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A fortnight into the GST, small and medium dealers, and manufacturers are grappling with issues of the new indirect taxation regime. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will chair the 19th meeting of the GST Council on Monday, via video conference. This would be the first meeting after the implementation. The meeting would reportedly discuss tweaking of rates on some products, besides taking stock of the rollout of the new indirect tax system. The spread was 1.9 percentage point at the end of FY16 and 4.8 percentage points at beginning of the current rally in March 2013. The spread was 1.5 percentage point at the end of March 2008. The earnings yield is the potential yield for an equity investor if the company pays 100 per cent of its current (annual) net profit as equity dividend. Simply put, it is net profit divided by the market capitalisation of a company. Typically, the earnings yield on equities should be sufficiently higher than the yield on riskfree assets (such a

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday told the Gujarat High Court (HC) that there was no supporting document to its June 13 press release, directing banks to  initiate insolvency proceedings against 12 non-performing assets (NPAs), including Essar Steel. The submission was made during the hearing of Essar Steel’s petition, filed on July 4, against insolvency proceedings initiated against it at the National Company Law  Tribunal (NCLT) by the State Bank of India (SBI)-led 22 banks’ consortium as well as the Standard Chartered Bank (SCB). The single-judge Bench of Gujarat HC has reserved its judgment for Monday. On Thursday, it had asked the RBI to present any documents other than the press release that  supported its June 13 circular. The RBI counsel on Friday told the court that the press release was issued after a high-level committee meeting of the RBI decided to  issue the directive. Essar Steel, in its petition, has challenged the RBI’s directive as “arbitrary” and an

India is considering tracking digital currencies like bitcoin through the central bank and  capital markets regulator along with intelligence agencies to monitor money laundering and  terrorist financing, people in the know said. A federal government panel is examining options  such as banning, regulating or limited intervention for virtual currencies in India, said the  people who sought anonymity as the talks are not public. The Mint , New delhi, 15th July 2017

The Delhi High Court has directed the Centre not to take any coercive steps against lawyers and  law firms for not registering or comp lying with the Central Goods and Services Tax Act,  Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act, or the Delhi Goods and Services Tax Act, till a  clarification is issued by the governments concerned. The Bench asked the Centre to clarify  whether the services of lawyers and law firms came under the GST. The Business Standard, New Delhi, 15th July 2017

The ongoing insolvency heat has caught on in the renewable energy space with Inox Wind being put under the corporate insolvency resolution process. In a rare instance,  a Customs agent, Jeena & Company, has dragged Inox to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) over non-payment of dues totalling Rs 57 lakh. At the same time, Inox  Wind has laid off close to 400 employees at its manufacturing unit. A former employee said Inox Wind was yet to clear his final settlement, which was pending for over  four months. “The company has no cash flow whatsoever. It is not even able to fulfill its current oder," he said. With the company issuing an advertisement seeking buyers, the insolvency proceedings begin. In the absence ofabuyer the committee of creditors will formulate a restructuring plan. The code gives a company 180 days for resolution failing which either the company can get an extension for another 90 days or go in for liquidation. This comes just two months after

The government is learnt to have ´´postponed´´a high level meeting headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for reviewing issues related to foreign direct investment (FDI)  on Friday amidabuzz that the Centre was considering relaxing FDI caps in sectors such as multibrand retail and the print media. The meeting was called to review the progress of FDI approvals across sectors after the recent abolition of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), the road map  for alternative mechanisms, as well as matters concerning foreign investors in construction and real estate,asource in the know told Business Standard. He dismissed as “speculative” any talk on FDI liberalisation in multibrand retail and media. “There´s no such proposal at this point,” he said. Since Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was with members of the Opposition ahead of the Monsoon Session of Parliament, beginning Monday, it was decided to postpone  the FDI meeting, the source told Business Standard. How

Integrated GST collection on imports in line with expectation, crosses 4,000 cr in first 10 days The first set of numbers after the rollout of the goods and services tax should calm any jitters about its prospects. Integrated goods and services tax (IGST) collections on imports in the first 10 days of the new regime crossed .? 4,000 crore, in line with expectation and suggests that the rollout has been largely smooth. “Collections would have crossed ? 4,000 crore... Data is pouring in and final tabulations will be available in some time,” a senior government official told ET. These collections exclude levies on petroleum and natural gas products, which aren’t covered by GST in any case. Besides, the final numbers will include collections from manual filings. GST came into effect July 1. In July 2016, total customs collections amounted to .? 16,625 crore, which on average yields ? 5,360 crore for the 10 days, but that includes basic customs duty. The go up when manual filings are al