CA Online

GST mop-up will touch Rs 1 trillion a month in FY19, says Hasmukh Adhia Refunds have improved substantially now, 90 per cent of claims have already been approved or rejected As GST rollout is to complete a year in a few days, finance secretary Hasmukh Adhia tells Dilasha Seth and Indivjal Dhasmana that the system has perfectly  stabilised now. Adhia, who played a critical role, in the roll-out says bringing petroleum under GST is no solution to their high prices. Edited excerpts: After the GSTN portal crashed in initial months and then at a time of original date of e-way bill, has the GST system stabilised now? I may beg to differ. There was no crash of the portal, there were minor glitches initially in certain applications. Those were set corrected very soon. Of  course, the system has perfectly stabilised now.  Both the Centre and states collected less than the target in the first eight months of GST roll out in 2017-18. Do you think the target will be met in the  current f

New EPFO rules: Now, withdraw 75% funds after 1 month of unemployment At present, a subscriber can withdraw his or her funds after two months of unemployment and settle the account in one go Retirement fund body EPFO on Tuesday decided to give its members an option to withdraw 75 per cent of their funds after one month of unemployment and keep  their PF account with the body.  The members would also have an option to withdraw remaining 25 per cent of their funds and go for final settlement of account after completion of two months  of unemployment under the new provision in the Employee Provident Fund Scheme 1952. “We have decided to amend the scheme to allow members to take advance  from its account on one month of unemployment. He can withdraw 75 per cent of its funds as advance from its account after one month of unemployment and keep  its account with the EPFO,” Labour Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar, who is also the Chairman of EPFO’s Central Board of Trustees, told reporters

EPFO to consider widening range of ETF investments tomorrow Retirement fund body EPFO trustees will consider tomorrow widening the range of equity linked schemes or exchange traded funds (ETFs) to maximise returns on its investments in stock markets. Besides, the Employees Provident Fund Organisation's (EPFO) board will also consider a proposal to give extension of six more months to its five fund managers SBI, ICICI Securities Primary Dealership, Reliance Capital, HSBC AMC and UTI AMC for managing its corpus, says agenda listed for the trustees meet scheduled tomorrow. The five fund managers were appointed for three years from April 1, 2015. They were given extension till June 30, 2018. Now, it has been proposed to give the five fund managers further extension till December 31, 2018 or till the time of appointment of new fund managers. The EPFO has been investing in ETFs and now wants to enhance its range to maximise returns on its investments in stock markets. Presently

India Inc's foreign direct investment dips 63% to dollar 1.17 bn in May In May 2017, India Inc's foreign direct investment stood at dollar 3.12 billion Indian companies' investments into their overseas subsidiaries/joint ventures fell by 63 per cent to dollar 1.17 billion in May this year, according to RBI data.In May 2017, India Inc's foreign direct investment stood at dollar 3.12 billion.In April 2018, the outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) of Indian firms was dollar  3.56 billion. Of the total investment by domestic firms in overseas ventures in May 2018, dollar 374.18 million was in the form of equity infusion, dollar 162.96 million in loan and dollar 630.45 million as guarantee issuances, as per Reserve Bank data.Among the major companies that made investment in their overseas subsidiaries/joint ventures included Indiabulls Real Estate dollar 368.09 million, ONGC dollar 57.94 million, Tata Hitachi Construction Machinery dollar 26.62 million and Wadhaw

We're not NRIs, Sebi told by PIO fund managers Across markets, fund managers who are persons of Indian origin (PIO) are reaching out to Sebi, asking the regulator to differentiate them from nonresident Indians (NRIs) who have been barred from running or controlling foreign portfolio investors (FPIs). Unlike NRIs who hold Indian passports, PIOs and individuals who have obtained the OCI (or, overseas citizenship of India) card from the Indian government are citizens of other countries. According to a Sebi rule announced in April 2018, NRIs can longer be‘beneficial owners’ of FPIs (which collectively comprise the largest group of public investors in the Indian stock market). However, in drafting the new rule, the regulator has included PIOs and persons enjoying OCI status in the same group with NRIs. While the regulation is aimed at curbing fund round-tripping and money laundering, it has impacted several individuals of Indian origin who were born and brought up abroad but a

RBI issues draft guidelines on setting up board of management for cooperative banks RBI says the board of management will be responsible for credit, risk and liquidity management of the urban cooperative bank The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has come out with draft guidelines on constituting a board of management (BoM) in addition to the board of directors, for urban cooperative banks (UCBs), with the aim of strengthening the governance in these banks.The BoM will be responsible for credit, risk and liquidity management of the bank, RBI said in a circular released on Monday. “As UCBs are accepting public deposits, it is imperative that a separate mechanism be put in place to protect the interests of depositors. Accordingly, it is proposed to implement a Board of Management consisting of members with special knowledge and practical experience in banking to facilitate professional management and focused attention to banking related activities of UCBs,” said the circular.The move f

MP, Maha & Gujarat Big In India-UAE Food Security Plan  ON THE PLATE As part of the proposed pact, special food zones in India will store and export excess agriculture produce to the UAE market India and the UAE are hoping to put in place a food security partnership that envisages storage farms in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh to store excess agriculture produce for supply to markets in the Arab state during the visit of UAE’s foreign minister.  Talks on the agreement likely to figure in the UAE foreign minister’s ongoing India visit India and the United Arab Emirates are hoping to put in place a food security partnership that envisages storage farms in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh to store excess agriculture produce for supply to markets in the Arab state during foreign minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s visit.  The plan comes in the backdrop of the UAE looking to address India’s energy security needs as both countries extend their areas of