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The union cabinet may consider an ordinance on Wednesday to settle all issues regarding demonetisation, clearly providing for the extinguishing of the Reserve Bank of India's liability in respect to cancelled Rs.500 and Rs.1,000 notes. The ordinance is likely to provide for a limited window to return the cancelled currency in special cases to the RBI.The old Rs.500 and Rs.1,000 notes can be deposited with banks and post offices until December 30. “The cabinet may consider an ordinance on Wednesday,“ a source told E While announcing demonetisation on ncing demonetisation on November 8, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said the cancelled currency can be deposited with RBI till March 31, but subsequent notifications did not mention the date. The ordinance may give time till March 31 for notes to be submitted to the central bank but with stiff conditions and only for people who were abroad, armed forced personnel posted in remote areas or others who can give valid reasons for

UPI, USSD to be revamped; UPI transactions double to 70k, NPCI wants faster growth The Centre plans to breathe new life into two key initiatives that can help further its aim of transforming India into a digital economy . The United Payment Interface (UPI) and Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) will soon be launched in new avatars that will make it easier for consumers to transact digitally either with or without an Internet connection. In a week's time, a new strippeddown, easier-to-use application for UPI will be launched, that among other things will feature a single app that users can downlo ad to transact across multiple banks. Also being launched is an upgraded, feature-rich version of USSD platform, which enables banking through feature phones. Since the demonetisation drive announced on November 8, the number of daily transactions on the UPI platform has “doubled to 70,000 with 4.2 million registered users“, according to AP Hota, MD of NPCI which hosts t

With an aim to ease trading requirements, markets regulator Sebi today relaxed the combined futures and options position limit of stock brokers, FPIs and mutual funds in equity derivatives to 20 per cent of the applicable Market Wide Position Limit. The decision has been taken in consultation with Sebi's Secondary Market Advisory Committee. Mint New Delhi 28th December 2016

The Income-tax department has issued notices to over 50 car dealers, asking them to furnish details of customers who have bought cars after November 8, following the demonetisation of 500- and 1,000-rupee currency notes. The notices are being sent under Section 133(6) of the Income Tax Act, 1961, which empowers the I-T authorities to seek information that could be useful in connection with any pending proceeding or enquiry. Confirming the development, a senior income-tax official said that the department has observed a significant increase in car sales during  the past two months. "This is part of an exercise in which we checking the use of junk old notes and also tax evasion through such buying," the official said. The I-T notices call upon car dealers to provide details of customers along with their addresses, make and model numbers of the four-wheelers they've bought, invoiced cost, booking dates, among other details. The department also has asked car dealers

After doubling equity exposure to 10% of its incremental corpus, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) is now looking to take its equity investment strategy to the next level. It is planning to invest in blue-chip stocks outside of the Nifty 50 and Sensex 30 stocks, but within the top 100 stocks in terms of market capitalization and in quality mid caps With increase in equity exposure, the government believes that EPFO needs to diversify the investment basket, at least two government officials said on condition of anonymity. “A combination of blue chips and mid caps has the potential to give better returns and expanding the equity basket will be a logical next move,” one of the two officials said. The official, however, said that the investment vehicle will remain the same—exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and not direct stock investments. An ETF comprises a clutch of stocks that reflect the composition of an index, such as the Nifty or the Sensex, and are traded on st

The government has formed a task force on enforcing business contracts as part of its efforts to improve India’s ease of doing business rankings. India ranked 130 of 190 countries in the World Bank’s 2017 rankings. Under the head of enforcing contracts, India stood at 172, up six points from 2016. Improving this rank is a priority for the government, which has taken steps to enable this. The government on 19 December finalized eight reforms (bit.ly/2h88aWK )to make it easier to do business. Improving its rank under ‘enforcing contracts’ was one, with commerce minister Nirmala Sitharaman asking for e-courts to be expedited for electronic filing of complaints, summons and payments, especially in commercial courts. The nine-member task force, headed by secretary of the department of justice (DoJ) Snehlata Shrivastava, has a 12-point reform agenda to address concerns on enforcing contracts, as per a 23 December notice on the DoJ website. The World Bank’s rankings on contract en

Putting in place the disclosure norms for real estate investment trusts (REITs), Sebi on Monday said the offer document will contain financial information, related-party transactions and past performances. The move came after Sebi, earlier this month, issued detailed norms for public issuance of REITs, including allocation of units to institutional investors. To facilitate the growth of REITs, Sebi last month notified revised and easier regulations for raising capital through this instrument. Sebi had notified the REIT regulations in 2014, allowing setting up and listing such trusts, which are very popular in some advanced markets. However, not a single trust has been set up in India as of now as investors await further measures, including tax breaks, to make these instruments more attractive. In a circular issued on Monday, Sebi said the offer document would contain financial information of last three financial years. These include balance sheet, statements of profit and loss, i