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Banks Set to See More Provisions on New Norms

As they battle the NPA menace, banks are set to see “huge ramifications“ next fiscal with the implementation of new accounting norms that will require the lenders to make higher provisioning for loans. The Indian Accounting Standard 109, set to be effective from April 1, 2018, is likely to have an impact on the “banking numbers“, ICAI president Nilesh Shivji Vikamsey said. The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) is the apex body of chartered accountants in the country. The Economic Times New Delhi, 15th May 2017

Startup Inc's Sop Story to be Part of Book of Jobs

Cos eyeing benefits under Startup India will have to declare job creation estimates Companies eyeing benefits under the Startup India programme will soon have to declare upfront how many jobs they will create in order to qualify as the government moves to make employment generation the guiding principle for all its major programmes. “We will soon notify the new definition for startups, which goes beyond innovation,“ a senior government official said. Innovation is currently the main criterion for startups to qualify for benefits such as tax holidays and fast-track patent filing under Startup India. To qualify as a startup under the new definition, an entity would have to declare its job creation target and meet certain financial standards besides having a certain level of innovation in its product or service. “We will do our own scrutiny at the time of examination of applications for giving the tax benefits,“ the official said. When PM Narendra Modi launched the Startup India ini t

Aadhaar PAN linkage gets ´ likes´, but data leak big overhang

The government´s move to link Permanent Account Number (PAN) with Aadhaar has got support from a large number of people, but a vast majority are concerned about their personal details getting leaked and being misused, two separate surveys show. The first survey, conducted by online citizen engagement platform Local Circles, found that close to twothirds of respondents were concerned about their Aadhaar details getting leaked during the prevailing processes of getting the ID card made and through access protocols for vendors like banks and telecom operators. About one fourth of respondents said they were not concerned, showing their satisfaction with the existing security measures, while the remaining did not express any opinion.According to Local Circles,a total of 10,729 citizens voted on this poll. In the second poll, which had 9,847 respondents, 70 per cent backed the government´s move to link Aadhaar with PAN in its bid to increase the compliance level.Another 27 per cent oppos

I-T scanner on end-beneficiary details of P-notes

The international taxation arm of the income tax (I-T) department has sought details of end-beneficiary subscribers of participatory notes (P-notes) from some leading offshore derivative instrument (ODI) issuers in the country. According to a senior official, the I-T department suspects that these instruments are being used to legalise unaccounted money. The issue came up when taxmen found certain discrepancies in the disclosures made by ODI issuers. Nearly half a dozen P-note issuers could come under scrutiny. “Details mentioned in the Know Your Customer (KYC) disclosures were not tallying with the tax authority’s database. We need more information from the issuers to ascertain if any law has been violated. We will get the data in the next few weeks,” the official said. The move comes in the wake of amendments in tax treaties with Mauritius and Singapore. Till now, all the investments coming from these countries were exempt from short-term capital gains (STCG) tax. However, the ST

GST panel works out rates for 6,000 items

Fitment of contentious goods to be finalised this week Ahead of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council meeting in Srinagar from Thursday, the Centre and states seem to have arrived at a consensus on the rates for at least 6,000 items. The fitment of contentious items such as soaps, cosmetics, coconut oil and cars would be finalised in a meeting of the state and central officials on Monday and Wednesday. “The committee has looked into each and every product and their excise and VAT (value-added tax) rates across the country. Rates have been finalised for 70-75 per cent of the total items. The remaining items are still under discussion and will likely be finalised before the GST Council meeting, if the issues pertaining to categorisation are ironed out,” said a government official. The rates have been decided on the basis of the current effective tax rate of products based on the Harmonised System of Nomenclature or HSN code. The report of the sub-committee on rates will be present

Telcos' financial woes: Government panel to give views in 3 months

NEW DELHI: An inter-ministerial panel being constituted to suggest a policy prescription for the failing financial health of the telecom sector will consult banks and operators before finalising its views in three months. The committee is expected to have representation from the Departments of Economic Affairs, Revenue and Financial Services, besides the Telecom Department, an official familiar with the matter told PTI. The panel is expected to finalise its recommendations in the next three months.

India not for discussing investment facilitation issues at WTO

NEW DELHI: India has raised serious concerns over bringing issues related to investment facilitation within the ambit of WTO saying these are bilateral matters and can not be decided at multi-lateral forums. The issue was listed on the agenda of a meeting of the General Council, the highest decision making body of the World Trade Organization (WTO), on May 10 in Geneva. "India strongly objected to the inclusion of investment and investment facilitation on the agenda list. Investment facilitation does not come in the scope of the WTO. It is a forum for trade facilitation and trade related aspects of investments only," a senior official said.