CA Online

Centre may issue Swachh bonds and impose cess on petrol, diesel, telecom services and waste produced by industries to fund Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pet project Swachh Bharat Abhiyan The government may issue Swachh Bharat bonds and impose a cess on automobile fuels, telecom services and mineral waste to fund Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pet national cleanliness project. A group of chief ministers headed by Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu submitted a report to Modi on Wednesday outlining ways to mobilise funds for the Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan initiative. “Swachh Bharat bonds may be issued and a Swachh Bharat cess may be levied by the central government on petrol, diesel, telecom services and also on accumulated waste produced by plants generating mineral waste like coal, aluminum and iron ore,“ the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement, citing the report. “Given the scale and importance of the programme, it has been suggested that the sha

Inducements to be computed and settled on a monthly basis The National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) has started incentives for market makers to boost liquidity in exchange- traded funds (ETFs) listed on it. The exchange has started aliquidity enchancement scheme. The incentives will be computed and settled on a monthly basis. One condition is that participants should provide quotes within specified limits for 80 per cent of the trading time, for 80 per cent of the trading days in a month. The scheme began on September 15 and is open till March 31, 2016. (An ETF is a marketable security that tracks an index, acommodity, bonds, or a basket of assets. Unlike mutual funds, an ETF trades like a stock on an exchange. ETFs experience price changes throughout the day as they are bought and sold.) For equity ETFs, participants get varying incentives, depending on the counterparty, according to the exchange. For liquid ETFs, the participants get a waiver on transaction charges on the en

The government is set to unveil PAN activitymonitoring and analysis software to enable the Income Tax Department to check transaction histories and help sleuths track black money trails. The platform is called the Income Tax Business Application- Permanent Account Number. Buisness Standard, New Delhi, 14th Oct. 2015

Finmin asks PSBs to strengthen internal mechanisms to raise red flags for suspicious deals Within days of an alleged black money scam running into Rs 6,000 crore hitting state-run Bank of Baroda, finance ministry has dashed off a letter to all public sector lenders, asking them to review their processes and step up the vigil against potential frauds. A senior finance ministry official said the ministry has asked all state-run banks to strengthen their internal mechanisms, so that red flags are raised when there are suspicious transactions. “Stringent processes are already in place...We want banks to take stock of their effectiveness in the backdrop of this incident,“ the official, who did not wish to be named, told ET. Bank of Baroda has submitted an internal investigation report. Public sector banks have been asked to remain vigilant, the official said. “If we feel there are lacunae in the system, PSBs will be asked to plug them,“ the official added. On Tuesday, Bank of Baroda

EASE OF DOING BIZ CBEC will issue a directive to speed up refunds of service tax to BPO, IT &ITES sectors; buoyant tax mopup has given finmin room to clean up process For many years, muted revenue collections meant delayed or no tax refunds for India Inc., especially exporters. Facing a revenue shortfall in the first half of every financial year, North Block would issue an unwritten instruction to field officials to hold back refunds. This year, there will be a break from the past, with a directive going out to the field to release all refunds amid preparations to start on a clean slate for the goods and services tax, which the government hopes to implement from April 1, 2016. The Central Board of Excise and Customs, the apex indi rect taxes body, is also working on a comprehensive overhaul of the refund mechanism for the BPO, IT and ITES sectors. “We want to ensure there are no pending refunds in the system,“ a senior finance ministry official said, adding that the idea is

Asks exchanges to speed up efforts in attracting new- age companies The Securities and Exchange Board of India ( Sebi) is keen on having companies list under the new start- up regulations before the end of the calendar year. The market regulator has asked stock exchanges to speed up their efforts in attracting new- age companies to the stock markets for their funding requirements. Exchanges have also been tasked to spread awareness and get market feedback on the new regulations. Given the regulatory push, the exchanges have already started their drive. BSE has already launched an institutional trading platform (ITP) — BSE Hi- Tech for start- up listings. The exchange, which had achieved considerable success in SME listings, has set up an office in Bengaluru, where most of the technology start- ups are based. “We have announced a hitech platform for start- ups. Tomorrow ( on Wednesday), we are opening our branch office in Bengaluru. We already have offices in Chennai, Hydera

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) wants credit rating agencies to avoid suspending ratings if a company stops providing adequate information, the regulator told them at a recent meeting. At a meeting on 8 October, the markets regulator asked raters for suggestions on ways to continue evaluating an instrument based on publicly available information and avoid suspending an existing rating, according to two people familiar with the discussions. Both of them declined to be named. “The regulator wanted to know why at all a suspension should happen. The need for the same was explained by the agencies, where during the tenure of a rating, it is possible that the issuer may not share information when not favourable. So the question is, how do you deal with this? At the end, the regulator has asked agencies to articulate and come out with a white paper on a uniform practice that could be adopted,” said one of the people. Rating agencies have been asked to submit this white