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The Reserve Bank of India on Thursday cut the key interest rate by 25 basis points to 6.25% and shifted the policy stance to ‘neutral’ terming it a ‘decisive’ act to promote investment and consumption in an economy facing weak demand. The move may open the doors to a lower interest rate cycle based on receding inflation, though it could only be for a short term going by past trends.  After claiming success in tackling price pressures since inflation targeting was adopted about two years ago, the Monetary Policy Committee voted unanimously on Thursday for a shift in stance to ‘neutral’ from ‘calibrated tightening’ and lowered inflation forecast. The central bank also brought nonbanking finance companies (NBFCs) on a par with manufacturing companies with regard to capital requirements for banks that lend to them. The credit rating of an NBFC will now determine how much capital the bank has to set aside, making thousands of crores of rupees available for lending to a sector buffet...

The government may soon find a solution to address the tax concerns of startups, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) chairman Sushil Chandra said.  “Very shortly, we will find out a solution on the basis of the suggestions we have received. We will have to decide which startups are real startups and how they can be exempted from Section 56 (2) of the Income Tax Act,” he said at an Assocham function here on Thursday.  Various startups had raised concerns over the notices sent to them under this section to pay tax on angel investments. The CBDT chief said any startup recognised by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade is exempt from Section 56 (2) and the tax notices sent to startups have been stayed.  Last week, officials from the department, along with tax department officials, met startup industry representatives to hear their suggestions.  Section 56 (2) provides that the amount raised by a startup in excess of its fair market value would b...

The Reserve Bank of India said it would intensify its scrutiny of nonbanking finance companies to ensure better compliance and financial strength, but did not indicate an asset-quality review like the one carried out on banks.  NBFCs showed high growth taking advantage of the poor financial health of several public sector banks but the recent default by the group firms of non-bank lender IL&FS raised alarm and called for a reality check. Former chief economic advisor Arvind Subramanian suggested asset quality review (AQR) for these lenders to fully measure the extent of the hidden stress in the system.  “Like Raghu (former governor Raghuram Rajan) did an AQR for the banks, we need to an asset quality review for the NBFCs,” he told ETNow in December.  RBI data showed that NBFCs cumulatively had loans assets worth ?3.42 lakh crore at the end of September with industry accounting for more than half of total credit extended by them, followed by retail, services and ag...

The central bank on Thursday said it is examining the possibility of bringing payment gateway operators under its direct regulatory ambit, a move that industry players said will make the digital payments ecosystem more secure and stable.  “We are considering the feasibility of directly regulating these payment operators…given their growing importance in the payment systems of the country, we deem such a step to be important,” Reserve Bank of India governor Shaktikanta Das said during his monetary policy speech. The RBI said it will soon publish a draft of the regulatory guidelines for stakeholder consultations. Mint Road and New Delhi have been in talks for some time now to come up with a comprehensive regulatory solution for the burgeoning payment systems in the country, which is riding the growth of ecommerce and m-commerce transactions. Meanwhile, issues ranging from the fees that businesses pay for accepting digital payments to grievance redressal for failed transactions an...

A solution for India’s vexed angel tax may be around the corner, with the industry department setting up a panel comprising startups, angel investors and income tax officials to look into the issue.  Ramesh Abhishek, secretary in the department for promotion of industry and internal trade (DPIIT) who heads the panel, said a solution is expected in the next four-five days.  DPIIT on Monday held consultations with a select group of startups and angel investors at a meeting also attended by officials from the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT).  “We had a round table on the issue of angel tax. We have got a number of suggestions. We will form a smaller working group and try to come with some solution in next four-five days,” Abhishek said after the meeting. India introduced a so-called angel tax in 2012, which counts investments received by startups above their fair market value as taxable income, much to the dismay of angel investors and the startup community.  A...

The government opted to announce a tax rebate on annual income up to ~5 lakh instead of raising the exemption limit as it did not wish to tinker with rate slabs in an interim budget, Union finance minister Piyush Goyal said in an interview to Hindustan Times on Monday.  The emphasis of the budgetary exercise was on maintaining the economic reforms road map set over four-and-a-half years by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union minister Arun Jaitley so that India could continue to be the world’s fastest growing major economy, Goyal said. “With all exemptions, a person earning even 75,000 a month will not have to pay any tax – provided they make some investments. If I had given this as an exemption, it would have given rise to a debate whether the interim budget should start tinkering with tax slabs and tax rates. That’s why I have not changed any of those. But, as I said, we are clear that the benefits of formalisation of the economy, the larger tax base, more taxes... has to b...

While rolling out the goods and service tax (GST) from the central hall of Parliament at midnight of 30 June 2017, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told the nation that the new indirect tax system will unify its divergent state economies with ‘one nation, one tax’ right from  Leh to Lakshadweep. About 18 months later, the biggest tax reform since India’s independence is still in a fluid state of continuous change as businesses, especially the small ones, struggle to cope with the rigours of a technology-driven and transparent tax system that has cast its net far and wide to bring at least 3.4 million new indirect taxpayers. Some of the concessions to small businesses announced earlier this month by federal indirect tax body, the GST Council, ahead of parliamentary polls due by April-May, raise fears about sacrificing some of the basic design advantages of GST over the previous regime— simplicity and uniformity. The changes imply that policymakers are still struggling to make the refo...

Mint Road appears to be going the extra mile to help strengthen India’s derivative platform that covers interest rate risks, seeking to make overseas participation in the local Overnight Interest Rate Swap (OIS) market operationally easier and viable.  “The central bank has asked offshore investors to write their views on the OIS. It is seeking suggestions to bring in operational ease,” one of the two people aware of the move told ET.  OIS volumes in India have been traditionally low, with a limited number of domestic banks, bond and fund houses using the platform for occasional hedges or trades. Operational complexities are reportedly blamed for the pronounced absence of offshore investors, and low trading volumes. An email query sent to the RBI remained unanswered until the publication of this report.  In India, OIS trading volumes averaged ?25,938 crore in November, compared with ?22,724 crore in March, showing an increase of 14%, data from the Clearing Corporation...

The income-tax department has drawn up a list of individuals who carried out high-value transactions in financial year 2017-18 but did not file income tax returns. “Analysis was carried out to identify non-filers about whom specific information was available in the database of the department,” the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said in a statement on Tuesday. “The sources of information include statement of financial transactions (SFT), tax deduction at source (TDS), tax collection at source (TCS), foreign remittances, exports and imports,” it said.  The Non-filers Monitoring System (NMS) aims to identify and keep a watch on people who enter into high-value transactions and have potential tax liabilities but have not filed their tax returns, it said. “Data analysis has identified several potential non-filers who have carried out high-value transactions in financial year 2017-18 but have still not filed income tax return for assessment year 2018-19 (relating to FY2017-18),...