CA Online

Newly coded listing regulations make disclosure of acquisition by a listed company mandatory The terms on which companies get listed on Indian stock exchanges just got codified into regulations. The Securities and Exchange Board of India ( Sebi) has notified the Securities and Exchange Board of India ( Listing obligations and disclosure requirements) Regulations, 2015, ( Listing Regulations). They will take effect on December 1, 2015. For far too long, the terms of listing have been governed by an unhelpful legal construct —the listing agreement, an agreement between the stock exchange and the listed company. Typically, an agreement is “private law” and governs only the parties to the agreement. However, the listing agreement has been wrongly treated like an instrument of “ public law” that would bind the world at large. One did not even need to sign it — it was modified at will by an agency that was not even a party to the agreement, viz Sebi. Fortuitously, this legally infi

As companies gear up for GST, a great business opportunity for tax experts and consultants is waiting to be tapped At the beginning of his address at a conference on the goods and services tax ( GST), held in the capital last week, a senior official from the Central Board of Excise and Customs ( CBEC) told the audience of 100- odd senior business executives that his presentation would last for around 45 minutes. Someone from the audience quipped, “ Please take your time. We are in no hurry.” The detailed presentation that followed — on how goods and services would be taxed under the GST regime — lasted alittle over an hour. Hardly anyone in the audience had moved from the seat during the programme. Clearly, corporate India — the hall in an upscale five- star hotel in central Delhi had representatives from the automobile and ancillary industries, FMCG, telecom, real estate, financial services, heavy machineries, exporters and importers, garment manufacturers, among others — is out

The Land Acquisition Act is about 120 years old, and the proposed new one is mired in controversy, but it seems there are issues of interpretation yet to be settled by the Supreme Court. Last week, a two- judge bench delivered a split verdict on the question of interest on solatium in the case of land acquisitions, and the question has been referred to a larger bench. This means that the final word of the court on this two- decade old case will not come for years, going by the enormous backlog. In this case, Periyar and Pareekanni Rubbers Ltd vs state of Kerala, the company was aggrieved by the denial of interest payable on the component of solatium. It argued that the denial and its approval by Kerala High Court were illegal. One judge asked the government to pay interest but the other judge expressed his “ respectful disagreement” with that order, leading to the request to the Chief Justice to set up a larger bench. Meanwhile, the CJ’s court is currently struggling with hundreds of

The Securities and Exchange Board of India has asked listed companies to inform stock exchanges at least two working days in advance about board meetings on proposals related to buyback of securities, voluntary delisting and fund raising. Hindustan Times, New Delhi, 19th Sept. 2015

Govt says existing tax regulations for gold holdings will apply to the gold monetization scheme as well Gold deposits over 500gm, not explained by known source of income, will attract income tax under the gold monetization scheme, the government in an internal note dated 15 September that was released on Friday. It is likely to discourage large depositors with undisclosed source of income but will encourage small depositors as it brings clarity on the tax implications of the scheme. It is in line with the government’s intent to ensure the scheme does not facilitate conversion of black to white money. Banks will not be allowed to use the gold deposits to meet their statutory liquidity ratio and cash reserve ratio requirements as proposed by the earlier draft. The finance ministry, in a recent circular, said the existing income-tax regulations for gold holdings will apply to the gold monetization scheme as well. A certain amount of the gold holdings as explained by known sour

Instruction No 11/2015 Government of India Ministry of Finance Department of Revenue Central Board of Direct Taxes North Block, IT (A-II) Division New-Delhi, dated the 16th of September, 2015 Subject:  Reference to Transfer Pricing Officer in Specified Domestic transaction cases reg .- Clarifications have been sought from the Board as to which authority will function as Transfer Pricing Officer (‘TPO’) for the purposes of determining Arms Length Price (‘ALP’) in respect of Specified Domestic Transactions (‘SDTs’) as per the provisions of section 92CA of the Income-tax Act, 1961(‘Act’). 2. The Board has considered the matter and it is hereby clarified that such cases involving SDTs shall continue to be handled by the TPOs working under the Commissioner (Transfer-Pricing). The Board, under section 120 of the Act, has already issued Notification No.(s)  58 & 59/2014 (F.No.  187/29/2014/ITA.I) dated 03.11.2014 effect. 3. This may be brought to the no

To ease the registration process of the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), the government would soon notify a simple online registration system, MSME secretary Anup K Pujari said on Friday. The “one page” registration system “will be called Udyog Aadhaar Memorandum,” he said on the sidelines of a MSME summit organised by industry body Ficci. The notification is awaiting the approval of the law ministry. Under this platform the establishments will have to self-certify details of their existence, bank account, business activity, and employment and ownership. This one page form will replace the cumbersome Enterprise Memorandum (EM) I and EM II forms, that exists now. Hindustan Times, New Delhi, 19th Sept. 2015