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Reserve Bank of India. In response to a RTI query by HT, the central bank said the central board of directors recommended ban on rs 1000 and 500 notes at its meeting in New Delhi on November 8, hours before PM Modi announced the step on TV. (AFP File Photo ) The government and the RBI have kept the consultation process that led to the decision to demonetise 86% of India’s cash in circulation a closely-guarded secret. Both, however, have insisted that the demonetisation plan had been under discussion for long and consultations were being held. Economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das told reporters on November 8 that there was “no need to go into the process which led to this decision. I think what we should be focusing on is the outcome and the decision itself”. The government’s shock move has led to a severe cash crunch, forcing millions of people to line up at banks and ATM kiosks for more than a month. Cash withdrawals have been restricted, but most banks are unable to provide ev

NEW DELHI: The Income Tax department today clarified that businesses and traders receiving cash exceeding Rs 2 lakh in any single transaction for sale of goods and services are required to report it to the authorities. The clarification on the reporting guidelines under Rule 114E of Income Tax Rules, 1962, which came into force from April this year, has come amid doubts being expressed in certain quarters about reporting of cash transactions that aggregate to Rs 2 lakh. "The norms of aggregation contained in sub-rule 3 of Rule 114E have been amended vide CBDT notification dated October 6, 2016, clearly indicating that the said transactions did not require aggregation and the reporting requirement under SFT for this purpose is on receipt of cash payment exceeding rupees two lakh for sale of goods or services per transaction," the CBDT said in a statement. Rule 114E of Income-Tax Rules, 1962, for furnishing Statement of Financial Transactions (SFT) came into force with effect

The government on Friday announced that Aadhaar and e-Aadhaar card could be used as proof of date of birth (DOB) while applying for passports.   In order to streamline, liberalise and ease the process of issue of passport, the ministry has taken a number of steps in the realm of passport policy, expected to benefit the citizens of India applying for a passport, said Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh.   In case of proof of DOB, while filing the application, it has now been decided that all applicants of passports can submit any one of the documents transfer/school leaving/matriculation certificate, PAN card, Aadhaar card/e-Aadhaar having the DOB of applicant, copy of the extract of the service record of the applicant, driving licence, Election Photo Identity Card (EPIC) or LIC policy bond.   Birth Certificate issued by the Registrar of Births & Deaths or the Municipal Corporation or any other prescribed authority whosoever has been empowered under the Registration of

The tricky issues of division of administrative turf over assessees between the Centre and states — which can make or break the roll-out of the goods and services tax (GST) on April 1 — was not taken up by the GST Council during its two-day meeting that ended Friday. All other provisions of the draft model GST Bill and compensation Bill were cleared. The next meeting of the Council, on January 3 and 4, will try to resolve the issue of dividing the administrative powers between the Centre and states, but signals given by state governments on Friday suggest that it would be a difficult task.  The meeting will also take up the Integrated GST (IGST) Bill. GST “That leaves us with the very important work of IGST law and cross-empowerment,” Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told reporters after the meeting on Friday. A state finance minister said states were clear there should be no dual control over assessees with up to Rs 1.5 crore annual turnover. This means that states want sole contr

STILL ATTRACTIVE PPF rate may see a marginal cut of 20-25 bps; but it will continue to be one of the best debt instruments for investors, say experts Investors in the Public Provident Fund (PPF) and other small savings schemes should get ready for another rate cut. If the government follows the Gopinath Panel formula that links small savings in-terest rates with government bond yields, the PPF rate could be cut by almost 100 basis points to 7%. According to the Gopinath Panel formula, the interest rates of small savings schemes are slightly higher than the average yield of government bonds of the same maturity in the preceding three months. In case of the PPF , the rate is 25 basis point above the average 10-year government bond yield.The 10-year yield has dropped to 6.5% and has stayed decidedly below the 7% mark throughout the past three months. If the government follows the formula, the PPF rate could fall to almost 7% in the January-March quarter. Analysts feel the government

Barring some clauses, centre and states have agreed upon most of proposed Central GST law The Goods and Services Tax Council on Thursday cleared a substantial part of the central legislation for the proposed tax regime, marking a significant progress towards this reform. The thornier issue of division of tax administration between the centre and states that can possibly delay the implementation of the new tax regime will be taken up on Friday. “A substantial part of the C-GST law barring four to five clauses where we need some more deliberations have been cleared...The council has reached broad consensus on the law,“ a government official said after the first day of the GST Council meeting, not wanting to be named. The C-GST law refers to the central GST law, which will be complemented by state GST laws and an integrated GST law that deals with inter-state delivery of goods and services. The government is keen to roll out the new regime from April 1, 2017, but now the deadl

In future, you may have to prove you have sufficient parking space before being aallowed to buy a car. Urban development minister M. Venkaiah Naidu told reporters on Thursday that it would be made compulsory for car owners to provide an adequate parking space certificate. “No car or vehicle will be registered without an adequate parking space available certificate. I am very keen on this. I am holding discussions with the surface transport minister and also sensitizing the states. We would be moving in that direction,” Naidu. “In future, it will be mandated. No permission will be given to any construction without a toilet,” Naidu said at the launch of a toilet locator mobile app. Officials in the ministry said to enforce such a decision nationally, amendments will have to be made to the Motor Vehicles Act. Separately, the government in August had introduced the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2016 in the Lok Sabha. The amendments, aimed to increase road safety and compensation,