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The Securities and Exchange Board of India, or Sebi, on Friday, said it has set up a committee under the chairmanship of Uday Kotak, executive vice-chairman and managing director of Kotak Mahindra Bank, to advise on issues relating to corporate governance. The 21-member panel includes representatives from other companies, stock exchanges, professional bodies, investor groups, law firms and academicians. Mint New Delhi, 03rd June 2017

NITI Aayog chief refers to Rao and Vajpayee govts, says reforms will lead to accelerated growth with a lag India’s economy will likely expand by 7.5% this financial year and by more than 8% by 2018-19 as economic reforms being put in place by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government start delivering results, NITI Aayog vice-chairman Arvind Panagariya said on Friday. “The full impact of the economic reforms and changes in governance being undertaken at present is yet to be realized,” said Panagariya , who was a professor of economics at Columbia University before taking charge in 2015 at NITI Aayog, the government think tank that replaced the Planning Commission. “Reforms will lead to accelerated growth with a lag,” he said, citing the experience with reforms carried out in the 1991-96 term of the Congress government under P.V. Narasimha Rao and subsequently by the NDA regime led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 1998-2004. The impact of the reforms and economic growth in job crea

The income tax (I-T) department has decided to clamp down on benami assets, including houses, plots and jewellery, acquired in the past three years during the first phase of its crackdown on nameless property. Government sources said that depending on the response the department receives, it will decide whether or not to probe into cases that are beyond the three-year period. “We will first take a three year period from 2014 to clamp down on benami properties. The department will act only on the basis of evidence, we cannot start going after people on an ad hoc basis,” a senior official of the finance ministry’s revenue department told HT on the condition of anonymity. All those whose tax returns do not match their asset values will an income tax dept official be served notice by the I-T department, which would also continue to focus on the already pending cases. In a review meeting with taxmen held last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi underlined the urgent need to take all the

The Andhra Pradesh government has requested the Centre to take steps for lowering the goods and services tax(GST) rates on ten categories of goodsand services, including tractors, fertilisers, and cashew nut kernels, stating the new rates would increase the tax burden on these items.State Finance Minister, Yanamala Ramakrishnudu, has written a letter to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley citing the concerns of trade on industry.According to the minister, the GST rates on these items are far higher than the combined rate of the existing state and Central taxes. The minister informed that the guiding principle in fixing the GST rates was that it should not exceed the combined rate of VAT, Central Excise/Service Tax, lest it would trigger inflation and hardship to the consumers. Business Standard New Delhi, 03rd June 2017

The Income Tax department on Friday warned people against indulging in cash transaction of Rs 2 lakh or more saying that the receiver of the amount will have to cough up an equal amount as penalty.It also advised people having knowledge of such dealings to tip-off the tax department by sending an email to ´blackmoneyinfo@incometax.gov.in´. The government has banned cash transactions of Rs 2 lakh or more from April 1, 2017, through the Finance Act 2017. Business Standard New Delhi, 03rd June 2017

40% relief may be increased to 60% at Council meet today In some relief for businesses, the goods and services tax (GST) Council might on Saturday enhance the refund limit for input taxes already paid on existing stock with traders without an invoice to around 60 per cent, up from the 40 per cent decided earlier.This comes after strong demand from industry. Companies have argued that a partial credit refund will adversely impact the supply chain, as most distributors would like to get into the GST regime with zero held over inventory. Business´ demand for enhancement of the refund limit ranges between 60 and 100 per cent.“We will address the concern. We have proposed enhancing the limit from the current 40 per cent to somewhere close to 60 per cent. But, we also have to balance our revenues.We cannot give out more refunds than the tax revenues.We will give 100 per cent refund if the invoice is furnished,” said a government official, who did not wish to be named. Under the GST, ta

The Institute of Chartered Accounts of India (ICAI), the regulatory body governing auditors, has proposed to the Ministry of Finance and Reserve Bank of India introduction of the concept of joint audit in private banks to enhance the quality of audit.This follows questions over role of auditors in estimation of non-performing assets (NPAs) of some private sector banks. Recently three private sector banks—Yes Bank, Axis Bank and ICICI Bank—had reported gross NPA figures in FY 2015-16 that were in variance of the RBI´s estimates.“As such we understand that there is no difference in the approach by ICAI members and RBI” when it comes to evaluation of NPAs, the institute said in an email response to Business Standard. It however added that there could be divergence in the loans identified as NPA by the management (ofabank), and agreed to by auditor, as against NPAs as per RBI inspectors.According to ICAI, these could crop up due to variety of reasons, including difference in interpreta