| Professional
News |
| SERVICE
TAX |
| Service tax exemption for Aam Aadmi,
Janashree Bima Yojana |
|
Delhi : The Centre has
granted service tax exemption on the services of life
insurance business provided under the Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana
(AABY) and Janashree Bima Yojana (JBY). Launched in August
2007, the AABY covers death and disability insurance for the
benefit of rural landless households.AABY provides for
insurance of the head of the family or earning member of the
family of rural landless households between the age of 18 and
59 years against natural death or accidental death and
partial/permanent disability.
|
| Misc. - Indirect
Tax |
| FinMin to track excise, service tax
defaulters through database |
|
Delhi : The Finance Ministry
has decided to take help from the Financial Intelligence
Unit-India (FIU-Ind) in tracking evasion of Central excise
duty and service tax, mainly in cases where defaulters are not
traceable.A senior Finance Ministry official told Business
Line, “The database of the FIU-Ind may be helpful in locating
the financial transactions or assets of defaulters of Central
excise duty and service tax and realising the
arrears.”
|
| SEBI |
| SEBI, Sahara, 2G, mining, Vodafone
dominated SC in 2012 |
|
Delhi : Severe jolt to
Sahara Group, strict scrutiny of mining activities and
scrapping of licences for 2G spectrum dominated the corporate
legal battle in 2012 in the Supreme Court which gave a
decisive victory to telecom major Vodafone in a Rs 11,000
crore tax case. The apex court allowed Vodafone International
Holdings' appeal against the Bombay High Court decision and
held that the telecom giant's transaction with Hong Kong-based
Hutchison Group was a "bonafide" FDI which fell outside the
tax jurisdiction of the Indian authorities and cannot be
termed as a "sham" deal entered into with an attempt to avoid
tax.
|
| COMPANY
LAW |
| Satyam made us smarter auditors can't
get cosy with management: MCA |
|
Delhi : Terming “cosy”
relations between management and auditors of a company as key
to accounting frauds, Corporate Affairs Minister Sachin Pilot
has said such a nexus would not be allowed anymore, as
lawmakers have become smarter after the Satyam scam.
“Sometimes, auditors get into too cosy a relationship with the
management, which creates a lot of problems,” Pilot
said.
|
| FDI
Policy |
| 100% FDI gets green light for rly
line projects |
|
Delhi : Foreign direct
investment is set to flow into the building of “fixed railway
infrastructure” (read railway lines), ending a long-preserved
policy of allowing only Indian Railways to set up these
facilities out of its internal accruals or budgetary and other
support. Private investors, ports, export/import companies,
“other investors” and FDI will now be allowed in the railway
lines meant to connect ports, industrial and logistical parks,
and mines with other parts of the country. The railways will
either award these projects (construction and maintenance) on
nomination basis or select the investor through competitive
bidding. A revenue-sharing model has already been worked
out.
|
| Misc. Corporate Laws
& Other Commercial Policies |
| $1-bn oil blocks: Rangarajan panel
proposes real-time audit |
|
Delhi : A panel headed by
Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council Chairman C
Rangarajan has proposed creating a mechanism to carry out
"concurrent audit" of blocks where companies have invested
over $1 billion, enabling the government to keep a real-time
vigil on the books of oil and gas producers. "(In cases) where
investment is above $1 billion, suitable mechanism of
concurrent audit may be considered," says the report, the key
portions of which were described to this paper by a person
familiar with its content.
|
| Finance & Money
Markets |
| Mid-cap funds outshine benchmarks,
may help industry to lure investors |
|
Delhi : Mutual fund managers
usually blame the state of the market for their poor
performance, but take credit when the returns are better than
the market. The year 2012 is one where fund managers can keep
their heads high, especially those running mid-cap funds which
have outperformed their benchmark indices, while the large-cap
ones remained a drag. As many as 67% of the schemes under the
mid-cap category have outperformed the BSE Mid-cap index in
2012, an ETIG analysis shows. Similarly, in the multi-cap
segment, the percentage of schemes that have outperformed the
BSE 500 index is more than 70%. The mid-cap category is the
best-performing category in equity schemes this year with
average gains of about 38.5% against 36% gains made by the BSE
Mid-cap index.
|
| Investors make a killing in banking,
FMCG equity schemes in 2012 |
|
Maharashtra : Mutual fund
equity schemes which only invest in sectors such as banks and
fast moving consumer products ( FMCG) have emerged top
performers across product categories in 2012. But these
schemes face stiff challenges to repeat such outperformance in
2013. The outlook for bank shares will depend on the extent of
policy rate cuts next year, while shares of consumer goods
face a stiff task of justifying their steep valuations in the
wake of a slowdown in consumption. Banking and FMCG schemes
have both returned roughly 47 per cent on an average since
January. Though the banking schemes could not beat their
benchmark, the Bankex, which rose 55 per cent, they
comprehensively beat the key stock indices, Sensex and Nifty,
and diversified equity schemes. FMCG schemes just about
matched their benchmark’s performance. The Sensex and Nifty
have risen almost 25 per cent, while broader equity schemes
grew 27-35 per cent so far in 2012.
|
| Commodities |
| Strong fundamentals to push base
metals up in 2013 |
|
Maharashtra : Base metals
are likely to remain bullish in 2013 on better economic
prospects in major consuming nations. Hedge funds have already
started betting long on base metals amid hopes that China’s
economic growth would surpass last year’s level, US leaders
will resolve fiscal cliff hurdles and European nations would
work together to overcome economic slowdown. Robin Bhar, an
analyst at Societe Generale SA in London, said in a report,
“As we go into 2013, we will hopefully have the fiscal cliff
resolved and we will look forward to better economic growth
out of China. Also, growth in China and the US could make
people a lot more bullish than they are at the
moment.”
|
| INTERNATIONAL
BUSINESS |
| Asiacell seeks $1.3 bn in biggest
Mideast IPO since 2008 |
|
Asiacell Communications, the Iraqi
telecom operator majority-owned by Qatar Telecom, plans to
raise 1.49 trillion dinars ($1.3 billion) in the Middle East's
biggest initial public offering in more than four years. Some
of Asiacell's founding shareholders will offer 67.503 billion
shares, or 25% of its equity, at a minimum of 22 dinars a
share, the Sulaymaniyah-based company said in an e-mailed
statement on Tuesday. The offer opens on Jan 3 and closes on
Feb 2 and is open to all individuals and institutions with a
trading account in Iraq, according to the statement.
Asiacell's Baghdad IPO is the biggest in the Middle East and
North Africa since Saudi Arabian Mining Co, or Maaden, raised
$2.5 billion in Riyadh in June 2008, according to data
compiled by Bloomberg.
|
| US counties sue HSBC claiming loss of
tax base |
|
Three Georgia counties have filed a
lawsuit claiming that British bank HSBC cost them hundreds of
millions of dollars in extra expenses and damage to their tax
bases by aggressively signing minorities to housing loans that
were likely to fail. The Atlanta-area counties' failure or
success with the relatively novel strategy could help
determine whether other local governments in the US try to
hold big banks accountable for losses in tax revenue based on
what they claim are discriminatory or predatory lending
practices. Similar lawsuits resulted in settlements this year
worth millions of dollars for communities in Maryland and
Tennessee.
|
| Facebook's Instagram furor triggers
first class action lawsuit |
|
Facebook's Instagram photo sharing
service has been hit with what appears to be the first civil
lawsuit to result from changed service terms that prompted
howls of protest last week.In a proposed class action lawsuit
filed in San Francisco federal court on Friday, a California
Instagram user leveled breach of contract and other claims
against the company. Facebook representatives could not
immediately be reached for a comment. Instagram, which allows
people to add filters and effects to photos and share them
easily on the Internet, was acquired by Facebook earlier this
year for $715 million.
|
| Investment banks caught in a
crossfire over ranking |
|
It’s a secretive world; and the
investment banking (i-banking) community seems to be caught in
a crossfire over a million-dollar question: Who’s the number
one dealmaker? Many bankers are questioning Goldman Sachs’ top
position in a list for 2012 put out by Dealogic in the second
week of December. Following Goldman on the list are Citibank,
Morgan Stanley, Barclays and JPMorgan.
|
| MERGER &
ACQUISITION |
| M&As falter in 2012, see revival
in new year |
|
Maharashtra : Mergers &
acquisitions’ activity in 2012 failed to live up to the
expectations raised in the previous year, which saw a surge in
such deals, particularly inbound. In 2012, deals fell both in
value and volume terms, thanks to the ongoing euro zone
crisis, slow recovery in the US, a weak rupee and a volatile
stock market. According to Grant Thornton, an assurance, tax
and advisory firm, the period from January 1 to December 15,
2012 witnessed 582 M&A deals, totalling $41.5 billion,
compared to 644 deals worth $44.6 billion in 2011. The 2012
figures include mergers and internal restructuring of $14.8
billion, bereft of which deal value fell as much as
39%.
|
| Banking |
| Bankers talk tough on CDR, promoters
to fork out more |
|
Maharashtra : Convinced that
promoters don’t have enough skin in the game when it comes to
loan recasts, banks have decided to ask them for higher
contributions. In the new scheme of things, promoters of
companies seeking easier repayment terms through a corporate
debt restructuring (CDR) package will have to fork out 25% of
the diminution in the fair value of the restructured account
and not 15% as they do now. Moreover, they will have to pledge
100% of their shares and furnish unconditional personal
guarantees. These are the decisions of the core group of the
CDR cell, which comprises chairmen and managing directors
(CMDs) of top public sector banks and CEOs of private
lenders.
|
|
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| Economy |
| India |
| Planning Commission to continue schemes below Rs
300 crore, nixes finmin’s proposal |
| RBI's 2012 policy rates: What makes Subbarao
click? |
| Exports dip for 11 sectors in
Apr-Oct |
| Government outlines a series of measures to boost
women’s role in MGNREGS |
| Print media to grow at 17% CAGR during FY13-15:
Report |
| Job generation plummets by 21 pc between
January-December 15: Assocham |
| Critics of the cash transfers project are all
barking up the wrong tree |
| How to support solar power
projects |
| Recent policy measures will brighten investment
outlook: PineBridge Investments |
| 2013 will be a watershed for financial
reform |
| Forget slowdown, we are on the fast lane of
tech-led transformation |
| |
| International |
| California law throws new posers at companies for
cutting carbon costs |
| Bullish commodity bets at 6-month low on US
budget talks |
| LSE revises buyout offer for
LCH.Clearnet |
| China stocks erase year's losses as yen drop
drives Japan shares |
| Many global bourses yet to regain 2007 peaks;
some Asian markets buck trend |
| Mitsubishi Chemical to purchase capsule maker
from Carlyle |
| BOJ’s $267 Billion JGB Buys Spur Record Win
Streak: Japan Credit |
| Russia unveils $25 bn oil link to
Pacific |
| It’s wait-and-watch time as ‘fiscal cliff’
deadline nears |
| Mexico finds unlikely allies in trade
fight |
| Yen hits 20-month low against dollar over BOJ
concerns |
| |
| Markets
Today |
| NSE |
5,905.60
|
0.85%
|
| BSE |
19,417.46
|
0.84%
|
| NASDAQ |
3,050.39
|
0.00%
|
| |
|
|
| USD |
54.85
|
|
| EURO |
72.47
|
|
| JPY(100) |
64.22
|
|
| GBP |
88.51
|
|
|
| |
| Corporate
Watch |
| JK Tyre to invest Rs 1,000 crore to meet
annual target of 20 m tyres |
|
Delhi : To stretch its annual
output to 20 million tyres, JK Tyre will invest around Rs
1,000 crore in its India operations spread over next three to
four years. A large chunk of planned investment will go to its
new plant near Chennai and some of it will also go for
expanding the company's Udaipur and Mysore plants. “We have
already invested about Rs 1,000 crore at the 104-acre plant at
Chennai. Subject to market growth, we aim to invest R220-230
crore more on an annual basis over next 3-4 years. There will
be expansion at the Udaipur (about R100 crore) and Mysore
plants as well,” said Arun K Bajoria, president & director
JK Tyre & Industries. The company's Chennai plant was
started earlier this year on an initial annual output of 25
lakh passenger car radials (PCRs) and 4 lakh truck/bus radials
(TBRs).
|
| KFA seeks Sebi exemption from open offer
rule |
|
Delhi : that the open-offer rule is
one of the main reasons for delay in FDI. Though a company can
approach Sebi to seek exemption from the rule, the matter is
considered on a case-to-case basis. Kingfisher recently
announced its plans to cap investments by foreign
institutional investors (FIIs) in the company at 3%.
|
| Frugal innovation: Devi Shetty's Narayana
Hrudayalaya to conduct heart surgeries at world's cheapest
rates |
|
Andhra Pradesh : Narayana
Hrudayalaya, a pioneer in low-cost cardiac care, is building a
chain of hospitals that will carry out heart surgeries at the
cheapest rates in the world, buttressing India's reputation as
the Mecca for frugal innovation. A series of design and
operational advancements, ranging from construction techniques
to post-operative care, will mean that an open heart surgery
can be performed for as low as Rs 65,000, or about one-fourth
the cost in a corporate hospital. The Bangalore-based
healthcare provider aims to reach 100 towns with a population
of 500,000 to one million in the next seven years. The first
multi-specialty hospital at Mysore - in which the government
of Karnataka has a 26% stake - will start operations this
week.
|
| Fortis promoters to raise Rs 900 cr by
selling 16.5% stake through offer for sale
|
|
Delhi : Billionaire brothers
Malvinder and Shivinder Mohan Singh, the promoters of India's
largest hospital chain Fortis Healthcare, will raise Rs 900
crore by selling about 16.5% stake through a mix of offer for
sale (OFS) in the public market and a separate sale of shares
to private equity funds, two persons with direct knowledge of
the development said. 'A two-stage inter-linked deal is being
considered, which involves promoters divesting their 6.5%
stake through the auction route followed by a private
placement of about 10% stake to PE firms at a negotiated price
to raise around $100 million,' said one of the two persons
quoted above. Both persons did not want to be quoted as the
deal is in the works.
|
| OVL's $5-bn Kazakh deal faces
hurdle |
|
Maharashtra : Almost a month after
it announced its biggest acquisition, ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) is
facing a roadblock.The company had planned to invest around $5
billion to acquire ConocoPhillips’ 8.4 per cent stake in
Kazakhstan’s Kashagan field. But KazMunaiGaz National Co, the
Kazakh state energy producer, has said it will decide within
two months on acquiring a stake in the project that
ConocoPhillips intends to sell to OVL. According to the Kazakh
law, the government gets priority to buy any oil asset for
sale in its territory. The government passed the law in 2005,
before using the right to buy half of BG Group Plc’s stake in
Kashagan.
|
| Infosys starts making a different
trade-off |
|
Maharashtra : Infosys has tried for
a long while to maintain its prices and margins, even if this
hits growth. This seems to be changing.In a recent analysts
meet, many noted the management had finally turned aggressive
on pricing to drive volume growth.Basab Pradhan, head of sales
& marketing, confirmed to JP Morgan on the change in
strategy. “Pradhan explicitly confirms that the company has
turned aggressive on pricing to drive volume growth, primarily
in traditional IT (information technology) services. Also, the
company is much more flexible in negotiations with clients on
various issues such as contract structuring,” said analysts
Viju George and Amit Sharma of JP Morgan Asia Pacific Equity
Research.
|
| IOC to invest Rs 56,000 crore in 12th five
year plan |
|
Delhi : India's largest state-run
oil refining and marketing company, Indian Oil Corporation
plans to invest Rs 56,000 crore during the current five-year
plan, said RS Butola, chairman and managing director. While
over a quarter of the funds will be earmarked for
diversification and integration, the rest would be used on its
core business.
|
| |
| Tenders
& Assignment |
Maharashtra State Aids Control Society
![]() |
Description :Expression of interest from
CAG Empanelled Chartered Accountant firm
Last
Date : 10/01/2013
Address
:GOVERNMENT OF MAHARASHTRA
R.K.Kidwai Rd.Ackworth
Leprosy Complex,
Wadala (W)Mumbai-400031
|
Collector Office ![]() |
Description : Audit Work by Chartered
Accountants
Last Date : 11/01/2013
Address :Collector Office
Raigarh
Chhattisgarh
|
Software Technology Parks Of India ![]() |
Description : Appointment of Internal
auditor for FY 2012-13 at STPI-HQ, STPI & Its sub centers
Last Date : 11/01/2013
Address :Dept.of Electronics and
Information Technology, Ministry of Communications and
IT (Govt of India) Ganga Software Technology
Complex,Sector-29,Noida (UP)201303
Phone
:0120-2470400
|
Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation
Limited ![]() |
Description :Expression of interest for
Empanelment of Internal Auditors
Last Date
: 15/01/2013
Address
:Gujarat
|
| |
| Reminders |
| Tenders |
| Jodhpur Vidyut Vitaran Nigam
Limited 27/12/2012
|
| National Projects Construction Corporation
Limited 27/12/2012
|
| Himachal Pradesh State Handicrafts And Handlooms
Corporation Limited 29/12/2012
|
| Power Transmission Corporation Of Uttarakhand
Limited 29/12/2012
|
| Department Of Horticulture And Food
Processing 29/12/2012
|
| Mahanagar Telephone Nigam
Limited 31/12/2012
|
| Bihar Education Project
Council 31/12/2012
|
| Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation
Limited 31/12/2012
|
| |
| Notifications
& Circulars |
| CUSTOMS |
| Notification No.57/2012-Customs
(ADD) (Delhi) 21/12/2012
|
| Seeks to levy anti-dumping duty on the import of Choline
Chloride, orginiating in or exported from People's Republic of
China |
| SERVICE
TAX |
| Notification No.49 /2012 - Service
Tax (Delhi) 24/12/2012
|
| Seeks to amend Notification No.25/2012 -Service Tax dated
20.06.2012 |
| RBI |
| Notification
No.RBI/2012-13/347 (Delhi) 24/12/2012
|
| Special Deposit Scheme 1975 – Payment of interest for the
calendar year 2012 |
| Notification
No.RBI/2012-13/348 (Delhi) 24/12/2012
|
| The Co-operative Banks (Nomination) Rules, 1985 -
Clarifications |
| F. No.4
(5)-W&M/2012(i) (Delhi) 24/12/2012
|
| Auction for Sale (Re-issue) of ‘8.20 per cent Government
Stock, 2025’ |
| F. No.4 (5)
W&M/2012(ii) (Delhi) 24/12/2012
|
| Auction for Sale of a New Government Stock of 30
Years |
| DIRECTORATE GENERAL
OF FOREIGN TRADE |
| Policy Circular No. 8 (RE-2012)/2009-14
(Delhi) 24/12/2012
|
| Registration of contracts with DGFT for export of
sugar. |
| |
|
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