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 Trump slaps tariffs, rattles Indian metal firms; JSW asks govt to retaliate Sajjan Jindal, chairman of JSW Steel, however, asked the government to impose similar tariffs on steel made overseas to protect Indian manufacturers Indian metal producers with exposure to Europe and the United States warned of increased costs and lower sales with US President Donald Trump signing on Thursday a proclamation levying a 25 per cent duty on steel imports and 10 per cent on aluminium imports. As soon as Trump signed the proclamation, Tata Steel Europe asked the Dutch government and the European Union to persuade the US not to levy the duty on steel imports. “Time is running out, as the planned charges will take effect in two weeks. Together with our customers, we will urge the American government to make an exception for our products. Since we do not dump steel, our steel does not pose a threat to the national security of the US, and American companies depend on our steel,” said Theo Henrar

With no fixed targets, GST collection not-so-encouraging: Par panel With no targets fixed, the monthly revenue collections from GST are not encouraging, the frequent revisions in rates has impacted the stability of the new tax system and has adversely impacted the trade and businesses, a Parliamentary panel has observed in its report. "The Committee are constrained to observe the not-so-encouraging monthly revenue collections from GST, which still have not stabilised with frequent changes in rates and issue of notifications every now and then. Further, the Committee are surprised to learn that no GST revenue targets have been fixed by the government," the Standing Committee on Finance headed by Congress leader M Veerappa Moily said in its report tabled in Parliament today. The Committee also observed that the frequent revisions in rates has "no doubt affected the regime stability, with adverse impact on trade and business." States have also reported losses i

SEBI  takes up 116 cases to probe violation of securities law during FY17-18 Regulator Sebi has taken up as many as 116 cases to probe alleged violation of securities law including market manipulation and price rigging, the government said on Friday. The cases were related to market manipulation, price rigging, insider trading, takeover violations and illegal collective investment schemes, Minister of State for Finance Pon Radhakrishnan said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha. During 2017-18 (till December last year), as many as 116 cases were taken up for investigation compared to 256 in the preceding financial year, 179 in 2015-16 and 135 in 2014-15, the minister noted. Of these cases, a total of 36 matters related to market manipulation and price rigging, illegal CIS (14) and insider trading (9). In a separate reply, Minister of State for Corporate Affairs P P Chaudhary said that Sebi has mandated listed companies to appoint at least one women director. As on March 2017, 1,

 ETF assets surge four-fold in 2 years on steady inflow from EPFO ETFs are traded on stock exchanges, with stocks, bonds or commodities as the underlying product   The assets of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have quadrupled in the past two years, on the back of steady inflow from the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO). ETFs are traded on stock exchanges, with stocks, bonds or commodities as the underlying product. An ETF's portfolio exactly mimics the securities in its underlying index, in the same weightage.   EPFO had entered the stock market in August 2015. The decision was to invest up to five per cent of its investible deposits; this was raised in 2016 to 10 per cent and then in 2017 to 15 per cent. The body had an estimated Rs 440 billion invested in the stock market this January.   EPFO has invested the remaining portion in debt market instruments such as government securities and bank fixed deposits. ETF schemes run by SBI Mutual Fund and UTI MF hav

SEBI re-constitutes panel on corporate bond market   Markets regulator Sebi has re- constituted its committee that suggests roadmap for developing corporate bond market in the country. The 27-member committee would now be chaired by Harun R Khan, former Deputy Governor at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), as per the latest update with Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).   Earlier, the panel was headed by Shyamala Gopinath, who was also a former Deputy Governor at RBI. Notably, Sebi chairman Ajay Tyagi was part of the HR Khan committee appointed to look into measures to deepen the corporate bond market in the country. The committee -- corporate bonds and securitization advisory -- has representations from the government, banks, markets regulator, mutual funds, rating agencies, stock exchanges and depositories.   The panel was set up in 2011 under the chairmanship of R H Patil and is mandated to advise the regulator on developing the corporate bond market and as w

Epayments continue to climb in feb Digital payment transactions for February have touched 1.09 billion maintaining the above 1-billion threshold even in the shortest month of the year, acoording to RBI data. The numbers reveal that UPI clocked 17.12 million against 151 million recorded in january. while UPI maintained the growth trajectory, carads showed a slight fall at 2.47 million The Economic Times, New Delhi, 08th March 2018

 Fooling the IT returns system by using all zeros as Aadhaar number Central Board of Direct Taxes had issued a circular, making it mandatory to provide Aadhaar or the enrolment number with IT returns for everyone Even as the government is in overdrive to get people to link their Aadhaar number with the income tax (I-T) department while filing returns, some of those without the unique identification number have managed to find a loophole in the system. They say they have been able to file tax returns by putting in all 0s or 1s instead of the 12-digit Aadhaar. The drive to link Aadhaar with I-T returns started in July last year. Central Board of Direct Taxes had issued a circular, making it mandatory to provide Aadhaar or the enrolment number with IT returns for everyone who was eligible for the unique identification number. The same condition applied for those applying for the permanent account number, too. However, many still do not have an Aadhaar card and are holding out ti