CA Online

 Investment promotion scheme: Notices to Centre, Rajasthan govt, GST Council The Rajasthan Investment Promotion Scheme, announced in October 2014, had given exemption from entertainment tax up to 50 % to multiplexes, water and theme parks, among other sectors for 7 years Businesses have moved courts against the Rajasthan government's decision to not extend benefits earlier promised under the state investment promotion scheme, after the goods and services (GST) rollout. The high court at Jodhpur and its Jaipur bench have sent notices to the Union government, the Rajasthan government and the GST Council in these cases. The Rajasthan Investment Promotion Scheme, announced in October 2014, had given exemption from entertainment tax up to 50 per cent to multiplexes, water and theme parks, among other sectors for seven years. There was exemption from entry tax for companies making investment of more than Rs 7.5 billion on capital goods. Similarly, relief from state value added ta

TRAI consultation paper on revamping MNP scheme by month-end The process of network port-out is set to become faster and simpler for mobile subscribers, as the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India is planning to initiate a review of the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) mechanism. It will issue, by the month-end, a consultation paper that will look at reducing the time taken to switch from one network to another under MNP, and will also seek to simplify the entire process, according to TRAI Chairman RS Sharma. “We will be bringing a consultation paper on expediting MNP. Today, the process takes time. The consultation paper will be aimed at reducing that time and changing the processes. We are currently working on it and will issue it by the month-end,” Sharma told PTI. The Business Standard, New Delhi, 19th March 2018

India should engage with key trading partners if global trade war escalates: Assocham  India should engage bilaterally with its key trading partners to promote exports if the world witnesses an escalation of trade war, industry chamber Assocham today said.  It said that higher level of imports than exports will not provide the country much space to retaliate at the time of increasing trade war as most of the Indian imports are unavoidable.  "So, the best course would be to keep engaged with the major trading partners, without aligning ourselves too much into a single bloc. Wherever, our exports are affected, we must engage bilaterally and use the channel of the World Trade Organisation in a rule based manner," the chamber said in a statement.  India, it said, may end up the current fiscal with a hefty import bill of USD 450 billion against exports of about USD 300 billion.  Almost one-fourth of the imports will be only on account of crude and other related items, be

No extension for sale of pre-GST stock with revised MRP stickers: Ram Vilas Paswan  The government will not further extend the deadline for selling pre-GST stock with revised maximum retail price (MRP) stickers beyond this month, Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ram Vilas Paswan has said.  When the goods and service tax (GST) came to be implemented from July 1st last year, the government had allowed marketers to display alongside the old MRP, details of the revised MRP on pre-GST stocks by way of stamping, putting sticker, or online printing.  "Retailers will display only one MRP after 31st March. We are not in favour of providing an extension of deadline for MRP stickering," Paswan told reporters on the sidelines of World Consumer Rights Day briefing here on Thursday.  The process of sticking revised MRP on packaged products had to be undertaken by manufacturers, packers and importers only, the department had notified.  The department of con

 FMCG suppliers move court as sops go missing in tax exempted zones Suppliers to major FMCG companies that were given tax exemptions for investing in industrially marginal areas of Uttarakhand, J&K, Himachal Pradesh and the North East have dragged the government to court over the apparent lack of such concessions in the Goods and Services Tax (GST).  Under the erstwhile tax regime, manufacturers who would invest in some areas would get indirect tax exemptions from the state governments – and sometimes from the central government. The idea was to encourage more investments in these exempted zones. In the past few years, India’s top FMCG companies such as Hindustan UnileverBSE 0.29 % and Godrej ConsumerBSE -0.99 % have been sourcing most of their products from manufacturers in these areas.  In the writ petition filed in Uttarakhand High Court’s Nainital bench, the vendors said that under GST there is no clarity of what would happen to the exemptions given under the earlier re

Sebi raises currency derivative trade limit to Rs 100 mn The move will help entities engaged in forex transactions to maintain their currency risks in a better manner. Capital markets regulator Sebi today raised the exposure limit under exchange-traded currency derivatives trading for residents and FPIs to USD 100 million across all currency pairs involving the Indian rupee. The move will help entities engaged in forex transactions to maintain their currency risks in a better manner. The decision comes after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in February raised these limits, beyond which market participants would be required to establish proof of underlying exposure in the currency derivatives segment. "Domestic clients/FPIs may take long or short positions without having to establish existence of underlying exposure, up to a single limit of USD 100 million equivalent, across all currency pairs involving INR, put together, and combined across all the stock exchanges," Se

 Revise your Feb 12 guidelines on stressed loans: Power producers to RBI New set of guidelines ignore practical issues in segment, they plead, lessening banks' incentive to help those in genuine difficulty; want debt restructuring to continue Power producers have asked the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to revise its February 12 guidelines on doing away with some earlier debt reorganising instruments, such as Statutory Debt Restructuring (SDR) or the Scheme for Sustainable Structuring of Stressed Assets (S4A). They have asked that where these had already been invoked, the provisions be allowed to be carried over, at least for 12-18 months. The revised framework, they also feel, should provide for implementation of a resolution plan (RP) if approved by 75 per cent of lenders by value, in line with the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. And, that the schedule for an RP needs to take into account the receipt of regulatory or government approvals -- in many cases, projects are held b