minister Arun Jaitley tweeted. He said that the late fee, which has been already charged to businesses, will be credited back to taxpayers  accounts.The government had earlier waived late fee for delayed filing of the maiden returns for July under the GST regime.Businesses have been demanding that the government waives penalty for delayed filing of 3B returns.As per the data, 5.58 million GSTR3B returns were filed for July, 5.13 million for August and over 4.2 million for September. The Business Standard, New Delhi, 25th October 2017

GST collections rise to Rs 92,150 cr in September Collections under the goods and services tax (GST) rose by Rs 1,481 crore to Rs 92,150 crore in September against Rs 90,669 crore in the previous month.However, these were marginally lower by Rs 133 crore than Rs 92,283 crore in July.Little over 50 per cent of the assessees filed summary returns for September. Of eight million assessees, 4.29 million filed GSTR3B. As many as 3.94 million had filed GSTR 3B by Friday, the deadline for September filing.To enable late filing, the authorities have waived late fee for August and September.For the first three months, the Centre and states collected around Rs 2.75 lakh crore, slightly more than the targeted tax collections of Rs 2.73 lakh crore.  The target has been taken from the Union budget estimates for 2017-18, assuming 14 per cent growth in state revenue collections. The 14 per cent growth was taken, according to a formula of compensating loss-making states.This would give Rs 48,0...

Bank capital infusion to highways  Modi govt unveils Rs 9 trillion plan to boost economy The plan, unveiled by finance minister Arun Jaitley, includes spending Rs 2.11 trillion towards pumping capital into banks and another Rs 7 trillion on a roads and highways project. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government announced it would invest over Rs 9 trillion to recapitalise state-owned banks and build new roads and highways on Tuesday, its biggest move yet to shore up an economy growing at its slowest in three years.Plans include spending Rs 2.11 trillion towards infusing capital into banks over the next two years and another Rs 7 trillion over the next five years on the roads project, some of which will run through economic corridors as well as remote border and coastal areas. The Rs 2.11 trillion is far higher than the Rs20,000 crore the government had previously planned to invest, in 2017-18 and 2018-19, in recapitalising banks.Separately, the government also announced an i...