CA Online

Initiating action for non-compliance, the Corporate Affairs Ministry has asked many unlisted companies to explain why they have not appointed women directors on their boards as mandated under law. Thousands of corporates are required to have at least one woman director on their boards under the provisions of the Companies Act, 2013. Noncompliance can attract penalties. The ministry has decided to initiate action after noticing that many companies are yet to comply with the woman director norms, according to sources. The Registrar of Companies (RoC) has started issuing show-cause notices to unlisted firms in this regard, sources said. Certain class of unlisted companies were required to have at least one woman director on their boards by March 31, 2015. Most provisions of the new law for companies came into effect from April 1, 2014. After receiving their responses, the ministry would decide on appropriate action against such companies and under the Act, penalties can also be

The Cabinet on Wednesday gave its nod to a new Consumer Protection Bill, which seeks to replace the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 and proposes to set up a regulatory authority having the powers to recall products and initiate class action suit against defaulting companies, including e- tailers. The Bill assumes importance as there is growing concern over the safety of consumer products and services, especially after the Maggi controversy. Sources say the Bill might be introduced in the ongoing session of Parliament. The move comes in the backdrop of complex products and services in ecommerce, which has rendered consumers vulnerable to new forms of unfair trade and unethical business practices. Business Standard, New Delhi, 30th July 2015

1.  Deduction u/s 80IA (4) of IT Act cannot be disallowed, merely on the ground that assessee is not the owner of infrastructure facilities [ En-Vision Enviro Engineers (P) Ltd. vs DCIT] 2.  CBDT extends due date of filing wealth-tax return from July 31, 2015 to Aug. 31, 2015. [Notification No. (F.NO.328/08/2015-WT), Dated 27-07-2015]. 3.  Government clears GST amendments, states to be compensated for 5 years. 4.  Due date of filing return for the persons engaged in e-commerce business under DVAT- extended up to 30-09-2015. The said notification prescribed the form and due date of return as form EC-II and EC-III to be filed quarterly by 10th day of the following month extended. 5.  SEBI has proposed treating brokers of commodity exchanges on a par with their counterparts in equity exchanges. 6.  A Chartered accountant in practice can also practice in corporate form. The council permits a CA in practice to practice in corporate form also subject to compliance of guidelines.

The Cabinet is likely to approve on Wednesday a new Consumer Protection Bill 2015, that seeks to replace the existing law and proposes setting up a regulatory authority to curb unfair trade practices. "The Cabinet is scheduled to meet on Wednesday. The Consumer Protection Bill, 2015, is on the agenda," sources said. After the Cabinet approval, the Consumer Affairs Ministry is aiming to introduce the bill in the ongoing monsoon session of Parliament. The new bill, which will repeal the 29-year-old Consumer Protection Act, seeks to create a Consumer Protection Authority on the lines of the US and European countries for fast-tracking redressal of consumer grievances. Business Standard, New Delhi, 29th July 2015

Commodity brokers want lower registration and transaction fees The Securities and Exchange Board of India ( Sebi) has proposed treating brokers of commodity exchanges on a par with their counterparts in equity exchanges in terms of registration and transaction fees. At present, commodity brokers are not under direct regulation of the Forward Markets Commission. The FMC is merging with the Sebi. In a recent meeting with representatives of commodity brokers, the Sebi said they should be treated on a par with equity brokers and, therefore, they must pay the uniform registration fee of Rs.50,000 per member. There were 3,399 members of three active commodity exchanges in March. Some may be common to more than one exchange. The Sebi also said there should be uniformity in fees, 0.02 per cent of the transaction, or Rs.200 for every Rs.1 crore of transaction on the futures platform. The Sebi is in the process of framing guidelines for commodity brokers’ registration ahead of its merg

Constantly evolving rules and anomalies over tax treatment have constrained corporate programmes in the first year that the government’s Corporate Social Responsibility mandate has been in force On the face of it, Maneka Gandhi’s admonition to big business at an Assocham meeting earlier this month that it was “ non- serious” about corporate social responsibility (CSR) is valid. By one reckoning, corporate India has spent only 30 to 40 per cent of the amount that was expected to flow in once Section 135 and Schedule VII of the Companies Act 2013 were notified with effect from April 1, 2014, and the voluntary sector says corporate interest is still tepid. Had Gandhi examined the issue a little more deeply, however, she may have discovered reasons for this underperformance that go beyond general disinterest from corporate houses. CSR spending has been constrained by the nature of the law, the fact that the rules are still evolving — there have been more than a dozen amendments sin

In the third bi- monthly monetary policy review to be announced next month, the Reserve Bank of India ( RBI) might announce liquidity tightening steps like longer tenure term reverse repos as the central bank had always wanted call money rates to hug the repo rate, while in recent times on certain occasions it has fallen much below the repo rate. The repo rate or the rate at which banks borrow from the central bank currently stands at 7.25 per cent while call money rates had on certain days moved even below the 7per cent mark. For example on July 21, the weighted average call money rate had dived to 6.84 per cent. “I would expect RBI to reiterate that they would like to see overnight rates closer to the repo rate. RBI will continue to do more of term reverse repos and in the monetary policy they may announce that they would decide to do term reverse repos of longer tenure,” said S Prabhu, head of fixed income at IDBI Federal Life Insurance. Prabhu added the central bank might als