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The capital market regulator said on Thursday independent directors on the boards of listed companies must act in the interest of all shareholders. UK Sinha, chairman, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), was responding to reporters' queries on the role of independent directors in the ongoing boardroom fight in Tata Group companies. Without naming any company, Sinha, on the sidelines of the CII Financial Markets Summit on Thursday, said, “Independent directors have a fiduciary duty to perform and they have their loyalty and obligation to all sharehol ders. So, they must take care of the interest of all shareholders. Besides, they have to follow Sebi's guidelines and the Companies Act.“ The Tata The TataMistry boardroom battle, being played out in several Tata Group companies, has put the spotlight on the role and responsibilities of independent directors. Inde pendent directors of Indian Hotels and Tata Chemicals had unanimously backed Cyrus Mistry and expressed

Income tax authorities have been keeping a close tab on reports in this regard The income tax department launched a multi-city crackdown on those taking demonetised currency at a discount, selling gold at premium in exchange of old notes and hawala operators offering foreign currency at a premium. Raids were carried out in Delhi, Mumbai and some cities of Punjab after reports surfaced of traders taking ` . 1000 notes, selling gold . 500 and ` at as much as ` . 50,000 per 10 gram and dollar touching as high as 100 rupees in the hawala market. Traders on the radar have been asked to furnish details of cash in hand as on November 8, when the government announced the scrapping of . 500 and ` ` . 1000 notes. “Raids have been carried out based on specific intelligence,“ a senior government official told ET. Tax authorities have been keeping a close tab on reports in this regard and have been di rected to be alert as people attempt to get rid of large amounts of unaccounted for cash in the d

Finance minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday reiterated the government’s assurance that people need not fear harassment from the income tax department if they have deposited small amounts in banks following the demonetisation of the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes. The minister also spoke on a number of other issues at the Economic Editors’ Conference in New Delhi. Edited excerpts: Small depositors need not worry about demonetisation: Small deposits which are made, nobody will face any questions or harassment of any kind. So people who have small amounts of cash, there has been an Indian tradition to keep some cash always at home for exigencies and emergencies, which is required, they can exchange that; they can deposit that in their accounts. The revenue departments are not going to take notice of small depositors. In any case, deposits which are within  .. Worry for some: It's only those who have large amounts of undisclosed monies who will have to face the consequences under th

It has given lenders additional time up to 180 days for hammering out a restructuring package under the scheme In a step to address corporate stress, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday made sweeping changes to existing loan recast schemes like S4A, 5/25 and SDR. It has given lenders additional time up to 180 days for hammering out a restructuring package under the scheme for sustainable structuring of stressed asset (S4A). Previously, the time limit was 90 days. There was a need to provide reasonable time to the overseeing committee to review the processes involved in the resolution plan, RBI said in a late night notification. This is step also intended to harmonise rules across various recast schemes, as time given in other schemes such as joint lenders’ forum (JLF) is 180 days. One of the significant changes made to the strategic debt restructuring (SDR) scheme is that the new promoter should have acquired at least 26 per cent of the paid-up equity capital of the borrower compa

Penalty for unaccounted income could range from 50% to 200% of evaded tax If you are one with a hoard of cash in your hand, you should deposit that in banks only if you are able to account for the source of income, says tax experts. Depositing unaccounted money into banks would open up one to scrutiny by the income-tax (I-T) department, though some consultants said it might be worth a chance.  “One should be in a position to match the cash in hand with income from business operations,” said Pallav Pradyumn Narang, partner, Arkay & Arkay, a Delhi-based chartered accountancy firm. Businesses would have barely four months in the current financial year to justify the cash hoard as business income. Alternatively, they should be in a position to establish that the cash was withdrawn for business purpose.  If the amount is unaccounted for, various provisions of Income-Tax Act, 1961, will come into effect. “If the sources of income are unaccounted for, these would be deemed to be current

MUMBAI: Banks are putting in place a backend network to obtain details of people using the window open till December 31 for exchange of high-value notes, and share them with enforcement agencies like the Income Tax department, said two people working on such systems.  “The tax department will get a lot of information,” a banker said on condition of anonymity. “Bankers will have a lot of administrative work to do as they have to collect the Aadhaar and PAN details of people depositing money for exchange.”  We are asking customers to furnish PAN details for deposits of over Rs 10,000 during the demonetisation process,” another banker said on condition of anonymity. “A copy of Aadhaar or PAN will be required if customers want to exchange currency notes.”  The government’s latest announcement is a follow through of its measures against black money post the September 30 deadline for the Income Declaration Scheme, which unearthed Rs 65,000 crore.  There are reporting requirement whenever yo

Banks to remain open this weekend Black money holders will not get any relief from the existing provision of up to 90 per cent tax on unaccounted income for cash deposits above Rs 2.5 lakh. The finance ministry on Wednesday warned that any mismatch between the deposited sum and income declared would attract up to 30 per cent income tax and 200 per cent of tax liability as penalty. Also, jewellers not furnishing the permanent account number (PAN) of buyers would face action, the ministry cautioned, even as there was rush to buy gold on Wednesday. “It should be clear that it’s no immunity scheme. This (deposit) does not provide any relief from taxation. The law of the land will apply (on source of fund),” Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said.  Explaining it further, Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia tweeted: “We would be getting reports of all cash deposited during the period of November 10 to December 30, 2016, above a threshold of Rs 2.5 lakh in every account. The (tax) department would d