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GST Council okays single return a month; differences emerge on sugar cess Two groups of ministers (GoMs) will deliberate further on these matters and submit their reports in a fortnight The GST Council on Friday approved a simplified return filing framework that would require a taxpayer to file only one return every month against three at present. The Council has set a period of six months for the transition to take place. However, there was no consensus on the proposal to levy Rs 3-a-kg sugar cess, and on incentives to promote digitisation. The former evoked sharp protests from Kerala, West Bengal, and Andhra Pradesh in the three-hour meeting via video conferencing, chaired by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. There was also no consensus on reducing the GST rate on ethanol, currently taxed at 18 per cent. Two groups of ministers (GoMs) will deliberate further on these matters and submit their reports in a fortnight. Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac, one of the vocal cri

SEBI proposes changes to norms governing raising of equity capital The Sebi has proposed to allow companies to extend the IPO time period from three days without reducing the price band. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Friday proposed a slew of changes to norms governing raising of equity capital. Among the changes suggested by the Sebi include an increase in threshold from Rs 5 million to Rs 100 million for filing of a “draft letter of offer” for a rights issue. The regulator has also proposed to reduce the time gap between announcement of the price band and launch of an initial public offering (IPO) from five working days at present to just two working days. Further, the Sebi has proposed to allow companies to extend the IPO time period from three days without reducing the price band. Sebi has also proposed to merge the provisions of the institutional placement programme (IIP) with those of qualified institutional placement (QIP). Changes have also been p

India need not worry about rupee fluctuation: ADB India need not worry much about currency fluctuation at the moment as the country has good accumulation of foreign exchange reserves, but a depreciating rupee could put inflationary pressure on the economy, asian development bank(ADB) chief economist yasuyuki sawada sais on friday. The Business Standard, New Delhi, 05th May 2018

SEBI panel proposes stricter norms for RTAs A Sebi panel felt that since RTAs manage sensitive investor-related data, there need to be stricter governance rules for the A Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) panel on Friday proposed tighter ownership and governance norms for registrar and transfer agents (RTAs).According to a discussion paper released by Sebi, the panel, headed by former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deputy governor R. Gandhi, felt that since RTAs manage sensitive investor-related data, there need to be stricter governance rules for them. RTAs maintain detailed records of all investor transactions in mutual funds and shares. They also help investors complete their transactions and receive a record of their account statements.This is the second discussion paper by the panel after some market participants suggested it should add credit rating agencies (CRAs), RTAs and debenture trustees (DTs) in the list of market infrastructure institutions (MIIs) and fra

India’s initial GDP estimates often underestimate actual growth Advance estimates of GDP are poor at capturing significant turns in the econo my and should incorporate other indicators of economic activity The accuracy of India’s official GDP statistics could imp rove if they make use of high frequency indicators such as vehicle sales, air passenger traffic and foreign tourist arrivals, according to a new study by Anupam Prakash and others from RBI’s Department of Economic and Policy Research. Their analysis found that the initial estimates of gross domestic product (GDP) or gross value added (GVA) often underestimate actual growth. Consequently, subsequent estimates mostly result in upward revisions, as they benefit from more comprehensive data. Also, the initial estimates are poor at capturing significant turns in the economy. For instance, initial estimates had underestimated growth in 2005-06, a good year, while they had overestimated growth in the year of the global financia

GST Council to take up 5% sugar cess to compensate cane farmers Meanwhile, many states are opposed to the idea of a separate cess under the GST as it goes against the principle of the uniform indirect tax The GST Council will at its meeting on Friday consider a proposal to impose a sugar cess to compensate cane farmers. The proposal by the ministry of consumer affairs, food and public distribution for a 5 per cent sugar cess will be outside the purview of the compensation cess under the goods and services tax, and hence will need a separate law. “The sugar cess proposal will be taken up by the council. It will be a different cess from the compensation cess and will need a separate act of Parliament or by way of a provision in the Finance Act,” said a government official. The government may choose to go ahead with this by way of an ordinance, he added. Currently, only the compensation cess is within the purview of the GST law, and is levied on a handful of luxury and demerit i

GST Council to take a call on converting GSTN into a govt-owned company 'Hiring and firing' was faster since it was a private company says GSTN CEO Prakash Kumar Amid data security concerns, the GST Council will take a call on converting GST Network (GSTN), the IT backbone of the indirect tax system, into a government-owned company during its meeting on Friday. However, irrespective of government ownership, manpower-related flexibility was likely to be provided through a built-in human resource policy, officials said. GSTN CEO Prakash Kumar had told Business Standard earlier that “hiring and firing” was faster since it was a private company and the private sector salary structure helped it hire the right kind of people The Business Standard, New Delhi, 04th May 2018