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Finance minister Arun Jaitley on Monday launched a portal to electronically collect over Rs.2 lakh crore annually in non-tax receipts from sources such as dividends by state-owned firms, RBI and spectrum fee. “This (portal) has its own advantages and it will reduce a lot of manual work now,” Jaitley said while inaugurating the Non-Tax Receipt Portal (NTRP), developed by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA). State-owned NTPC remitted an interim dividend of Rs. 989 crore to government through the electronic mode. The annual collection of nontax receipts amounts to over Rs. 2 lakh crore. It mainly includes dividends, interest receipts, spectrum charges, licence fee, sale of forms and RTI application fees. According to the budget, the government aims to collect over Rs. 2.21 lakh crore as non-tax receipts during 2015-16. Hindustan Times, New Delhi, 16th February 2016

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on tightened its norms for mutual funds’ exposure to riskier corporate bonds, including capping the investment limit in bonds of a single company at 10%, in a move to safeguard investors’ interest. The single sector exposure limit would be lowered from 30% to 25%, while group-level investment limits of 20-25% have also been introduced for mutual funds (MFs) investing in debt securities. Hindustan Times, New Delhi, 16th February 2016

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) is fine with listing on the rival BSE exchange if all mandatory disclosures can be directly sent to either the Securities and Exchange Board of India ( Sebi) or another regulatory body. “We can be listed anywhere but disclosure should happen to the regulator or a neutral body,” sources in NSE told Business Standard. While BSE has said it is fine with cross- listing and providing compliancerelated details to NSE, the latter wants to list on its own platform. However, Sebi norms don’t allow a stock exchange to list on its own platform. “Any entity or stock exchange will be comfortable if regulated or supervised by a competent regulatory authority rather than by another exchange. The same logic holds true for NSE,” the sources said. Last month, Sebi issued a notification amending the Stock Exchanges and Clearing Corporations Regulations, making it easier for exchanges to list. The regulator, however, did not allow self- listing. “ A recognis

The Income Tax Department today said infrastructure companies will have the option to choose the year from which they desire to claim tax benefits for ten consecutive years, a move aimed at reducing litigations. Issuing clarification, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said 'initial assessment year' in the Section 80IA (5) of the Income Tax Act, dealing with tax holiday, would mean the first year on which a company would claim for tax benefit. Companies engaged in sectors like infrastructure, road and power get tax holiday under the Section 80 IA of the Act. The CBDT said it had representation that some Assessing Officers were interpreting the term 'initial assessment year' as the year in which the business activity had commenced. The CBDT clarified that an eligible assessee has the option to choose initial/first year from which it may desire the claim of deduction for 10 consecutive years. "It is hereby clarified that once such initial assessment

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday appealed to the income tax assessees to pay dues in advance of the due date and use alternate channels of authorised banks to avoid the rush during end of March. A total of 29 agency banks have been authorised to accept payments of income-tax dues. The authorised banks include SBI and its five associates, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis, Bank, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Indian Overseas Bank. Among others are Corporation Bank, Dena Bank, Canara Bank, Central Bank of India, Syndicate Bank and others. The Economic Times, New Delhi, 16th Feruary 2016

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is in talks with the government to widen its jurisdiction over collective investment schemes (CIS), two persons familiar with the development said. The capital markets regulator wants to be empowered to regulate all such schemes irrespective of the size of the corpus. While expanding its scope in terms of size, Sebi is also seeking to fine-tune the definition of a CIS to ensure that certain legitimate activities don’t fall under this category. Existing rules allow the markets watchdog to regulate or act against an entity pooling public funds only if such an entity is not regulated by any other regulator and the amount mobilized by the entity is Rs.100 crore or more. According to the two persons cited above, who spoke on condition of anonymity, this loophole allows a number of entities to escape Sebi scrutiny until their corpus reaches Rs.100 crore. “Through the amendment of the extant norms, Sebi will not only be empowered w

After the 2013 amendment to the Companies Act, a person who has attained 70 years may be appointed managing director by passing a special resolution. It shall be accompanied by an explanatory statement annexed to the notice for such motion justifying the position while deciding the case, Sridhar vs Ultramarine & Pigments Ltd. The joint director sought an injunction against the chairman & managing director continuing, since he was over 70 years. He was appointed before the amendment. The incumbent stated that the amendment could not be enforced retrospectively. The high court therefore explained that if he was already appointed prior to the amendment when he was below 70, “ the disqualification would operate automatically, subject to the provison i. e. special resolution being passed by the company.” Business Standard, New Delhi, 15th Feb. 2016