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FAST-PACED MOVE Disinvestment receipts are crucial for meeting fiscal deficit target, given that govt wants to continue public capital spending Big-ticket share buybacks by state-run companies, including Coal India and ONGC, are on the cards to help the government meet its disinvestment target for the year. Cash-rich central public sector enterprises are expected to lead this drive to ensure that the Rs.56,500-crore target is met.“To professionally manage surpluses, some CPSEs are considering merit-based restructuring of capital, which includes buybacks.These are being considered on a case-to-case basis,“ said a senior official with the Department of Investment & Public Asset Management. At present, the government is looking at a 10% buyback in National Aluminium Company , which had Rs.4,627.98 cash and bank balances of ` crore at end of March 2015. Other cash-rich compani

The Income Tax (I-T) department will now add interest amount to a delayed refund made on excess tax deducted at source (TDS) cuts and will also not litigate with the deductor on this issue in the future, a latest directive has said. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has issued a directive in this regard to the assessing officers of the I-T department based on a 2014 Supreme Court order, where the apex court had made it clear that the taxman is “bound” to pay an interest on refund made under the TDS category. TDS is primarily deducted by the employer from the salary paid to an employee. “In view of the judgment of the apex court, it is settled that if a resident deductor is entitled for the refund of tax deposited under Section 195 (other sums) of the Act (Income Tax Act), then it has to be refunded with interest under section 244A  from the date of payment of such tax,” the CBDT communication issued on Tuesday said. The CBDT has further directed that “accordingly,

Further tightening the norms in commodity derivatives trade, The Securities and Exchange Board of India ( Sebi) has asked commodity exchanges to adopt the same proprietary trading practices as in securities markets. Comexes have been told to accordingly change their rules According to trade sources, many brokers currently take front- end positions in comexes in proprietary accounts, later transferred to clients’ accounts through client code modifications (CCM). Sources estimate 25- 30 per cent of trades go through in this manner. “Once this circular is adopted, such practices would stop,” said a senior official with a leading brokerage. Earlier, Sebi had asked exchanges to use CCM only in extreme cases. The current circular is meant to increase the transparency in dealings between a stock broker and clients in commodity derivatives. Sebi circular, dated November 19, 2003, also says proprietary trade should only be done from the registered office of a broker, a practice adopted by e

The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the government to come up with a proposal for appointment of a committee to look into the issues raised regarding bad loans and huge write- offs by public sector banks. A Bench of Chief Justice of India TS Thakur asked the Centre and Reserve Bank of India ( RBI) to respond to various issues raised by senior advocate Prashant Bhushan of the Centre for Public Interest Litigation in the matter. The court also allowed Indian Banks’ Association, another respondent, to file a response. The court was hearing a public interest litigation petition filed in 2003 by the CPIL against Hudco, which has since been widened to include RBI, banks and other financial institutions. The matter was adjourned to July 19. After going through the various issues raised by Bhushan, including adequacy of promoter guarantee, safeguards against bank- shopping and evergreening of loans, Thakur said, “ We are not financial experts,” adding, “ You propose acommittee

www.caonline.in News... 1.Anti-dumping duty on synchronous digital hierarchy transmission equipment: Notification No. 15/2016-Customs. 2.Govt. mandates panic button and GPS in mobile phone. 3.No penalty for bonafide mistake in claiming both depreciation and deduction u/s. 24(a). [B. L. International vs. ACIT (ITAT Delhi)]. 4.Interest paid for shares acquisition would partake character of shares cost. [DCIT vs. Fritz D. Silva ( ITAT Mumbai)]. 5.LTCG cannot be disallowed merely based on information received from DDIT. [Kamlesh Mundra vs. ITO (ITAT Mumbai)]. For more News Like us onhttps://www.facebook.com/caonlineofficial Or Subscribe on mail visit : www.caonline.in

n a bid to clear the backlog of applications for patents, designs and trademarks, the central government has added 458 examiners to the existing 130. Besides, 263 examiners would be hired on contract basis, said Ramesh Abhishek, secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP). According to him, the government would bring down the time taken to examine applications from the current five-to-seven years to 18 months by March 2018. Speaking at an event organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) on the occasion of International Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) day, Abhishek said applications for trademarks would be cleared within a month by March 2017. Such applications currently take 13 months to clear. “We’ve appointed a panel of about 80 lawyers, who will provide free consultation and legal advise to start-ups. The rules will be notified soon.”   Applications were now being reviewed on a monthly, quarterly and yearly basis,

Companies to pay shareholders via buybacks, which attract zero tax In order to reward shareholders, especially promoters, companies are opting for share buybacks over dividend payouts. This is because buybacks attract zero tax whereas dividends are taxable and now attract additional levy. Bharti Airtel and Bharti Infratel on Saturday said their boards would decide whether to go for dividends or buyback — or both. Technology firm Wipro has announced a Rs 2,500-crore buyback (to start in May) and a final dividend of Rs 1 per share as against Rs 7 per share for the previous financial year (2015-16). Wipro joined nearly half a dozen listed companies, including pharma firm Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, that have announced buybacks since the start of the new financial year (2016-17) on April 1. The trigger for buybacks over dividends is the additional 10 per cent tax announced in this year’s Budget on individuals receiving dividend income in excess of Rs 10 lakh in a financial year. This ta