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The National Steel Policy approved by the Cabinet on Wednesday accords preference to locally manufactured steel in infrastructure projects but this can only work if there is an increase in the component of steel used in such projects. Steel comprises just 10 per cent infrastructure projects in India though internationally the figure is 40-45 per cent. According to experts, demand for steel in the country has plateaued and can be pushed up by infrastructure development. The policy will focus on increasing the country’s annual steel production to 300 million tonnes by 2025, involving an investment of Rs 10 lakh crore by 2030-31. This will encourage capacity addition, cost-efficient production and facilitate foreign investment. Steel Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh on Thursday  said the government was hopeful of attracting foreign direct investment through this initiative. “The focus on infrastructure-led growth will not only support the demand for steel but will also help us achi

After strongly contested arguments amid a raging public debate, the Supreme Court on Thursday reserved its verdict on the constitutional validity of a law making it mandatory for citizens to link their Permanent Account Number with Aadhaar unique identity.A bench of Justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan will decide on the validity of Section 139AA of the Income Tax Act which provides for compulsory quoting of Aadhaar for filing income tax returns and application for allotment of PAN from July 1.Though the court’s verdict will be confined to the validity of Section 139AA, the judgment will have wider implications as government authorities are expanding the ambit of Aadhaar by linking it to various other schemes.Justifying the law, the Centre termed Aadhaar an effective and fool proof tool to check tax evasion. However, civil society members challenged the provision and said it was a “draconian” law which will take away people’s right of privacy and allow the government to monitor the

The Haryana Goods and Services Tax Bill, 2017, was passed unanimously by the state Assembly here today in a special one-day session convened for the purpose.With the passage of the Bill, Haryana became the eighth state to pass the legislation as the Centre gears up to roll out the new indirect tax regime nationwide from July.The Bill was passed after nearly one hour of discussion.Finance Minister Capt Abhimanyu moved the bill which was supported by the two major opposition parties - the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and the Congress.The GST Council, the top decision making body headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, had earlier approved a model SGST Bill at its 12th Meeting on March 16 this year. Business Standard New Delhi, 05th May 2017

New framework, awaiting Presidential assent, wants cashrich PSUs as buyers The new framework for nonperforming assets (NPAs) will allow stateowned banks to conduct open auctions of NPAs, wherein cashrich public sector companies will be encouraged to buy such assets in their sector. The new framework to deal with ~6 lakh crore worth of toxic assets was approved by the Cabinet on Wednesday.It contains a set of fresh guidelines for public  auction of assets by public sector banks (PSBs) for the steel and power sectors, which account for a majority of toxic assets. The NPA framework includes an Ordinance to amend the Banking Regulations Act to give more teeth to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and its oversight committees to act and intervene on behalf of banks while deciding on toxic assets.The amendment planned is to Section 35A of the Act and will give the RBI the right to issue a directive in the interests of banks. Sources told Business Standard that when stressed assets were put

The NIPFP report has noted that the availability of a large stream of exempted income is a major reason for tax evasion. The report has made a few major recommendations to increase the reach of the taxman to include agriculture — a sector that has by and large remained out of bounds for the taxing authorities at the Centre and in states. The report has thus suggested that the government should examine whether the definition of agricultural income can be amended to restrict the exemption to basic agricultural operation and processes. In other words, activities where there is a significant amount of value addition after the produce is brought out from the soil can be excluded from the ambit of agricultural income. Agriculture in India cannot be taxed by the Centre and it is only states that can consider levying income tax on farming. However, no state has ever considered taxing the farm sector's income in view of the adverse political fallout of such a move. But the NIPFP report

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked the revenue department to scale up e-assessment facilities to cover 25 cities, take corrupt officers to task and promote a regime friendly to taxpayers.He also asked the department to train guns on benami properties and focus on broadening the tax net. At a one and a half hour review meeting on Tuesday attended by Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia and the Central Board of Direct Taxes Chairman Sushil Chandra, the PM is learnt to have demurred some what at the tax collections. “He said the tax collections could have been higher as fall-out of demonetisation but was glad with the department´s efforts,” said an official.Income tax returns grew 21.7 per cent in 2016-17, whereas gross collections grew 16 per cent -the highest in five years.Advance tax grew 15 per cent in 201617 versus 7.5 per cent in the previous financial year. Self-assessment tax, which can be declared for the previous two years (2014-15 and 2015-16), saw a growth of 24 per cent

Most states await directions from the central government Madhya Pradesh may have taken one jump ahead of the other states in switching over to the January December fiscal year, but Andhra Pradesh too is preparing to follow in its footsteps next year. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, whose Telugu Desam Party (TDP) is part of the BJPled National Democratic Alliance (NDA), has been at the forefront of supporting the Centre´s initiatives on many fronts, including the recent demonetisation drive. “The financial year has to be uniform in the country because the states will receive central grants as well as their shares in central taxes, which are calculated and released in specific financial years.Therefore, states will have to align their fiscal years to that of the Centre.Andhra Pradesh is ready to make January-December its fiscal year whenever the government of India wants to make the switchover,”a finance ministry official said. The April-March financial year is a r