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The Centre asked the Chief Justice of India on Thursday to constitute a larger bench to determine if the right to privacy is a fundamental right, a day after the Supreme Court refused to modify an interim order restricting the use of Aadhaar. The remit of Aadhaar has been a subject of controversy as rights groups have argued the collection of personal details by state agencies is tantamount to a violation of privacy, particularly as the government cannot guarantee the data would not be susceptible to misuse. Attor ney general Mukul Rohatgi said the two-judge bench’s order disallowing the government and its various agencies to use Aadhaar on a voluntary basis affected several social welfare schemes. The court of Justice J Chelameswar said on Wednesday the government’s request to modify the August 11 interim order could be looked into only by a larger bench. “We seek the modification that Aadhaar be allowed to be used voluntarily for the benefit of the poor and aged groups,” Roha

Officials of the striking unions said no work was conducted at these offices all day and the next plan of action will be decided on Sunday About 50,000 employees of the income tax department observed a day-long countrywide strike on Monday, demanding redressal of their service-related demands from the government. Officials of the striking unions said no work was conducted at these offices all day and the next plan of action could be decided on Sunday. The I-T department has two prominent groups - the Income Tax Employees Federation (ITEF) and ITGOA - and they represent about 97 per cent of the workforce. They cautioned they might intensify protests by not taking part in the vital search and survey operations to check tax evasion if their demands for timely promotion in cadres and providing required infrastructure and a few others were not met. This will impact the work of budget collection and taxpayer services are "bound to fail" in the coming days. A CBDT offici

To boost demand for low- cost housing, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday reduced the risk weight for individual housing loans of up to Rs.75 lakh. The minimum risk weight for individual housing loans has been reduced from 50 per cent to 35 per cent. The risk weight for commercial real estate has been left unchanged at 100 per cent. For loans of up to Rs.30 lakh, the central bank increased the loan- to- value ( LTV) ratio to 90. LTV is the highest loan amount a bank can disburse, as a proportion of the property price. Now, banks will have to allocate less capital if risk weights are lower. Most banks have a sizeable portfolio of loans of up to Rs.75 lakh. As capital costs will come down due to lower risk weight, the move is expected to translate into lending rate cuts by banks. “This will be a boost for the low- ticket housing segment (up to Rs.30 lakh) … increasing the loan- to- value will encourage builders to focus on this segment. With the interest rates coming d

“Tax is in the boardrooms. Tax is no longer in the offices of the CFOs, because your brand will suffer if you get a stigma of being atax avoider” The large taxpaying entities are part of the tax base but they understate their income, the Central Board of Direct Taxes ( CBDT) Chairperson Anita Kapur said, pointing towards the findings of a recent study on Thursday at a tax conference. “National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP) study showed us our missing tax population which has an income of ? 4 lakh annually. We don’t have large taxpayers missing from our base; they are in the base but they are understating their income,” said Kapur, at the global tax conference organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry. The CBDT had asked thinktanks NIPFP and Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations to identify the tax gap in the system. In line with the budget announcement, Kapur said that the CBDT is looking at removing exemptions to simplify ta

Jaitley bats for automatic info exchange to tackle black money The finance ministry is proceeding with moves to curb legal tax avoidance by multinational companies ( MNCs). Revenue considerations apart, it has been buoyed by the recommendation that developing countries do so, from the Paris- based Organisation of Economic Co- operation and Development ( OECD). The latter body has made suggestions on an ‘ action plan’ in this regard, issued on Monday, on what is termed base erosion and profit shifting ( BEPS) between countries. It had formulated this at the request of G- 20 countries, a mix of developed and developing ones. The government is studying suggestions on checking instances of double non- taxation and ‘ treaty shopping’, the term for the practise of structuring a multinational business to take advantage of more favourable taxes in certain jurisdictions. It will ensure, say officials, that the proposed General AntiAvoidance Rule ( GAAR, on taxes), expected to come i

With the high court here ruling in favour of Vodafone in a transfer pricing case, the Indian arm of the British telecom company has scored another victory against tax authorities. The case pertains to the sale of its call centre business to Hutchison’s India entity and assignment of call options to Vodafone International BV in 2007- 08. The authorities pursued with their tax demands under transfer pricing rules, despite the Supreme Court having ruled against similar cases earlier this year. In fact, Vodafone approached the high court after a fresh demand was made by the authorities this July. Fereshte D Sethna, senior partner at DMD, legal advisor to Vodafone, said: “ The verdict has reaffirmed justice for Vodafone and is an excellent signal for foreign investors. The high court has struck down the stand of the tax authorities premised inter alia on the fundamental position that tax exigibility of the transaction was already considered by the Supreme Court back in 2012. The tax o

Growth seems to be easing off in most of the world’s major economies, including the United States and more notably in China, the Parisbased Organisation for Economic Co- operation and Development ( OECD) said on Thursday. The OECD said its monthly leading indicator, a synthetic measure that seeks to capture turning points in the economic climate, showed moderating growth generally. However, the euro zone was stable, with growth actually firming up in euro zone countries — France and Italy —and also in India. Taking an index reading of 100 as the long- term average, China slipped further, to 97.2 from 97.6 in its latest update, the OECD said. The US economy dropped to 99.2 from 99.5, Japan to 99.8 from 99.9 and the UK to 99.5 from 99.7. Among bright spots, the euro zone as a whole remained stable at 100.7, with Germany, its largest economy, also steady at 100.0. Business Standard, New Delhi, 9th Oct. 2015