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Experts feel a higher rate may add to inflationary pressure, hurt services taxed at around 15% now Policymakers in some quarters of the government favour a goods and services tax rate of around 16% to make the reform more acceptable and also ensure it does not add to inflationary pressures. The new fiscal framework could provide the government wiggle room so that if revenues take a hit because of the low tax rate, this space could be utilized till the biggest tax reform since Independence starts yielding gains. “A lower tax rate will ensure that the new tax is readily accepted... It means that there would be no demand and price shock to the economy,“ said a top government official who is aware of the discussion. This would be closer to the 16.8% average goods and services tax in highincome countries than the 14.4% in emerging economies. A number of countries including Australia, New Zealand and Canada experienced an increase in prices after GST was implemented, a fact that th

Rise Of Debit Cards, New Payment Tools Make Life Easier For Customers Not so long ago, bank strikes would impact everyone -from large companies to the common man, who queued up at a branch to withdraw money or deposit a cheque.Now for most, bank strikes pass off as a non-event given the advent of other payment channels -from plastic money to mobile wallets. Add to that the rise of private banks and weakening grip of unions. On Friday , when trade unions called a nation-wide strike to push their demands, the All Indian Bank Officers' Confederation (AIBOC) pulled out of the strike at the last minute, even as five other unions went ahead.As a result, the impact was limited at lenders such as SBI. And, banks' work process has undergone a big change.“Money transfer can be done 24x7. There are options such as Immediate Payment Servi ce (IMPS), which are outside the branch network and are not affected by strikes,“ said A P Hota, who heads National Payments Corporation of India

Rajasthan Assembly on Friday unanimously ratified the Constitution Amendment Bill on Goods and Services Tax (GST) passed by Parliament. Speaking on the resolution, Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje said that the GST will have a very positive impact and states including Rajasthan will get advantages. Business Standard New Delhi,03th September 2016

The Reserve Bank of India(RBI)hascome out with yet another measure to ensure better real is ation of stressed assets by widening the market for their sales.RBI has allowed banks to sell these assets toother banks,non-banking financial companies,or financial institutions. Earlier, sales of stressed assets were restricted to securitisation companies/reconstruction companies. But banks believe this is just another step,andit may take a while before it turn sout effective. "At a time when most banks ares addled with high level sof bad loans,it is difficult to imagine they will be actively participating in the market to buy more stressed assets and then resolving them,"said the chief financial officer of a private sector bank. However, these new norms may bring down sale of stressed assets to asset reconstruction companies(ARCs). "Banks will have to continue to make loan-loss provisions even if they sell stressed assets to ARCs.This is an important gap the RBI is tr

The Securities and Exchange Board of India announced a series of measures for strengthening and upgrading of risk management in commodity derivatives markets. Some new concepts were also introduced to deal with liquidity problems in stressed situations.For instance, upto two days of risk coverage by initial margin, concentration margin, tool store gain matched book and ‘default waterfall’. An exchange’s accountability in a defaulth as also been increased, to match those at equity exchanges. Business Standard New Delhi,02th September 2016

In a bid to improve the sale of bad loans by lenders, the Reserve Bank of India has allowed banks to sell these assets to other banks, nonbanking financial companies ( NBFCs) or financial institutions. It has also made banks’ boards more accountable for stress resolution. “Prospective buyers need not be restricted to SCs/ RCs ( securitisation companies/ reconstruction companies). Banks may also offer the assets to other banks/ NBFCs/ FIs, etc, who have the necessary capital and expertise in resolving stressed assets,” said RBI. The RBI believes this will lead to better price discovery, and to attract more buyers lenders have been asked to follow the e- auction process. Prospective buyers should also be given a minimum of two weeks for due- diligence and in case the exposure is above ? 50 crore, then banks need to get at least two external valuation reports. The head of banking and finance practice with an international advisory firm said while the intent was good, it was more

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday directed credit information companies (CIC) to provide free credit reports in full to individuals whose credit score is maintained with the agency, effective January 1. The electronic report should be provided upon request and after due verification about the authenticity of the customer, any time during the calendar year, RBI said.  “This report must show the latest position of the credit institutions’ exposure to the individual as per records available with the CIC,” RBI said in its notification, adding, the contents of the report should be the “same as appearing in the most detailed version of the reports on the individual provided to credit institutions, including the credit score”. An RBI-appointed committee headed by HDFC Bank Managing Director Aditya Puri had recommended that each customer of a credit institution be provided one base-level consumer credit information report free of cost every year by each credit information com