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The Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly on Wednesday unanimously passed the Madhya Pradesh Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill-2017.Both Treasury and Opposition benches tried to grab credit for this new tax regime.The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and Opposition Congress adopted the Bill in the House, paving the way for the rollout of GST. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was present in the House when Finance Minister Jayant Malaiya moved the MP Goods and Services Bill, 2017, at the daylong special session.Earlier, both BJP and Congress tried to position GST as their own victory."The present version of GST Bill is a translation of the Bill proposed by the UPA government.It was Manmohan Singh who opened up the Indian economy that led to economic reforms in the country," senior Congress MLA Mukesh Nayak said. Business Standard New Delhi, 04th May 2017

Cabinet nod for amendments to banking Act to give more teeth to RBI The Union Cabinet, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday approvedanew framework for dealing with Rs 6 lakh crore worth of non performing assets (NPAs)  in the banking system. The framework includes the promulgation of an Ordinance to amend the Banking Regulation Act to give more teeth to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and its oversight committees to act on behalf of banks while deciding on NPAs.The proposals are now awaiting the President´s assent. “We have taken some decisions regarding the banking sector.There are some modifications for which the President´s assent is required,” Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said at a post cabinet press briefing.“There is a convention that when some proposal is referred to the President, then details of it cannot be disclosed till it is approved.As soon as approval comes, details will be shared,” he added. The Cabinet also approved a National Steel Policy that aims t

Government on Tuesday asserted in the Supreme Court that Aadhaar was made mandatory for PAN card to weed out fake PAN cards which were used for terror financing and circulation of black money, while terming the concerns over privacy as "bogus". Business Standard New Delhi, 03rd May 2017

The goods and service tax (GST) council's rate fitment committee will deliberate for three days starting on May 4 to align all goods and services to different slabs. A member of the committee, which comprises central and state tax officials, said that the tax rate alignment will be more or less final at the end of the meeting. "We shall do this exercise in such a way that there is little work left to be done or time required to be spent by the council in giving its approval." The council is set to meet for two days from May 18 in Srinagar and approve the rates so that GST can be rolled out from July 1. Hindustan Times New Delhi, 03rd May 2017

As government turns the heat on black money, number of returns filed jumps substantially The number of people who filed tax returns surged by 95 lakh as the government turned the heat on black money with demonetisation and various other measures, two top government officials told ET. The figure was in a presentation made before Prime Minister Narendra Modi as part of the revenue department's review on Tuesday . “There has been an addition of about 95 lakh new taxpayers,“ said one of the officials aware of the details of the presentation. The government has been looking to widen the tax net as barely a little over 1% of the population is said to pay income tax. As many as 5.28 crore returns were e-filed in FY16, a rise of 22% over the previous year. Some returns were filed in paper mode as well. The income-tax department had launched a crackdown against tax evaders as part of its war against black money . It identified 18 lakh persons who had made bank depo Rs 1,000 and 500

Banks allowed these to take up private placements of equity in rival companies; conflict clause confined to specific sub-sectors To ensure success of its 2017-18 disinvestment target, the government is taking an easier approach towards investment banks participating in public sector undertaking (PSU) share sales. The department of public asset management (Dipam), the government body in charge of divestment, has allowed investment banks with PSU mandates to take up certain types of capital market offerings by rival companies in the private sector. The move comes after some lenders, including Deutsche Bank, raised concerns over the ‘conflict of interest’ clause applicable for the share sale mandate in seven PSUs, including Indian Oil and NTPC. Recently, the government floated a Request for Proposal, inviting i-bankers to manage share sales in these seven entities, in the power, finance, energy and metal segments. Sectoral players say the bankers were keen on applying for the mandate

At a time when fintech players and banks are vying to offer faster services to their customers, reduce paperwork, and move processes online for greater convenience, government bodies like the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) too have realised that they need to change with the times. The EPFO, which has traditionally been perceived as stodgy, has surprised long-time watchers with its customer-friendly initiatives in recent months. No certificates required for advances Earlier if you wanted a non-refundable advance from your EPF account, you had to produce a certificate to prove your need was genuine.If you needed money for medical treatment, you had to produce a doctor's certificate. If you needed it to finance a child's marriage, you had to submit the wedding card as proof. All such requirements have been done away. "You can withdraw money by just making a self-declaration.This is in line with the central government's policy of relying on people's s