CA Online

  Legal Shield in the Works for Foreign Investments Aimed at promoting & protecting investments; will spell out rights and obligations of investors   India is working on a framework that will provide legal backing for a stable and predictable foreign investment regime in the country as it looks to attract more capital to help create jobs and accelerate economic growth. The law that is in the works in the finance ministry is aimed at promoting and protecting foreign investments. It will spell out the rights and obligations of foreign investors and remove the grey areas that exist in the current system. While Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) deals with cross-border capital controls, a legal framework to guide foreign investment is still not in place. Bilateral Investment Promotion Agreements (BIPAs) have provisions but do not enjoy the force of law. “There is no law governing the foreign investment framework... this would provide the legal backing to these norms,” a

Cabinet Nod for Out-of-court Dispute Resolution for PSUs The Cabinet approved a mechanism within the government for speedy resolution of commercial disputes of central public sector enterprises without cases going to courts. A new two-tier mechanism will be put in place of the existing Permanent Machinery of Arbitration mechanism to resolve such commercial disputes. At the first level (tier), a committee comprising of secretaries of the relevant administrative and secretary department of legal affairs will look at the dispute.At the second level (tier), in case the dispute remains unresolved, it will be referred to the Cabinet Secretary, whose decision will be final and binding on all concerned. For the prompt disposal of disputes, a time schedule of 3 months at the first level has been prescribed. The government said it would reduce “the number of litigations regarding commercial disputes in Court of Law and also avoid wastage of public money. Among other decisions, the Cabi

India May Not Reach Clean Energy Target’ Safeguard duty doubts, weak distributor financials: Survey India could fall short of its target of adding 175 GW of clean energy by the end of 2022 due to uncertainty around safeguard duty and weak financial position of power distributors, a survey by renewable energy consultancy firm Bridge to India shows. The survey, which covered top executives of over 40 Indian and international companies, also points to prospects for domestic solar manufacturing remaining bleak, which could cap growth of India’s total integrated module manufacturing capacity at below 3 GW by 2022. “India is expected to add total solar and wind capacity of 66 GW and 52 GW by March 2022, 66% and 87%, respectively, of the targets set by the government,” said the RE CEO Survey 2018, which was shared exclusively with ET.Clean energy players including Hero Future Energies, Engie, Aditya Birla Group, Sembcorp, Azure Power, Trina Solar, Schneider Electric and Larsen &

Over 1,600 merger cases pile up before NCLT as insolvency takes precedence Sources say the time taken by the tribunal to approve mergers is more than what high courts used to take With the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) gaining precedence before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), merger and amalgamation cases are beginning to pile up before the quasi-judicial body set up to fast-track issues related to domestic corporates. Industry players say several companies, particularly small- and medium-sized, which had requisitioned for approval of mergers, have been facing challenges as the Bench is preoccupied with IBC cases. Some of these firms are said to have approached market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India and Ministry of Corporate Affairs seeking an intervention. Earlier, companies had to approach high courts to seek approval for any merger or scheme of arrangement. Now, the NCLT is the judicial body for approving such schemes. The rationale

MCX Starts Options Trading in Crude Oil Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) on Tuesday commenced options trading in crude oil contract. The contract witnessed traded volume of 2,058 lots with value of ?101.67 crore, as of 05:30 pm on Tuesday. The exchange has currently launched June and July 2018 option contracts in crude oil, with one MCX crude oil futures contract (100 barrel) as the underlying. — Our Bureau The Economic Times, New Delhi, 16th May 2018

 ITR-2 forms for AY2018-19 launched The income tax department has launched return form ITR-2 for assessment year 2018-19 for individuals and Hindu Undivided Family having income from any sources except profits and gains of business and profession, including NRIs. The ITR-1 Sahaj was activated earlier by the department for resident Indians having income from salaries, house property and bank interest with total income of up to Rs 50 lakh. The department has activated three ITRs that includes ITR-1 and ITR-4 that was activated on May 10 on the e-filing website. Four more ITRs are left to be activated after the Central Board of Direct Taxes notified them on April 5. “Other ITRs wil be available shortly,” the department said. Seven ITR forms are available for individuals and companies to file their returns. The last date for filing the ITR is July 31. The Times of India, New Delhi, 16th May 2018

Rupee plunges below 68 for first time since Jan ’17 The rupee breached the 68 level against the US dollar for the first time since January 2017 due to the political uncertainty following the Karnataka state elections. The domestic currency, which had closed at 67.52 on Monday, weakened to 67.75 in early trade and gained to 67.56. However, news of a fractured poll verdict led to the currency weakening to 68.11 at close. According to Centrum Direct senior VP and treasury head M Hariprasad, the currency has weakened during the peak season for international travel. Also, those pursuing overseas education make their forex purchases in mid-June and would end up paying more for the same amount of dollars. While the RBI has been consistently intervening in the market by selling dollars, dealers said that the central bank did not appear to be trying to reverse the direction of the domestic currency and the intervention was more aimed at curbing volatility. The rupee has been the worst p