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Bumpy Ride Ahead? Sebi taking feedbacks on slowing down HFT; curbs may hit volumes, shift trading activity abroad Will India be among the first markets to put speed-breakers in the way of high-frequency trading (HFT) -a system accused of giving some traders undue advantage because of its capability to execute transactions at lightening speed? With markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) taking feedback from exchanges and select institutions on possible steps that could slow down the world of black-box trading, there is a growing feeling among sections in the market that some curbs on HFT may come before the year ends. Many foreign institutions and large proprietary desks use sophisticated software programmes and place servers on the premises of stock exchange to enjoy an advantage over smaller brokers and traders. Even though HFT comprises a big slice of trading volumes and restricting them could be an unprecedented measure, Sebi is internally considerin

Order after complainant establishes false information given by it on Saran's appointment The equity markets regulator was left red-faced before the central information watchdog after a complainant produced a letter whose existence had been denied by the former. The Central Information Commission (CIC) has warned the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for giving false and misleading information to a query under the Right to Information (RTI) law. Thane-based Ramsagar Yadav had filed an RTI application with Sebi in July 2014. Yadav requested information on three points. "(a) name of the official of Sdbi who had requested R K Padmanabhan, then chief vigilance officer, Sebi, to issue a vigilance clearance for Prashant Saran for his subsequent appointment as wholetime member in 2012; (b) designation…(of this official); and (c) copy of the forwarding letter of chairman, Sebi or of any officer of Sebi forwarding the application ofi Prashant Saran for appointment as

Every now and then, the commerce ministry notifies aminimum export price (MEP) for certain commodities, to discourage their exports and improve availability in the domestic markets. These are mostly farm products but some steel goods, too, had suffered MEP for a while. MEP is set at a level where few abroad will buy at that price. Some clever exporters, however, find a way to get around stipulation. The method is to invoice at MEP, realise export proceeds at a lower price and then seek write off the shortfall. For example, the MEP for onions is $ 700/ tonne now. Let us say an exporter finds it difficult to sell at the MEP but gets a buyer willing to pay $650/ tonne. It makes commercial sense to him to take up this order. What the exporter does is to accept this order with a specific understanding that he will raise an invoice for $700/ tonne but accepts payment of only $ 650/ tonne. The next step is to ship the goods with all paperwork, including the shipping bill showing a p

Involves tax demand of Rs.38k crore, aimed for completion by end- Oct; scrutiny also of smaller service taxpayers The finance ministry has decided to expedite adjudication of 532 high- value cases, involving atotal service tax demand of Rs.38,000 crore. These are in the insurance, civil aviation and consumer durables sectors, among others, in Delhi and Mumbai. The aim is to bring these to closure by the end of next month. It has also started a manual scrutiny of small service taxpayers. In the former exercise, only those high- value service tax cases would be considered where the tax demand raised is at least Rs.10 crore, officials said. Closure of these cases could give the government a revenue gain of more than Rs.20,000 crore, it is estimated. The Central Board of Excise and Customs ( CBEC) believes the exercise would ease the business environment. “It is important to bring closure to cases. You can’t keep them hanging,” said a senior official. Most of these cases are pendin

Promising a rational tax regime and easier business environment, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday asked Turkish industry leaders to invest in India including in smart cities, textiles, food processing and renewable business sectors. In an interactive session with them on the sidelines of the G20 Meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, he said the government has made significant progress in improving ease of doing business in India and alot more was being done in this regard. "We have made significant progress on ease of doing business, although I would not say as yet that we have perfected it," Jaitley said. Committing himself to rationalising the taxation regime, both in terms of direct and indirect taxes, he said a number of initiatives that offer significant investment opportunities have been announced for global investors including from Turkey. Business Standard, New Delhi, 05 September 2015

The government aims to utilise bank accounts under its flagship financial inclusion scheme, the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana ( PMJDY), to extend insurance, pension and credit facilities to those excluded from these benefits, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Friday. He said so on the occasion of India joining a United Nations initiative to enable countries’ transition to electronic payments. The initiative, Better Than Cash Alliance, will facilitate the government’s aim of promoting cashless transactions in the economy. “The scale of ambition of the Jan- Dhan Yojana has been much higher than for any other financial inclusion initiative in the past. The project has been instrumental in bringing almost all families of the country into the formal financial system and enabling citizens at the grassroots to perform financial transactions and keep their hard- earned money safe,” Jaitley, away in Ankara, Turkey, for a G- 20 countries meet of finance ministers, stated on the first anniv

Tax-trade dept directs all e-traders to furnish details of transactions on govt site NEW DELHI: The Delhi government has ordered all traders who sell goods through online portals to immediately furnish information related to their transactions and made it mandatory for them to submit tax. “The department of trade and tax has made it mandatory for all e-commerce companies providing e-platform facilities to file information online with regard to the transactions made by such traders through their portals. In the financial year 2014-15, it had come to the notice that some dealers engaged in the selling of goods through online portals were not depositing the tax that they owe to the department, even after collecting from consumers,” said a Delhi government spokesperson. A Delhi government official said that as e-commerce was an emerging and fast growing sector, the department felt it was imperative to regulate these dealers to bring them under the ambit of VAT. “The department rec