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The Narendra Modi led government believes that “personal laws must comply with fundamental rights”, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said, defending the Centre's opposition to the practice of ‘triple talaq’ among Muslims. The government’s view is clear. Personal laws have to be constitutionally compliant, and the institution of triple talaq, therefore, will have to be judged on the yardstick of equality and the right to live with dignity,” Jaitley wrote in a signed article on Sunday. Uniform civil code debate can go on: Jaitley “Governments in the past have shied from taking a categorical stand that personal laws must comply with Fundamental Rights. The present government has taken a clear position,” he said. The finance minister also sought to differentiate triple talaq from the larger issue of Uniform Civil Code. “As of today, the issue before the Supreme Court is only with regard to the constitutional validity of triple talaq,” he wrote. Hearing petitions on the validity of tr

The finance ministry has assured Central Board of Excise and Customs(CBEC) officers that there will be no reduction of manpower under the new goods and services tax(GST)regime and the HR policy will be drafted after taking their views on board. In a meeting with the ministry last week,central excise officers flagged their concerns about use of technology and transfer of any assessees of excise and service tax to states under the new framework, leading to surplus manpower. “We flagged our concerns regarding surplus manpower and HR policy in the new regime.The board has assured us that there will be no man power reduction. Also they have asked us to send our comments on human resource, which will be looked in to for framing of the policy, ”Ravi Malik, secretary general,All India Association of Central Excise Gazetted Executive Officers, told PTI . The association had earlier planned to hold dharn as on October14, but following the assurance from the board, it decided to shelve the plan.

The government has been quick in strengthening the newly introduced Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016 by framing draft regulations for insolvency process and liquidation of corporate entities, registration of insolvency professionals and insolvency agencies, rules for applications to the adjudicating authority and draft model by-laws for insolvency agencies.  Business Standard takesalookat thebriefbackgroundandprogressof theCode,aswellassomekeyfeatures oftherecentproposalswhichhave beenputupforpublicdiscussiontill October31. WhenwastheCodeintroduced,and withwhatobjective? TheCodecameintoforceonMay28, 2016.Theobjectivewastorevampthe scenarioofassetreconstructionand streamlinetheprocessofcorporate liquidation.Stillinitsnascentstages, thelegislationhasalreadybeenlaudedasapath-breakingdevelopment fromtheearlierframeworkofinsolvency,governedprimarilythoughthe erstwhilecolonialstatutes—The PresidencyTownsInsolvencyAct 1909andTheProvincialInsolvency Act 1920 — alongside the Sick Industrial

What is your first take of India’s accounting standard getting IFRS-compliant? We see this as a nenormous progress for India as the quality of accounting will improve. What is important for Indian business is that Indian accounting standards have come very close to international accounting standards. This will reduce the cost of doing business internationally. There are some carve-outs(under Indian accounting standards) from IFRS. But, we have been told that these differences will disappear overtime. We are an international organisation. We cannot impose our standards on anybody.All the 120 countries that follow our standard do so voluntarily.  Many companies that have adopted the new accounting standard have expressed reservation over giving away too much information to shareholders and the public. Those complaints are not typically Indian. We hear them everywhere. Accounting is not an exact science. It has alot to do with judgment and people have differences of opinion. Not even one

Insurance companies will not be asked to compulsorily list themselves on the stock market, as the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) is having second thoughts about it after a nudge from the finance ministry. “We had never insisted on it (listing).It is only a discussion paper and should be seen in that perspective,” Irdai Chairman T S Vijayan told Business Standard . He also said he had received comments on the paper from many companies asking for a reconsideration of the proposal.“We are willing to wait", he added. In August,Irdai surprised the 55 life and non-life insurance companies in India, when it issued the discussion paper on the need for them to get listed. The regulator gave the companies a short time frame of less than a month to respond. “The hurry created an impression among firms that the final regulations would be in place soon”,said the CEO of an  insurance company. Several companies have since approached the finance ministry,asking t

Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have petitioned the Union home ministry to extend the deadline for renewing their licence under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA). NGOs require an FCRA licence to receive money from foreign donors and they have to submit annual account statements to the Foreigners Division in the ministry of home affairs. The renewal process started in April this year and FCRAregistered NGOs were asked to apply for renewal of their licences by June 30. “While many NGOs have been able to secure their renewals, a sizeable number of FCRA-registered organisations still await an inkling of communication from the FCRA department,” said Voluntary Action India (VANI), which works as an umbrella organisation for other non-profits, in apress release. Earlier, the ministry had extended the validity of licences expiring on September 30 to October 31. In their petition, the NGOs have asked the government to extend the validity to December 31. “Non-disbu

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is likely to ask credit rating agencies (CRAs) to disclose the general nature of compensation arrangements with the rated entities, including exchange of gifts. This is to address the conflict of interest arising from agencies charging companies for rating their securities. Agencies will have to include a note in their operations manual on how they manage this conflict. Further, any conflict of interest owing to the composition of members in the ratings committee has to be reported during an internal audit of the agencies. “Investors relying on rating agencies should be aware of the monetary compensation given to the agencies. This will help them decide whether the rating, especially a positive one, is fair or not, and if there is an arm’s length distance between the issuer and the agency,” said Tejesh Chitlangi, partner, IC Legal. The guidelines might also mandate publishing of guidelines on what constitutes non-cooperation fro