CA Online

  Indian economy to grow at 7.3% in FY19 and 7.5% in FY20: World Bank The investment rate, as represented by the gross fixed capital formation, stood at 7.6 per cent in 2017-18, growing from a low of 1.6 per cent in 2013-14 Keeping its previous estimate of India’s GDP growth in 2017-18 unchanged at 6.7 per cent, the World Bank has signalled that the economic slowdown has bottomed out, and maintained its growth forecast for 2018-19 at 7.3 per cent and 7.5 per cent for 2019-20. The government’s Central Statistics Office, in its second advance estimate, had pegged the gross domestic product (GDP) growth at 6.6 per cent, marginally above 6.5 per cent in the first advance estimate. However, the pleasing growth projections come with the assumption that investments will grow at 6.7 per cent in 2019-20. The investment rate, as represented by the gross fixed capital formation, stood at 7.6 per cent in 2017-18, growing from a low of 1.6 per cent in 2013-14. “Continuing subdued rate...

  Parliamentary Panel asks government to review employees pension scheme A parliamentary panel has asked the government to assess the Employees Pension Scheme 1995 and consider a revision of the minimum monthly pension of Rs 1,000, saying the social security benefit is too meagre to fulfil even the basic needs.  Trade unions have been demanding for a very long time that minimum pension may be raised to Rs 3,000 a month. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Labour in its 34th report tabled in Parliament on Wednesday said that it firmly believes that this (Rs 1,000) is way too meagre.  The committee recommended that government conduct an assessment of the pension scheme with particular reference to the right to sustenance of the pensioners, and based on the findings, consider a revision of the amount.  The Employee Provident Fund Organisation had started providing minimum monthly pension of `1,000 under the Employees Pension Scheme 1995 from September 1, 201...

Sebi considers clearing house interoperability Sebi’s plan of clearing house interoperability is aimed at reducing stock market trading costs and minimising trading outage The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is weighing interoperability of clearing houses and lower margin requirements in an attempt to reduce trading costs and minimise the impact of trading halts, four people aware of the matter said. “The issue was discussed extensively by an internal Sebi committee on secondary market on 8 March, which discussed removing the operational and technical constraints in implementing the proposal,” said the first of the four people, all of whom spoke under condition of anonymity. The market regulator has been weighing the idea for several years, and has lately revived discussions to help soften some of the impact from the return of LTCG tax, a second person said. Clearing and settlement of share transactions on stock exchanges happens at clearing houses, which are ru...

Investing in equity mutual funds may get cheaper Investing in equity mutual funds is set to get cheaper. The Securities and Exchange Board of India may soon ask mutual funds to cut an expense fee they charge investors and this will be taken up in the next Sebi board meet on March 28. Along with the recently-introduced separate fee restriction for selling schemes in smaller towns this could end up reducing cost of investing in equity mutual fund schemes by as much as 20%.  The mutual fund industry is now allowed to charge 20 basis points to every scheme. This was introduced in 2012 as compensation for the loss that the industry incurred for not being allowed to use the proceeds they made from exit loads — a fee that mutual funds charged investors for premature withdrawal.  Now, Sebi wants to reduce this fee of 20 basis points to 5 basis points. The proposal was discussed in the Mutual Fund Advisory Committee, appointed by the regulator, held late in February, said three...

  LS passes Finance Bill 2018; unlisted stocks to get indexation benefits Finance Bill passed by Lok Sabha without debate; relief for start-ups, PPF holders The Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed the Finance Bill 2018, allowing the benefit of inflation adjustments to stocks that were unlisted till January 31 while levying long-term capital gains (LTCG) tax. The move might provide tax benefits to shareholders of the National Stock Exchange (NSE), others who have invested in employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs), and in certain merger and acquisition cases. The Bill retained the LTCG tax without removing the securities transaction tax (STT) and the indexation benefits provided to all shares. The amendments to the Bill also provided relief to start-ups and immunity to the holders of public provident funds (PPF) from any attachment of their funds by authorities. For the first time in years, the Bill was passed without any debate in the Lok Sabha and drew flak from the Opposition. S...

  Representations received to withdraw LTCG: FinMin In his Budget, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had proposed introduction LTCG tax of 10 per cent on stock market gains exceeding Rs 1 lakh. Finance ministry today said it has received representations for withdrawal of the long term capital gains (LTCG) tax on listed securities proposed in the Union Budget 2018-19. In his Budget, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had proposed introduction LTCG tax of 10 per cent on stock market gains exceeding Rs 1 lakh. In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla said "representations" have been received requesting for withdrawal of the proposal to introduce tax on LTCG on listed securities through the Finance Bill, 2018. "The decision will be reflected in the official amendment, if any, to the Finance Bill, 2018, at the time of consideration and passing by the Parliament," the minister said. Meanwhile, the Finance Bill 2018 could not b...

  Income Tax department attaches benami properties worth Rs 39 billion Show cause notices for provisional attachment of benami properties were issued in over 1,500 cases Income tax department has provisionally attached benami properties of over Rs 39 billion in more than 1,200 cases, the Finance Ministry informed the Rajya Sabha today. In a written reply, Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla also said the tax department has identified more than 1,600 benami transactions till end-February. "Show cause notices for provisional attachment of benami properties were issued in over 1,500 cases and provisional attachment has been made in over 1,200 cases. The value of properties under attachment is over Rs 39 billion," he said. In another reply, Shukla said till date, in three phases of 'operation clean money', the income tax department has identified around 22.69 lakh persons whose tax profile was found to be inconsistent with the case deposits made by ...

Trai Chief hits back at telcos; says allegations of bias uncalled for  Trai Chairman RS Sharma today slammed incumbent telecom operators for trying to dent the sectoral regulator's impartiality and credibility, saying that their allegations of bias or favour in regulation are absolutely "inappropriate and uncalled for".  He said the regulator has framed the rules including that on predatory pricing following the principles of fairness, transparency and consultation.  "We are in an unenviable position... We are not here running a popularity contest," he told PTI in an interview here.  His comments came just days after British telecom giant Vodafone termed Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai's) new rule on predatory pricing as "unfair", and said the company was fighting the competition "with hands tied at the back".  Sunil Mittal, who heads the country's biggest mobile phone firm Bharti Airtel had also recently stated th...

SEBI to relax start-up net worth norms, allow listing on SME platform Move follows failure of ITP to attract start-ups; many have raised money from PE investors and have much higher networth to qualify for the platform Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is planning to allow start-ups to list on the small and medium enterprises (SME) platform of the stock exchanges. Sources say start-ups will be given special relaxations on the SME platform in terms of net worth requirements and profitability. The move comes after Indian stock exchanges in coordination with Sebi held several discussions with both the industry participants and to come up with a new framework for start-up listing. The move comes after Institutional trading platform (ITP), a special segment for listing of new-age companies, failed to take-off. Sources say the idea behind the move is to provide capital raising opportunities to small and mid level start-ups who cannot list on the main boar...

SEBIputs more safeguards for FPI investors Sebi has also allowed category-II FPIs to act as participatory notes (p-notes) issuers Market regulator Sebi has further amended the “Easing of access norms for investment by FPIs” circular by providing further safeguards. In the new circular, Sebi has asked private banks who invest on behalf of their clients to collect proper KYC details from investors. The regulator has said this route cannot be used by Indian citizens or non-resident Indians. Also, the collective investment a private bank makes on behalf its clients should be broad-based.A collective investment by the bank should have more than 20 investors with no single one owning more than 49 per cent. Sebi has also allowed category-II FPIs to act as participatory notes (p-notes) issuers. But, such funds should apply for a separate registration and would also have to fulfil the broad-basing criteria along with the requirement of a common portfolio. This clarification from Sebi...

  CBDT to conduct nationwide review of tax collection for FY18 today In December, the CBDT had revised the target for direct tax collection to Rs 10 trillion, which includes personal income tax and corporate tax, up from the budgeted Rs 9.8 trillion The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) will conduct on Wednesday a countrywide review of tax collection, especially for advance tax, tax deduction at source (TDS), arrears, and black money cases in a bid to shore up the direct tax revenue kitty for the financial year ending March 31. In December, the CBDT had revised the target for direct tax collection to Rs 10 trillion, which includes personal income tax and corporate tax, up from the budgeted Rs 9.8 trillion. Sources said the agency was confident of achieving the ambitious target as it was receiving a overwhelming response from India Inc. “We are looking at better advance tax collection for the January-March quarter. Up to December, Rs 3.8 trillion advance tax had been coll...