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Promoters and directors of a listed company are required to disclose details about shares received by way of gift and through off-market transactions, according to regulator Sebi.The clarifications have been given as part of an informal guidance sought by Kotak Mahindra Bank regarding certain aspects of the Prohibition of Insider Trading (PIT) regulations. Mint New Delhi, 09th May 2017

SUPPORT SYSTEM Common Service Centres will help merchants, especially in rural & semi-urban areas, in filing taxes under GST and provide the needed support The government's massive network of Common Service Centres (CSCs), or digital kiosks, have been identified to facilitate the rollout of Goods and Services Tax (GST), especially in rural and semi-urban areas. Out of the total 2,52,000 CSCs that are operational, around 1,72,000 are in the rural areas. These centres will help merchants in filing taxes under the new regime and also provide necessary training and support services to people. The proposal is close to getting a final approval from the government. Dinesh Kumar Tyagi, CEO, CSC e-Governance Services, told ET that the centres are proposed to act as a GST Suvidha Provider.They will also train and support merchants. “The agency will have its own portal where all the details will be filled up which will be synced with the main portal of the GST,“ he said.It will act

The labour ministry has amended the social security schemes run by the retirement fund body Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) to enable it to make all payments — pension, provident fund and insurance — to members electronically."The labour ministry has amended the schemes run by the EPFO by a notification. This will enable the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation to make all payments like EPF and pension through digital mode," an official said.It was provided in the schemes run by the EPFO that the body can make payments to its subscribers through various modes like money order, cheques or electronically. Business Standard New Delhi, 09th May 2017

The government is looking to amend the Negotiable Instruments Act in the upcoming monsoon session in a push for less cash economy, and a draft Bill in this regard is being readied." We have worked out something. It will go for Cabinet approval and we are hoping to introduce it in the monsoon session," a senior finance ministry official said. However, the official did not share details. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had made an announcement to this effect in the Budget 2017-18 (rpt) 2017-18."As we move faster on the path of digital transactions and cheque payments, we need to ensure the payees of dishonoured cheques are able to realise the payments. The government is there fore considering the option of amending the Negotiable Instruments Act suitably,” Jaitley had said. In 2015, Parliament passed amendment to the Negotiable Instrument Act, providing for filing of cheque bounce cases at the place where a cheque is presented for clearance and not the place of issua

Proposed amendment to PMLA could expedite recovery process After providing more powers to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to tackle the bad loan problem in the banking industry, the Centre is likely to empower the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Income Tax (I-T) Department to auction assets of defaulters or those engaged in money laundering. Such a move could help in expediting the recovery process in cases where investors have lost thousands of crores of rupees. The Centre might introduce provisions in the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to enable the ED or the I-T department to auction attached assets soon after filing the chargesheet or before the case trials begin. The ED now has the powers to provisionally attach the property of a person believed to be in possession of “proceeds of a crime”. Such proceeds are likely to be concealed or transferred and may result in frustrating proceedings relating to confiscation. After the provisional attachment of the property,

The Modi government's proposed land bill is coming back in the reckoning after being in cold storage for more than a year. The parliamentary joint panel reviewing the legislation will meet on May 22 to debate its social impact assessment, a bone of contention between the government and the Opposition. "It is very much on the agenda. The goverment has never decided to withdraw the bill despite the fierce criticism against it," said a member of the joint committee on the land bill. In the UPA-era land law, evry aquisition, regardless of size, would go through a social impact assessment. The assessment was aimed to determine the possible impact and benefits of the acquisition not just on land owners but other people living nearby. The assessment forms the basis for compensation. After coming to power, the NDA offered exemptions to five types of projects from this social impact assessment and virtually took away the farmer's right of refusal to sell land for governmen

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has advised public sector banks to put in placeafair and transparent mechanism for appointment of statutory branch auditors.The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India has been raising concerns over the selection process followed by banks in this regard.The institute had proposed developing a software for fair, transparent and equitable allotment of statutory audits and to reduce manual intervention. Business Standard New Delhi, 08th May 2017