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The government is working on a law that will seek to raise minimum wages in both formal and informal sectors as well as ensure that the higher wages are paid to workers. “We will increase the wages under Minimum Wage Act, so that workers have decent wages aligned with inflation and have some money to buy goods and services,“ Labour Secretary Shankar Aggarwal said at a CII event here. Through an amendment to the Minimum Wage Act, the ministry can fix a mandatory minimum level of wages applicable across the country for all categories of workers. It will be benchmarked to inflation. “We will create a law to give certain minimum wages across the country in all trades and not only in scheduled employments,“ Aggarwal said at the inaugural session of the CII National Conclave on Em ployee Relations. ET had first reported on August 11 that the government may raise the minimum wages in the country by as much as 25% and also make them binding on all states, a move aimed at giving an indi

The Reserve Bank of India may make the gold monetisation scheme simpler to give it a push as the plan to collate idle gold from households has failed to take off in its current form. The bank may remove one layer of the gold tendering process or make it optional, two people familiar with the development said. This is going to make life much simpler for designated banks and bulk gold depositors like Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams or Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust of Shirdi. The scheme was launched on November 6 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi but it has not seen any momentum whatsoever due to procedural glitches. According to the plan that has now been envisaged, banks would be allowed to deposit the tendered metal directly at refin eries, instead of involving collection and purity testing centres (CPCT). The present rule says that each designated bank can authorise a CPTC to collect deposits of gold on its behalf.These centres then deposit the gold at refineries. However, none of

The government on Thursday exuded confidence of having the Goods and Services Tax Bill passed, with several Opposition parties coming out in open support. The government assured the Congress, which is insisting its concerns over the Bill should be addressed, that it will engage in consultations. On a day that the Lok Sabha discussed the Commitment to the Constitution - the Rajya Sabha was adjourned over the death of a sitting member - Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati told reporters, "The government is assuring us that the GST Bill will strengthen the economy. So we support it." Praful Patel and Tariq Anwar of the Nationalist Congress Party also extended support to the tax reform, saying, "The GST Bill should be passed in this session." Anwar added the government should look into issues being raised by the Opposition. Congress president Sonia Gandhi was overheard in Parliament corridors that the three points raised on the Bill by her party must be addre

Central bank to allow buying of bonds in default, with some conditions, easing way for banks to make their balance sheets cleaner The Reserve Bank of India ( RBI) said on Thursday it would allow foreign portfolio investors ( FPIs) to invest in bonds that are in default, partly or fully, if the residual maturity is at least three years. This means banks which have given loans to companies in stress can clean their balance sheet by selling these stressed assets. The buyers of these bonds, usually foreign “vulture funds” looking for distressed assets worldwide, can buy these at a steep discount and then put a lot of pressure on companies to perform. Excluding financial companies, the BSE 500 entities together have Rs.27 lakh crore of debt in their books. According to RBI, 11.1 per cent of total bank advances of  Rs.68 lakh crore were stressed as on March 2015. While 4.6 per cent of these loans were bad debts, the rest of the stress came from restructuring. Bankers expect many of

Move aimed at encouraging domestic listing of such bonds The Securities and Exchange Board of India ( Sebi) is set to unveil rules on monitoring the end use of green bonds, and might propose incentives for companies to issue them at its board meeting on November 30 ( next Monday). “Sebi is working on regulations that will incentivise companies to launch green bonds. We would like these bonds to be listed on the domestic exchanges instead of on overseas exchanges,” said a source privy to the development. “Regulations by Sebi are likely to be followed by regulations by the Reserve Bank of India ( RBI) so that they can offer competitive rates,” said another person familiar with the matter. Neither source wished to be named because no official statement had been made yet. An e- mail to a Sebi spokesperson remained unanswered. The move will enable Indian companies to raise capital at home through this instrument. It will also be a major step towards the government’s commitment on

The Policy will focus on manufacturing, seek to promote innovation, will offer tax sops to small unlisted start-ups The government is working on a new start-up policy that will focus on manufacturing, seek to promote innovation, and also offer tax incentives to small unlisted start-ups. The aim, a government official familiar with the matter and speaking on condition of anonymity said, is to build an entire “ecosystem”, not merely offer incentives. The policy will focus on other issues as well, such as the ease of doing business, compliance and exits, this person added. And it will all start with a definition. Minister of state for finance Jayant Sinha is holding an inter-ministerial meeting on Thursday to come up with a definition of a start-up. Several tech entrepreneurs are expected to attend the meeting. The definition is important to understand who will “come under the ambit” of the policy, the government official said. The Start-up India policy (Mint’s name, not the g

Updates Of the Day 1.Delhi VAT- Form DP-1 shall be submitted online by all dealers latest by 31.12.2015. 2.Custom department issued notification no. 53/2015- Dated- 23rd November, 2015 to deepen the tariff concessions in respect of specified goods. 3.Sovereign Gold Bonds, 2015-2016 issue date shifted to November 30, 2015 vide circular issued by RBI. 4.Receipt already taxed in the head of sub-contractor cannot be disallowed to contractor considering same as inflated expense.[ ITAT Hyderabad: KNR Constructions Ltd. vs. DCIT] 5.No disallowance u/s 36(1)(iii) wherein interest free advance to sister concern was made due to margin money stipulation of bank granting. Supreme Court of India: Hero Cycles. For more News Like us on https://www.facebook.com/caonlineofficial Or Subscribe on mail visit : www.caonline.in