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Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya hassaid the Employees ' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) may invest more than Rs.6,000 crore in equity market during the current financial year. The minister, however, added that a final decision will be taken by the Central Board of Trustees at the next meeting. Last year, EPFO had invested about Rs.6,000 crore through SBI Mutual Fund's two ETFs (exchange-traded funds) -one linked to BSE's Sensex and the other NSE's Nifty . “It (investments into ETFs) may increase over last year because it will yield benefits in the long run even if there is no benefit in the short term. Last year, we had invested Rs.6,000 crore.This year, we may invest more than that. There was discussion with bankers and investment managers and officials from BSE and NSE,“ said Dattatreya. The finance ministry had last year notified a new investment pattern for EPFO, allowing the body to invest a minimum of 5% and up to 15% of its funds in equity or

CENTRAL BANK'S relaxation of rules likely to broaden shareholder base and lead to better quality governance Wealthy individuals and finance companies can pick up more equity in private banks while non-state lenders struggling to make money could emerge as acquisition targets for those on the hunt, following the Reserve Bank of India's recent relaxation of rules aimed at shoring up capital and encouraging consolidation. Analysts said lenders of interest may include IndusInd Bank, Yes Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Karur Vysya Bank, Lakshmi Vilas Bank, Tamilnad Mercantile Bank and Dhanlaxmi Bank. Banks and investors could not be immediately reached for comment. Foreign institutions that hold 5% or less in private sector lenders have already started thinking about raising their stakes, said two executives with knowledge of the matter. “The move from RBI could broaden the shareholder base and may in turn lead to better quality governance since there would be active investors on

WATCH OUT Agreement doesn't explicitly cover convertible instruments, but if converted after April 1, 2017, these may stand to lose tax benefit There will be no free ride for those wanting to invest in India through quasi equity investments such as convertible debentures via Mauritius under the recently amended treaty between the two countries, officials said. Those holding such instruments would do well to convert them into shares before April 1, 2017, to enjoy the exemption on capital gains tax, or grandfathering, that's available until then. “The date of acquisition will be the date on which an entity or individual comes to own shares and not the date on which investment in the instrument was carried out,“ said a finance ministry official. Tax experts said this interpretation will have an adverse impact on PE firms. Stating that private equity firms commonly use convertible instruments for greater flexibility on returns and control, tax experts called for a formal circ

www.caonline.in News... 1.Section 94-A(1) is constitutional valid.[Madras High Court T. Rajkumar and Others vs. UOI and Ors. (Madras HC)]. 2.Sec. 40 (a) (i) is discriminatory and not applicable to Indo-US DTAA. [CIT vs. Herbalife International India Pvt. Ltd (Delhi HC)]. 3.Get ICAI now mobile app for latest ICAI updates. Available on android, iOS, windows and blackberry 10. To download please visit: - http://www.icai.org/mobile. 4.15.05.16 (Sunday) is last day to file TDS/TCS returns for Q4 of F.Y. 2015-16. TDS statements to be filed in 31 days from F.Y. 16-17. 5.The Income declaration scheme 2016 and the direct tax dispute resolution scheme 2016 expected to come into force on 01.06.16.CBDT press release of 12.05.16. For more News Like us on https://www.facebook.com/caonlineofficial Or Subscribe on mail visit : www.caonline.in

Relaxing norms, the Centre on Friday allowed lakhs of its employees to take advance money four months ahead of commencing journey under Leave Travel Concession (LTC) rules. A government employee gets reimbursement of tickets for to and fro journey, in addition to leaves, when he avails LTC. The existing rules allow an employee to draw advance for LTC journey for himself and his family members 65 days before the proposed date of the outward journey. Since the ministry of Railways has decided to increase the advance reservation period for booking accommodation in trains from 60 to 120 days, the time-limit for drawable of LTC advance by the government servants may be increased from 65 days to 125 days in case of journey by train, an order issued by the department of personnel and training (DoPT) said. The cases where the LTC journey is proposed to be undertaken by other modes of transport viz air, sea or road, the time-limit for drawing LTC advance shall remain 65 days only, it

The Supreme Court judgment upholding the validity of criminal defamation squanders away a brilliant opportunity to strike down this Macaulay drafted law of 1837. The judgment, by a bench headed by justice Dipak Misra, is verbose and clearly loses the wood for the trees. Before the judgment was heard, justice Misra had freely granted stay orders against defamation prosecutions. The case was heard for two odd weeks and the judgment was delivered some nine months later. In cogitative hibernation for long, the gestation did not prove worth waiting for. Like a goods train, it gathers material at every stop, rocking to the sound of its track. Drafted in 1837, India’s criminal defamation law was borrowed from English common law for imperial purposes to defend the state and state officials and put down comments by the press and the freedom movement. Macaulay differed from criminal law in four areas: India’s criminal defamation was not linked to breach of peace, did not allow truth as a

Cabinet clears intellectual property rights policy to boost innovation The Cabinet has approved an intellectual property rights policy aimed at strengthening the regime and improving infrastructure. The policy, a long time in the making, names the department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP) under the commerce ministry as the nodal body for the government’s IPR push. The policy would act as a road map to coalesce existing laws, DIPP Secretary Ramesh Abhishek said. Accordingly, administration of the Copyright Act, 1957, and the Semiconductor Integrated Circuits Layout-Design Act, 2000, have been brought under DIPP. A cell in DIPP will facilitate creation and commercialisation of IP assets. The policy aims to increase IPR outreach, speed up approvals, enhance commercialisation, and enforce norms, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Friday. Customising IPR programmes for various sectors and reaching out to traditional knowledge holders will be focus areas. A baseline