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Task force to review I-T laws gets 3 months more The task force rewriting the income-tax laws has been granted three months more till August to submit its report to the government, the finance ministry said on Tuesday. The finance ministry had in november last year set up the task force to draft direct tax laws in line with laws prevalent in other countries, incorporating international best practices, and keeping in mind the economic needs of the country. The panel, under Central Board of Direct Taxes(CBDT) member arbind  modi, set up to draft a law to replace the income Tax Act, which has beene in force since 1961, was to submit its repport by this month-end "The Government has extended the term of said Task force by a period of three month," the CBDT said in a statement. In March this year, the task force had sought stakeholders' feedback oon their experienc of filing income returns on the I-T portal as well as scrutiny procedure and levy of penalty. In sought t...

NSE sues Singapore Exchange in the Bombay HC over India product launch The NSE is trying to stop SGX from launching derivatives that could replace the Nifty 50 contracts that have traded in the city-state for 18 years. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) has sued the Singapore Exchange (SGX) in the Bombay High Court, escalating a dispute that threatens to leave international investors without one of the world’s most widely used offshore futures contracts. The NSE is trying to stop SGX from launching derivatives that could replace the Nifty 50 contracts that have traded in the city-state for 18 years. Global funds use these instruments to hedge their positions in one of Asia’s biggest equity markets. Indian exchanges ended agreements that allowed offshore derivatives in February, leaving SGX and others scrambling This is a big mess. I can’t see how SGX would go through with the launch when this is in the air. There’s a lot of gray here, because if investors do trade the new contra...

SEBI to ease norms for MF in derivative investment by raising cap on F&O Sebi has also reached out to other regulators including RBI, IRDAI asking them to consider relaxing the derivative investment rules for institutions under their jurisdictions Market regulator the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is planning to ease the norms for mutual funds (MF) participation in the derivative markets. According to the sources, the regulator is considering measuring such as, allowing domestic funds to 'write' options and increasing cap on F&O investments. The move is a part of Sebi’s efforts to deepen the Indian derivative markets. Until now, Sebi has adopted a cautious approach towards allowing MFs to invest in derivatives since the asset class is considered highly risky compared to equities or debt. Currently, there are several restrictions on MF investments in equity derivatives. For instance, current rules permit MFs to invest in derivatives only for hedgi...

Cabinet may consider amendments to Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code today The government plans to promulgate an Ordinance to give effect to these changes since Parliament is not in session.T he Cabinet is likely to consider amendments to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) on Wednesday. The government plans to promulgate an Ordinance to give effect to these changes since Parliament is not in session, sources said. A draft note circulated to various stakeholders says it is looking at treating homebuyers on a par with financial creditors in legal rights of insolvent firms. This was also a recommendation of a committee, set up to review the insolvency law under the chairmanship of Corporate Affairs Secretary Injeti Srinivas. The panel had also suggested Section 29A clause in the insolvency law be made less stringent. It lists entities barred from bidding for companies under insolvency. The Centre is considering this proposal as well, sources said. The idea is to limit the prohi...

Finmin Extends Funding under Mudra Scheme The finance ministry has tied up with 40 entities, including Flipkart, Swiggy, Patanjali and Amul, which are big job creators, for extending loans to small entrepreneurs under the Mudra scheme. In order to identify people who can be given funds under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY), the ministry will on June 23 organise an event in Mumbai to extend loan under the scheme. “We have identified about 40 companies as biggest job creators. These companies will identify people who need loans under Mudra Yojana, underwrite them and we will extend loans under the scheme,” financial services secretary Rajiv Kumar told PTI. The Economic Times, New Delhi, 22nd May 2018

  India to achieve 9% growth rate by 2022: NITI Aayog NITI Aayogvice-chairman Rajiv Kumar on Monday exuded confidence that economy will achieve 9 per cent growth rate on sustained basis by 2022 on the back of reforms like goods and services tax, demonetisation and he insolvency  and Bankruptcy Code. indian economy grew by 6.65 in 2017-18 and expected to grow at 7.5 and expected to grow at 7.5%  this fiscal. "Given that we havedone GST, demonetisation, IBC recapitalisation of bank, we will grow at 9% by 2022. We will grow also able to sustain it at that level, "he said. The Business Standard, New Delhi, 22nd May 2018

 Shell Cos: I-T Dept to File Pleas in NCLT to Recover Tax Dues The income-tax department is an “aggrieved creditor” to many deregistered shell companies and will petition the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to recover tax dues of crores of rupees. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has directed the I-T department to form a special team of officers to complete the task of filing these petitions in various NCLT benches across the country by this month-end, and has written to the ministry of corporate affairs seeking its help. The CBDT, the policymaking body for the department, is concerned over crores of rupees of its “legitimate” taxes being stuck, after these shell firms were deregistered by the government in the recent past as part of its drive against black money and fraud business operations. PTI has accessed a letter written recently by the CBDT to all its regional chiefs stating that the tax department is an “aggrieved creditor” vis-a-vis these struckoff she...

India’s GDP Growth in Q4 Seen at 7.4%: Icra Rating agency Icra expects GDP growth in January-March 2017-18 at 7.4% on account of good rabi crop harvest and improved corporate earnings, up from 7.2% in the third quarter. The Central Statistics Office (CSO) is scheduled to come out with GDP estimate for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2017-18 and provisional annual estimates for the year 2017-18 on May 31. As per Icra, the growth of the Indian gross value-added at basic prices in year-on-year terms is likely to record a considerable recovery to 7.3% in Q4 FY2018 from 6.7% in Q3 FY2018, thereby rebounding above 7% after a gap of five quarters. This revival in the fourth quarter, relative to the previous three months, is expected to be broad-based, supported by an uptick in industry (to 7.7% from +6.8%), agriculture, forestry and fishing (to 4.5% from 4.1%), and services (to 7.8%from +7.7%), it said.—PTI The Economic Times, New Delhi, 22nd May 2018

  McAfee Working on Security Solutions for Digital Wallets Cybersecurity company McAfee, which has a quarter of its global workforce based in Bengaluru developing security solutions, is now building security features to protect digital wallets from frauds and scams. “India has a large number of wallets when compared to other countries. While these wallets are expanding to the nether regions of the country, the number of scams is also increasing by the day,” said Anand Ramamoorthy, managing director, South Asia at McAfee. “The scale is quite large and so building security features becomes difficult,” he said “There are various issues a user faces starting from fake apps, fake transactions and a lot more which are unique cases in India. Looking at all these cases, we are trying to build security which solves it all levels.” ET had earlier reported that there was an increase in cases across the country where fraudsters were making away with goods by sending merchants dummy m...

GST on Jet Fuel: Airlines Can Earn Rs 5,220cr Input Tax Credit Govt too will earn 7% more tax revenue at Rs 10,353 crore Airlines can annually earn combined input tax credits of Rs 5,220 crore – more than five times of what they are getting now – if jet fuel is bought under the ambit of goods and services tax (GST). Also, contrary to fears that the government will lose out on tax revenue, it will actually earn Rs 10,353 crore, 7% more than what it gets now if the fuel becomes a GST item. These assessments were given to the ministry of civil aviation last week in a presentation by top executives at Indian carriers. The meeting was chaired by minister of state for civil aviation Jayant Sinha. An input tax credit is claimed when a company pays a combined tax on output (air tickets in airlines’ case), reducing the tax paid on input (jet fuel). Airlines currently pay value-added tax (VAT) or state sales tax (4%-30%) and excise duty (14%) on ATF, and get credit only on VAT. The credi...

Overseas funds set date with Sebi on foreign portfolio investor circular Watchdog's document on foreign portfolio investors says that the ultimate beneficiary of a fund will be determined by both shareholding and control Overseas investors plan to meet market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) this week to seek clarity and highlight lacunae in the recent circular on foreign portfolio investors (FPIs). In the circular, aimed to curb round-tripping, Sebi said the ultimate beneficiary of a fund will be determined by both shareholding and control. FPIs are currently allowed to invest up to 10 per cent in a listed Indian company. If the new beneficial test is applied, all the funds run by the same manager will be clubbed as they have the same beneficial owner and their combined investments in several companies could breach the FPI shareholding cap.  Until now, economic ownership has been the primary criteria for determining the beneficial owner of an offsh...