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A new scheme launched by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion under the National Manufacturing Policy aims to make acquisition of energy efficient technologies by Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises easier. Business Standard, New Delhi, 20th Nov. 2015

In the fortnight since the gold monetisation scheme was launched, only 400 gm gold has been deposited and with only one bank, as no other bank had tripartite agreements with hallmarking centres and gold refiners. Now, the finance ministry and the Bureau of Indian Standards ( BIS) are simplifying the administration of the scheme to get it moving. In contrast, the response to gold bonds and coins has been much better. A government source said retail investors had applied for Rs.100 crore worth of bonds and 6,000 gold coins had been sold. The gold monetisation scheme, bonds and coins were launched on November 5 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to reduce bullion imports and mobilise 22,000 tonnes of idle gold in the country. In a meeting with gold refiners and hallmarking centres on Thursday, finance ministry and BIS officials allowed refiners with only one year’s track record to sign up for the scheme. There were 18 gold refiners in the country in 2014 and their numbers have climb

Falling exports likely to get a leg-up as CCEA clears Interest Equalisation Scheme on preand postshipment rupee export credit with effect from April 1 India's falling exports got a booster shot on Wednesday with the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approving a scheme to provide cheaper credit to exporters for five years. Prime Minister Narendra Modi-headed CCEA approved the Interest Equalisation Scheme (earlier called Interest Subvention Scheme) on preand postshipment rupee export credit with effect from April 1, 2015, for five years. The scheme will be evaluated after three years. This is the third major announcement for exports in the last fortnight. On October 30, the government expanded support to various products under the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS), followed by a revision of the duty drawback rates for exporters two days ago. “The rate of interest equalisation would be 3%. The scheme would be available to all exports of MSME and 416 tar

"The govt has held one preliminary meeting to explore terms of reference of such a conciliation" The government and Vodafone are getting closer to settling their eight- year tax spat over the 2007 Hutch- Vodafone crossborder deal. The British telecom major, which had sought arbitration under the Indo- UK bilateral investment protection treaty in June, has formally approached the finance ministry for conciliation. In a series of tweets on Wednesday, Revenue Secretary Hashmukh Adia said “ Vodafone has in a written communication expressed its desire to go for conciliation for its tax disputes with India” and the government held a preliminary meeting to explore theterms ofreferenceofsuchconciliation on October 10. He, however, was quick to add that more follow- up meetings would be held for finalisation of the terms. Sources familiar with the developments said in their meeting with Vodafone’s global chief executive Vittorio Colao last month, finance ministry officials had

The Cabinet on Wednesday cleared the sale of a 10 per cent stake in Coal India, restored interest subvention for merchandise exports, directed compensation for stalled road projects, empowered the ministry concerned to clear road projects up to a cap on costing and for the first time gave production subsidy directly to sugar farmers. The slew of measures would revive market sentiments, investments and economic growth. The government had also liberalised the foreign investment regime last week to boost the market. The Cabinet also gave a nod to a marketing margin of Rs.150- 200 per standard cubic metre charged by gas retailers like Reliance Industries and GAIL ( India) for urea and liquefied petroleum gas plants. This was based on recommendations of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board. The government is expected to mop up Rs.20,000 crore from the Coal India disinvestment, power minister Piyush Goyal said at a press briefing. At current prices, the 10 per cent stake sa

Updates Of the Day 1.DVAT has extended the last date of filing of online / hard copy of return for II Quarter ended 30.09.2015 for the FY 2015-2016, in Form DVAT-16, DVAT-17 and DVAT-48 to 20.11.2015. 2.High Court of Delhi confirms penalty on custom official for clearance of consignment without proper verification. [S.N. Ojha vs. Commisioner of Customs] 3.MCA has revised the versions of Annual Filing Forms, MGT - 7 (Form for filing annual return by a company) w.e.f 17th November, 2015. 4.Adjudicating Authority can reject transaction value if assessee fails to prove that relationship had not influenced price. [The CESTAT Chennai: Ansaldo STS Transportation Systems India Pvt. Ltd vs. Commissioner of Customs] 5.CBEC vide circular 187/6/2015-ST dated 10.11.2015 has issued a scheme for fast track sanctioning of refund of accumulated cenvat credit to Exporters of Service for payment of 80% (eighty percent) of the amount claimed as refund. 6.Depreciation is allowed while calculating ex

Tight liquidity situation in the system pushes rates higher raising concerns over impact on growth Short-term borrowing rates have risen despite the Reserve Bank of ndia's sharper-than-expected rate cut in September, thanks to the tight liquidity conditions, raising concerns that this could act as a speed breaker for growth. Short-term rates are about 35-45 basis points higher than the benchmark repo rate of 6.75%. These include the inter-bank call money market, collateralised borrow ng and lending and treasury bills. The dif erential was 15-25 bps just a few weeks ago.A basis point is 0.01 percentage point. “The efficacy of monetary policy transmission is facing a challenge due to sustained tight banking system liquidity ,“ said Soumyajit Niyogi, senior interest rate strategist at SBI DFHI Primary Deal ers. “Continuous elevated short-term rates are driv ing corporate borrowing costs higher and providing downward rigidity to bank ing rate specific instru ments...That would ne