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Insolvency rules for corporate guarantors firms soon The insolvency rules for corporate guarantors and individual firms under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) are likely to be notified by December.“It will come in a phased manner.At this point, we are trying to cover corporate guarantors.That is our main issue In the first phase, we are dealing with corporate guarantors and individuals having businesses like proprietorship firms,” Ranjita Dubey, deputy general manager, Insolvency &Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI), said. Dubey was speaking on the sidelines ofaround table on draft insolvency regulations on individuals and firms, organised by the IBBI in association with ICSI Insolvency Professional Agency and Merchants´ Chamber of Commerce &Industry (MCCI). Mamta Binani, chairperson, standing committee on corporate law and governance, MCCI, said so far the rules were only in respect of the corporate insolvency resolution process and the rules concerning individual

Hallmarking to become mandatory for gold jewellery by January Under the proposed rules, hallmark will also mention the carat of gold used in the jewellery The government is planning to make hallmarking along with carat count mandatory for gold jewellery sold in the country, food and consumers affairs minister Ram Vilas Paswan said on Friday.“At present people don’t get to know quality of gold jewellery that they buy. We are planning to make hallmark for gold jewellery mandatory. It should be done by January,” Paswan told reporters at an event organised by Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). He said BIS mark is used on some jewellery but that does not sufficiently convey quality of jewellery to consumers. Under the proposed rules hallmark will also mention the carat of gold used in the jewellery, Paswan said. “It will be done for jewellery in three categories — 14 carat, 18 carat and 22 carat,” he said. The Mint, New Delhi, 04th November 2017

CBDT signs 7 more unilateral APAs with taxpayers The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has signed seven more advance pricing agreements (APAs) with Indian taxpayers, as it looks to reduce litigation by providing certainty in transfer pricing.The seven APAs signed over the last month pertain to sectors like FMCG, semiconductor, information technology, travel and leisure, office furniture, and engineering.“The CBDT has entered into 7 more APAs during October 2017.All these agreements are unilateral,” the CBDT said inastatement. With the signing of these pacts, the total APAs entered into by the CBDT has gone up to 184, which includes 171 unilateral and 13 bilateral APAs. The Business standard, New Delhi, 03rd November 2017

No credit to corporates without identification number RBI The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday said corporate borrowers who do not obtain the legal entity identifier (LEI) number from banks won´t be given credit. However, the schedule for getting the LEI number is spread out till December 2019 and depends on the exposure.The 20 digit unique code will be used to maintain a  credit database with the RBI´s Central Repository of Information on Large Credits to facilitate assessment of aggregate borrowing by corporate groups, and monitoring of the financial profile of an entity or group. The central bank had announced introducing the LEI number inaphased manner in its October policy.According to RBI norms, any corporate with exposure of more than Rs 5 crore has to obtain an LEI number.“Borrowers who do not obtain LEI as per the schedule are not to be granted renewal enhancement of credit facilities,” the central bank said in a statement on its website. For total exposure of

MRP should include GST Sushil Modi Bihar deputy chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, who also heads a five member panel on Goods and Services Tax Network, on Thursday suggested that the maximum retail price (MRP) ofaproduct should always be inclusive of tax for the convenience of the consumers. The deputy CM was interacting with businessmen at a function organised by Bihar Chamber of Commerce and Industries in association with a leading Hindi daily ´Hindustan´. "We (GoM) have suggested the inclusion of GST in maximum retail price.It has been seen across the globe that consumers react when they have to pay tax in addition toaproduct´s price but they usually do not mind paying the MRP when it is inclusive of tax," he said. Sharing his experiences abroad, he said the situation was no different in Canada, Australia and Singapore."Even in Canada, Australia and Singapore, consumers´ perception changed when they had to pay tax in addition toaproduct´s price. The same consumers

Sebi plans automated disclosure system The planned system would capture and disclose changes in shareholding in a listed company Markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is working on a concept of system-driven disclosures that would capture and disclose changes in shareholding in a listed company, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said.“The system being worked out will automatically gather and integrate the change in shareholding information from stock exchanges, depositories and registrar and transfer agents (RTAs) in a timely and accurate manner,” said one of the two people cited above, both of whom declined to be named. The move is aimed at ease of doing business through system driven disclosure and this would remove additional reporting requirements, this person added.In the latest edition of ease of doing business rankings released on Tuesday by World Bank, India jumped 30 positions to the 100th place among 190 countries.According to an E

Do not pay workers the old-age pension until they turn 70 PEOPLE should not get the State pension until they reach the age of 70, the country’s leading economic think-tank says. Moving the statutory retirement age to 70 would counter a fall in the workforce and the rise in the number of pensioners, the Economic and Social Research Institute says.Reform that increases the current statutory retirement age by five years would roughly correspond to the projected increase in life expectancy.Raising the pension age, the study finds, could more than offset the impact of demographic change on the State budgets. It comes after reports this week that Social Protection Minister Regina Doherty has been warned of a pensions “time-bomb” that has seen the State’s bill spiralling by €1bn every five years due to our ageing population.The Government has said it hopes to be able to give a rise in the State pension that exceeds the rate of inflation in this year’s Budget, while Fianna Fáil is also