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No extension for sale of pre-GST stock with revised MRP stickers: Ram Vilas Paswan  The government will not further extend the deadline for selling pre-GST stock with revised maximum retail price (MRP) stickers beyond this month, Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ram Vilas Paswan has said.  When the goods and service tax (GST) came to be implemented from July 1st last year, the government had allowed marketers to display alongside the old MRP, details of the revised MRP on pre-GST stocks by way of stamping, putting sticker, or online printing.  "Retailers will display only one MRP after 31st March. We are not in favour of providing an extension of deadline for MRP stickering," Paswan told reporters on the sidelines of World Consumer Rights Day briefing here on Thursday.  The process of sticking revised MRP on packaged products had to be undertaken by manufacturers, packers and importers only, the department had notified.  The department of con

 FMCG suppliers move court as sops go missing in tax exempted zones Suppliers to major FMCG companies that were given tax exemptions for investing in industrially marginal areas of Uttarakhand, J&K, Himachal Pradesh and the North East have dragged the government to court over the apparent lack of such concessions in the Goods and Services Tax (GST).  Under the erstwhile tax regime, manufacturers who would invest in some areas would get indirect tax exemptions from the state governments – and sometimes from the central government. The idea was to encourage more investments in these exempted zones. In the past few years, India’s top FMCG companies such as Hindustan UnileverBSE 0.29 % and Godrej ConsumerBSE -0.99 % have been sourcing most of their products from manufacturers in these areas.  In the writ petition filed in Uttarakhand High Court’s Nainital bench, the vendors said that under GST there is no clarity of what would happen to the exemptions given under the earlier re

Sebi raises currency derivative trade limit to Rs 100 mn The move will help entities engaged in forex transactions to maintain their currency risks in a better manner. Capital markets regulator Sebi today raised the exposure limit under exchange-traded currency derivatives trading for residents and FPIs to USD 100 million across all currency pairs involving the Indian rupee. The move will help entities engaged in forex transactions to maintain their currency risks in a better manner. The decision comes after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in February raised these limits, beyond which market participants would be required to establish proof of underlying exposure in the currency derivatives segment. "Domestic clients/FPIs may take long or short positions without having to establish existence of underlying exposure, up to a single limit of USD 100 million equivalent, across all currency pairs involving INR, put together, and combined across all the stock exchanges," Se

 Revise your Feb 12 guidelines on stressed loans: Power producers to RBI New set of guidelines ignore practical issues in segment, they plead, lessening banks' incentive to help those in genuine difficulty; want debt restructuring to continue Power producers have asked the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to revise its February 12 guidelines on doing away with some earlier debt reorganising instruments, such as Statutory Debt Restructuring (SDR) or the Scheme for Sustainable Structuring of Stressed Assets (S4A). They have asked that where these had already been invoked, the provisions be allowed to be carried over, at least for 12-18 months. The revised framework, they also feel, should provide for implementation of a resolution plan (RP) if approved by 75 per cent of lenders by value, in line with the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. And, that the schedule for an RP needs to take into account the receipt of regulatory or government approvals -- in many cases, projects are held b

  CBEC camps from Mar 15 to fast track GST refunds to exporters Sarna said there are instances of exporters committing errors while filing refund claims and to help them, the department has started giving out refunds partially with manual intervention To ease exporters' GST refund woes, revenue authorities will set up camps across the country for a fortnight beginning March 15, CBEC Chairperson Vanaja Sarna said today The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) has already given refunds to the tune of Rs 50 billion but as much as 70 per cent of total refunds to exporters is still stuck even after eight months of GST roll out. Sarna said there are instances of exporters committing errors while filing refund claims and to help them, the department has started giving out refunds partially with manual intervention. "Now to solve it completely we have instituted a special fortnight campaign, starting from March 15 which will go on till March 29. There are going to be c

  Indian economy to grow at 7.3% in FY19 and 7.5% in FY20: World Bank The investment rate, as represented by the gross fixed capital formation, stood at 7.6 per cent in 2017-18, growing from a low of 1.6 per cent in 2013-14 Keeping its previous estimate of India’s GDP growth in 2017-18 unchanged at 6.7 per cent, the World Bank has signalled that the economic slowdown has bottomed out, and maintained its growth forecast for 2018-19 at 7.3 per cent and 7.5 per cent for 2019-20. The government’s Central Statistics Office, in its second advance estimate, had pegged the gross domestic product (GDP) growth at 6.6 per cent, marginally above 6.5 per cent in the first advance estimate. However, the pleasing growth projections come with the assumption that investments will grow at 6.7 per cent in 2019-20. The investment rate, as represented by the gross fixed capital formation, stood at 7.6 per cent in 2017-18, growing from a low of 1.6 per cent in 2013-14. “Continuing subdued rate of

  Parliamentary Panel asks government to review employees pension scheme A parliamentary panel has asked the government to assess the Employees Pension Scheme 1995 and consider a revision of the minimum monthly pension of Rs 1,000, saying the social security benefit is too meagre to fulfil even the basic needs.  Trade unions have been demanding for a very long time that minimum pension may be raised to Rs 3,000 a month. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Labour in its 34th report tabled in Parliament on Wednesday said that it firmly believes that this (Rs 1,000) is way too meagre.  The committee recommended that government conduct an assessment of the pension scheme with particular reference to the right to sustenance of the pensioners, and based on the findings, consider a revision of the amount.  The Employee Provident Fund Organisation had started providing minimum monthly pension of `1,000 under the Employees Pension Scheme 1995 from September 1, 2014. The committee