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India’s GDP Growth in Q4 Seen at 7.4%: Icra Rating agency Icra expects GDP growth in January-March 2017-18 at 7.4% on account of good rabi crop harvest and improved corporate earnings, up from 7.2% in the third quarter. The Central Statistics Office (CSO) is scheduled to come out with GDP estimate for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2017-18 and provisional annual estimates for the year 2017-18 on May 31. As per Icra, the growth of the Indian gross value-added at basic prices in year-on-year terms is likely to record a considerable recovery to 7.3% in Q4 FY2018 from 6.7% in Q3 FY2018, thereby rebounding above 7% after a gap of five quarters. This revival in the fourth quarter, relative to the previous three months, is expected to be broad-based, supported by an uptick in industry (to 7.7% from +6.8%), agriculture, forestry and fishing (to 4.5% from 4.1%), and services (to 7.8%from +7.7%), it said.—PTI The Economic Times, New Delhi, 22nd May 2018

  McAfee Working on Security Solutions for Digital Wallets Cybersecurity company McAfee, which has a quarter of its global workforce based in Bengaluru developing security solutions, is now building security features to protect digital wallets from frauds and scams. “India has a large number of wallets when compared to other countries. While these wallets are expanding to the nether regions of the country, the number of scams is also increasing by the day,” said Anand Ramamoorthy, managing director, South Asia at McAfee. “The scale is quite large and so building security features becomes difficult,” he said “There are various issues a user faces starting from fake apps, fake transactions and a lot more which are unique cases in India. Looking at all these cases, we are trying to build security which solves it all levels.” ET had earlier reported that there was an increase in cases across the country where fraudsters were making away with goods by sending merchants dummy mobil

GST on Jet Fuel: Airlines Can Earn Rs 5,220cr Input Tax Credit Govt too will earn 7% more tax revenue at Rs 10,353 crore Airlines can annually earn combined input tax credits of Rs 5,220 crore – more than five times of what they are getting now – if jet fuel is bought under the ambit of goods and services tax (GST). Also, contrary to fears that the government will lose out on tax revenue, it will actually earn Rs 10,353 crore, 7% more than what it gets now if the fuel becomes a GST item. These assessments were given to the ministry of civil aviation last week in a presentation by top executives at Indian carriers. The meeting was chaired by minister of state for civil aviation Jayant Sinha. An input tax credit is claimed when a company pays a combined tax on output (air tickets in airlines’ case), reducing the tax paid on input (jet fuel). Airlines currently pay value-added tax (VAT) or state sales tax (4%-30%) and excise duty (14%) on ATF, and get credit only on VAT. The credi

Overseas funds set date with Sebi on foreign portfolio investor circular Watchdog's document on foreign portfolio investors says that the ultimate beneficiary of a fund will be determined by both shareholding and control Overseas investors plan to meet market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) this week to seek clarity and highlight lacunae in the recent circular on foreign portfolio investors (FPIs). In the circular, aimed to curb round-tripping, Sebi said the ultimate beneficiary of a fund will be determined by both shareholding and control. FPIs are currently allowed to invest up to 10 per cent in a listed Indian company. If the new beneficial test is applied, all the funds run by the same manager will be clubbed as they have the same beneficial owner and their combined investments in several companies could breach the FPI shareholding cap.  Until now, economic ownership has been the primary criteria for determining the beneficial owner of an offsh

Letter to BS: Investors shun bonds of banks under RBI's PCA For the first time, even the government guarantee is being viewed warily by promoters who wish to study their liquidity ratings and credit worthiness before investing This refers to “Investors shun bonds of banks under PCA” (May 18). In an environment of investor distrust in the banking system, a drop in investment in bonds has compelled the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to purchase the same from the market to create liquidity by way of open market operations. Mounting non-performing assets (NPAs) contributed by poor advances recovery, injudicious lending and sizeable frauds have subjected public sector banks (PSBs) to colossal losses and a consequent fall in market image. PSBs have, for long, symbolised security for the investor in view of sovereign protection. For the first time, even the government guarantee is being viewed warily by promoters who wish to study their liquidity ratings and credit worthiness before

Government extends deadline for filing April GSTR-3B by 2 days till May 22 The government has extended the due date for filing GST summary sales returns for April by two days till May 22. An official statement said that certain technical issues are being faced by the taxpayers during the filing of GSTR-3B for April. "In order to resolve the same, emergency maintenance is being carried out on the system. Therefore, in the interest of taxpayers it has been decided to extend the last date for filing of returns in GSTR-3B for the month of April by 2 days till May 22," the statement said. The goods and services tax (GST) mop-up in April -- the first month of current fiscal -- came in at Rs 1.03 lakh crore. From 2018-19 fiscal year that began last month, the government has shifted to a cash basis of accounting where revenues accrued at the completion of a month would be taken on record immediately at the end of the month. Accordingly the Rs 1.03 lakh crore GST collected in

RBI slaps Rs 5-cr penalty on South Indian Bank The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed a penalty of Rs 5 crore on South Indian Bank (SIB) for non-compliance with its directions on Income Recognition and Asset Classification (IRAC) norms, Know Your Customer (KYC) norms and treasury function.The central bank, in a statement, said the penalty has also been imposed on the Thrissur-headquartered private sector bank for deficiencies in its compliance function and compliance culture.The penalty was imposed by the RBI by an order dated May 14, 2018. “This penalty has been imposed in exercise of powers vested in RBI under the provisions of …the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, taking into account failure of the bank to adhere to the aforesaid directions issued by RBI.“This action is based on deficiencies in regulatory compliance, and is not intended to pronounce upon the validity of any transaction or agreement entered into by the bank with its customers,” the RBI said in a statement.In