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 RBI increases bond investment limit for foreign portfolio investors Net increase in government bonds will be Rs 592 billion in two years The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday increased the bond investment limit for foreign portfolio investors (FPI) by a percentage point in two phases — a move that will allow foreigners about Rs 1.4 trillion of extra play in Indian bonds by the end of FY20. “The limit for FPI investment in central government securities (G-secs) would be increased by 0.5 per cent to 5.5 per cent of outstanding stock of securities in 2018-19 and 6 per cent of outstanding stock of securities in 2019-20,” the RBI said. Net increase in government bonds will be Rs 592 billion in two years. Corporate bonds would see their limits go up by Rs 447.8 billion by the end of FY20. At the end of December, FPIs held about 4.5 per cent in outstanding government bonds, but that limit was to increase to 5 per cent by March. Now, the central bank has increased it by a full...

  Industry and tax experts seek one tax on capital gains in listed funds Consultants PwC India recommended levying either securities transaction tax (STT) or capital gains tax on listed securities, instead of levying both  Industry and tax experts have pitched for a single levy on capital gains of listed securities, besides a reduction in the equalisation levy and abolition of minimum alternate tax (MAT), to a high-level panel looking into the overhaul of the 60-year-old income tax law The government had set up a committee under Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) member Arbind Modi to look into the income tax systems in various countries and global best practices, among others. The panel is drafting the New Direct Tax Legislation and is likely to submit its report by May 31. It is also expected to revisit the income tax slabs, while widening the tax base. Consultants PwC India recommended levying either securities transaction tax (STT) or capital gains tax on listed ...

  Sebi to take action against 14,720 entities for ‘non-genuine trades’ Sebi begins adjudication proceedings against 567 entities involved in ‘non-genuine trades’ through illiquid stock options segment in the first phase The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has decided to take appropriate regulatory action against more than 14,700 entities in a phased manner for executing “non-genuine trades” through illiquid stock option segment. Adjudication proceedings have been initiated against 567 entities involved in such trades in the first phase. The markets regulator came across violations by 14,720 entities while it was probing 59 entities in a case related to alleged trading irregularities in stock options segment of the BSE. The 59 entities were probed to check whether they violated norms pertaining to fraudulent trade activities during the period from 1 April 2014 to 31 March 2015. Later, the scope of investigation was expanded to cover all the entities that had indu...

Don't deal with entities related to Bitcoins, RBI tells banks and NBFCs The RBI has repeatedly cautioned users, holders and traders of virtual currencies, including bitcoins The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday asked banks, non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and payment service providers to disassociate themselves from entities dealing with virtual currencies, including bitcoins, with immediate effect. The notification comes a day after the central bank in a 'Statement on Developmental and Regulatory Policies' warned of risks associated with virtual currencies. The RBI has repeatedly cautioned users, holders and traders of virtual currencies, including bitcoins. The services flagged by the RBI include maintaining accounts, registering, trading, settling, clearing, giving loans against virtual tokens, accepting them as collateral, among others. In This Budget speech on February 1, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said cryptocurrencies were not legal and af...

Changes you need to know for I-T returns When you file your income tax (I-T) returns in July, you will have to fill details such as allowances that are not exempt, value of perks, and profits in lieu of salary in the new I-T return forms notified for the assessment year 2018-19. A one-page simplified ITR Form-1 (Sahaj) can be filed by an individual who is a resident having income up to Rs 50 lakh and who is receiving income from salary, one house property and other income (interest, etc), the I-T department said. The detailed break-up of salary was not part of ITR forms last year but has been added this year. Similar details have to provided for income from house property. Gender mention requirement has been removed from ITR-1. Non-resident individuals cannot use ITR-1 to file returns and will have to use ITR-2 or -3, depending on their nature of income in India. Tax experts said this could raise their compliance costs. The ITR-1 form is similar to the one for the previous assess...

New ITR forms notified; salary breakup, GST ID to be furnished The new Income Tax Return (ITR) forms for the assessment year 2018-19 were notified today by the Central Board of Direct Taxes that mandated salaried class assessees to provide their  salary breakup and businessmen their GST number and turnover.The policy-making body of the tax department said some fields have been "rationalised" in the latest forms and that there is no change in the manner of filing the ITRs as compared to last year. All the seven ITRs are to be filed electronically except for some category of taxpayers, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said in a statement.The most basic -- ITR-1 or Sahaj -- is to be filled by the salaried class of taxpayers, which was used by 3 crore taxpayers during the last financial year.The form this time seeks an assessees salary details in separate fields and in a breakup format such as allowances that are not exempt, value of perquisites, profit in lieu of s...

Start-up investors may be exempt from 'angel tax' But, majority might be left out, as only those investing in entities recognised by govt could qualify The central go vernment might exempt investments by individuals in certain start-ups from the so-called ‘angel tax’.“We are discussing retrospective exemption of Section 56 of the Income Tax Act for angel tax investments in start-ups,” said a senior official from the department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP). The department oversees the regulatory framework for start-ups. The said tax, under Section 56(2)(viib) of the I-T Act, is a levy of 30 per cent on the amount exceeding the fair market value of shares issued by unlisted companies, treated as income from other sources.Concerns have been expressed over the possibility of investments into the start-up system being discouraged by this tax and also of harassment by I-T officials. Exemption from this tax is now being considered but might only be given up to a...

Government set up e-commerce think tank to encourage local players The government has set up a think tank to look into ways to encourage home-grown ecommerce players and develop a domestic policy to respond to doubts raised by other countries on India’s stance on cross-border digital trade, a senior official said. “The think tank has been set up with the purpose to see what should be done domestically to take advantage of the existing situation in India’s ecommerce sector and what can be done in future,” the official told ET.Led by commerce and industry minister Suresh Prabhu, the think tank includes officials from ministries of finance, home affairs, corporate affairs, and electronics and information technology, among others, besides representatives from telecom, IT and ecommerce firms including Bharti Enterprises, Reliance Jio, TCS, WiproNSE -0.58 %, Ola, Snapdeal, Makemytrip, Urban Clap, Justdial, PepperFry and Practo. The group also has representation from Technology, Inform...

Income tax department forms committee to look into tax risk of super-rich leaving India The income tax department has set up a committee to look into the tax implications of the super-rich leaving  the country to settle abroad and also arrive at the country’s stand on such migrations. ET had reported last month that 23,000 dollar-millionaires have left India since 2004, the highest in percentage terms among all countries. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has set up a five-member working group led by a joint secretary-rank official and four revenue officers to look into the taxation aspects of such high-net worth individuals (HNIs), sources told ET. Setting up the group, CBDT not ed that in recent times, there has been a trend of high net worth individuals migrating from their country of residence to other jurisdictions. It noted such a migration is a “substantial tax risk since they may treat themselves as non-residents for taxation purposes in the first jurisdictio...

RBI defers implementation of Ind AS by one year The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday decided to defer implementation of Indian Accounti ng Standard (Ind AS) by one year for the banks.Scheduled commercial banks (SCBs), excluding regional rural banks (RRBs), were required to implement Ind AS from April 1, 2018. Necessary legislative amendments – to make the format of financial statements, prescribed in t he Third Schedule to Banking Regulation Act 1949, compatible with accounts under Ind AS – are still under consideration of the government," the apex bank said in a statement.In view of this, as also the level of preparedness of many banks, it has been decided to defe r implementation of Ind AS by one year by when the necessary legislative changes are expected, it said. By that time, the necessary legislative changes are expected, it said. In a note in January, India Ratings estimates had pointed out that SCBs may need up to Rs 89,000 crore towards incremental provisio...

Small saving schemes account for 20.9% of government borrowing in FY18 Centre took Rs 1,002 bn from here in 2017-18, sharply up from Rs 904 bn a year before and Rs 123.6 bn in FY14 There has been a sharp rise in government borrowing from small saving schemes in the past five years; also, the contribution of market borrowing was a 17-year low in 2017-18. According to data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), small savings schemes such as post office deposits, National Savings Certificate (NSC), and Kisan Vikas Patras (KVP) accounted for a little over a fifth (20.9 per cent) of all central government borrowing in FY18, up from 17.2 per cent a year before and 2.4 per cent in FY14. This is the highest contribution from small savings in 19 years (see chart). The share from here in total government borrowing has been largely growing at the expense of the bond market (market borrowing); the latter’s share declined to 72.8 per cent in FY18, from 94.2 per cent in FY14. This, analysts...