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The government has kept interest rates unchanged for various small savings schemes for the July-October quarter of 2016-17. The finance ministry said in a statement on Monday that interest rate on one-year deposits for July-October quarter of the current fiscal has been kept unchanged at 7.1%. Similiarly, interest rate on two-year time deposit, three-year time deposit and five-year time deposit were kept at 7.2%, 7.4% and 7.9%, respectively. Likewise, interest rate on Public Provident Fund scheme, Kisan Vikas Patra scheme and Sukanya Samriddhi Scheme were kept at 8.1%, 7.8% and 8.6%, respectively. Hindustan Times New Delhi, 21st June 2016

Readies amendments for Cabinet approval after last week's meeting of top officials of PMO as well as the ministry The labour ministry has lined up amendments to at least four key laws for the Cabinet's approval in a renewed push to labour reforms by the BJP-led NDA government after the revised foreign direct investment norms unveiled on Monday. This comes after a meeting between the officials of the ministry and the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) last week. “PMO has asked labour ministry to send the key legislations for consideration,“ a senior government official told ET, requesting not to be identified. The idea is to line up enough legislations for Parliament's approval in the upcoming monsoon session, he said. The first of several legislations that could soon get a go-ahead by the Union cabinet is the Shop & Es tablishment Act, which will pave the way for retailers to remain open round the clock. The idea was backed by finance minister Arun Jaitley

It is the annual general meeting ( AGM) season. The annual ritual of conducting the shareholder meetings, complete with tea, coffee, samosas and some incidental work such as passing of resolutions, begins somewhere in June and goes on till September. An integral part of the season is the annual report, prepared in great detail and released to the shareholders. It would contain audited annual accounts and the balance sheet, it had details about remuneration of key managers and even details of sexual harassment cases reported. Till now, it even contained the notice and agenda of the AGM. The old listing regulations required that the AGM notice be posted on the stock exchanges 21 days in advance. Thus, the annual report became available in the public domain well before the AGM. Shareholders and other stakeholders had enough time to study the report and prepare themselves to face the management and ask relevant questions at the AGM. Though at many AGMs this process is reduced to

The National Democratic Alliance ( NDA) government on Monday morning swung into action to liberalise foreign investment rules in nine sectors — aviation, pharmaceutical, defence, food trading, retail and television broadcasting, animal husbandry, broadcasting carriage services and private security agencies, branding it as a gateway for job creation and Make in India. The announcement came two days after Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan’s announced his decision not to seek a second term. Prime Minister Narendra Modi met select Union ministers and secretaries soon after 10 am to discuss relaxation of foreign direct investment ( FDI) caps. The way for Cupertino- based Apple Inc to open stores in India has also been cleared, to some extent. Sources in the government indicated that liberalisation of FDI norms was on the cards but the high- level meeting was advanced by a few days to allay investors’ sentiments following the news on Rajan’s exit. Soon after the m

Free samples and gifts offered with purchases as well as popular ‘buy-one-getone-free’ deals may attract the proposed Goods and Services Tax (GST) levy which government hopes to roll out beginning April next year. The model GST law says even any supply sans consideration will attract tax, which would also cover free gifts and samples, tax experts said. Hindustan Times New Delhi,20th June 2016

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has notified the much-awaited tax exemption on investments above fair market rate for startups, which means that in case a startup gets investment from resident angel investors, family offices or funds that were not registered as venture capital funds, it will not be taxed even if the investment is made in excess to the fair value. Hindustan Times New Delhi,  20th June 2016

The model goods and services tax ( GST) legislation includes a whole chapter on e- commerce and has prescribed strict information- disclosure requirements plus a tax collection at source model for both goods and services. This is a refinement to what the Karnataka government sought to do after the Amazon fiasco. E- commerce operators have been made liable not only for paying the GST on their facilitation services, but also GST collection at source that individual suppliers would have ordinarily been liable for. The consequent compliance hazards have already been widely commented upon. Ideally, e- commerce operators should only be responsible for the GST on their facilitation services. Ecommerce is quite transparent, where revenue officials can easily verify the suppliers and customers. Casting responsibility of collection at source when tracking or taxing individual suppliers is not difficult. What is praiseworthy is that a clear distinction has been made between assessees actu