| Professional
News |
| INCOME
TAX |
| India, Switzerland may soon agree on
sharing bank data |
Delhi : India and
Switzerland may soon find a middle ground to the vexed issue
of sharing information on specific bank accounts relating to
black money stashed by Indians in the Alpine country.An
indication to this effect was given by Finance Minister P
Chidambaram in the Capital on Saturday.India’s efforts to gain
banking information were frustrated by Switzerland on the
grounds that its domestic laws forbid sharing of information
on requests based on ‘stolen data’.
|
| Government to look into abolishment
of income tax exemption to charity
organisations |
Delhi : The government will
look into abolishment of income tax exemptions given to to
charity organisations in its budgetary exercise for the year
2014, according to an RTI response from the Central Board of
Direct Taxes. It also said that It could not trace files
related to proposals for giving income tax exemptions to
political parties on donations and fundings received by
them."Records available with TPL division were thoroughly
searched. However, no files/records relating to introduction
of the referred provisions from exempting political parties
from income tax on funding/donations received by/made to them
could be traced," the response said.
|
| SERVICE
TAX |
| Service tax on leased goods is
valid |
Delhi : A recent judgment on
service tax on tour operator has raised very interesting
theoretical issues (S S Associates vs. CCE - 2013(31)STR433
(Tri.-Del)). The judgment holds that a ropeway operator is not
liable to pay service tax under the heading Tour Operator
defined under Section 65(105)(115) of the Finance Act 1994.A
ropeway operator is not a tour operator because he does not
operate any tour, but has merely made the ropeway available
for anybody to avail of it.
|
| GST |
| If petroleum is out, it's not
GST |
Delhi : The finance
minister's advisor, Parthasarathi Shome, completes his tenure
at North Block next month. But his association with the
ministry is going to continue, as head of the Tax
Administrative Reforms Commission (Tarc). He tells Indivjal
Dhasmana & Vrishti Beniwal in an interview that the next
government's priority should be removing tax uncertainty,
while avoiding retrospective amendments. Edited
excerpts:
|
| Misc. Corporate Laws
& Other Commercial Policies |
| Centre moves to plug the royalty
outflow surge |
Delhi : After dilly-dallying
for several months, the Centre is set to take some action on
checking the rising outflow of royalties from multinationals
such as Nestle, Siemens, Hindustan Unilever and Maruti Suzuki
to their parent companies.Remedies could include re-imposition
of caps on outflows or taxing royalty payments.This initiative
comes at a time when less than a month is left for a new
government to be constituted. The UPA Government has not taken
any decision on the matter until now, fearing that it will
impact investments.
|
| At WTO, India may oppose USA's stance
on Jawaharlal Nehru Solar Mission |
Delhi : The United States
has approached the World Trade Organization (WTO) against
India's policy requiring power producers to use locally
sourced content in the Jawaharlal Nehru Solar Mission,
prompting India to consider a retaliatory complaint against
America's similarly restrictive policies in the sector in 13
of its states. Talks between the two sides over purchase of
solar equipment from American firms failed to convince the US,
a commerce department official said, adding that the issue is
likely to escalate into setting up of a dispute settlement
panel within the global trade body in May.
|
| Finance & Money
Markets |
| Cash holdings of mutual funds matter
in the short term |
Delhi : ICICI Prudential
Asset Management Company has increased cash holdings in some
of its funds like Dynamic Fund and Balanced Advantage Fund.
"In Dynamic, we were holding about 20 per cent in cash as of
March-end. In the other, we have used derivatives," said
Sankaran Naren, chief investment officer of the company.Though
fund managers advise staying invested irrespective of market
conditions, they tend to deviate from this mantra many times.
Of course, they are savvier than individual investors but they
also time the market - buy when markets fall and sell when
they rise.
|
| Rupee faces key hurdle at
60.3 |
Delhi : It was a volatile
week for the Indian rupee. After opening at 60.30, the rupee
tumbled 1.45 per cent to record an intra-week low of 61.19 on
Wednesday.However, the currency recovered most of its losses
in the final sessions to close 0.55 per cent lower for the
week at 60.62.Month-end dollar demand from oil importers, weak
inflows from foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and
concerns over the Ukraine crisis dragged the rupee lower in
the initial part of the week.
|
| Commodities |
| Gold can turn
turbulent |
Delhi : Gold demonstrated
its safe-haven property yet again last week. The yellow metal
reversed from lows of $1,294 and moved above $1,300 on news of
pro-Russian activists seizing a vehicle of international
mediators. It closed at $1,303.3 per troy ounce on Friday, up
0.7 per cent for the week. Silver logged a gain of 0.5 per
cent at $19.73 per ounce. Platinum gained 0.6 per cent to
close at $1,422.7/ounce. Investors moved out of stocks on
fears of escalation of the Ukraine crisis.
|
| Swelling output to sap rubber
prices |
Delhi : The natural rubber
market is dominated by Asia in general and South-East Asia in
particular. With the market currently in a state of oversupply
and slow growth in global demand forecast in 2014, natural
rubber is likely to be steady in the coming months unless, of
course, some of the lurking bullish and bearish factors begin
to play out.From the table, it is clear that the supply
outlook is benign with production growth expected to be
steady.
|
| INTERNATIONAL
BUSINESS |
| Amazon steps up US lobbying for
Indian FDI |
After supermarket giant Walmart, it is
online retail major Amazon which appears to be lobbying hard
with US lawmakers to seek their support for facilitating its
“foreign direct investment in India”.According to the latest
lobbying disclosure reports filed with the US Senate, Amazon
lobbied for the second straight quarter during the
January-March period of 2014 on issues related to foreign
direct investment (FDI) rules in India.
|
| Indicators turn positive for European
markets but warn of high taxes while
investing |
Some financial advisors are asking
investors to invest a small portion of their portfolio in
European funds, as it will help them to benefit from a likely
recovery in the European markets. Apart from diversifying the
portfolio, investors can also use it as an opportunity to
invest in world-class companies like BMW, Volkswagen and
several others which are not listed in India, add
advisors.
|
| Battle for France's Alstom heats up
with Siemens offer |
Siemens and the French government
intervened in General Electric's plan to buy the power arm of
AlstomBSE 1.74 % on Sunday with an alternative European
"champions" tie-up proposal and a pledge to act in France's
national interest. Though French trains-to-turbines maker
Alstom is privately owned, firebrand Economy Minister Arnaud
Montebourg issued a stark reminder of the influence the
government holds over a company that relies heavily on orders
from state rail operator SNCF and partly state-owned utility
EDF.
|
| Banking |
| Public sector banks need to cut
corporate lending, step up retail loans: GS Sandhu, Financial
services secretary |
Delhi : Struggling state-run
banks may be asked to confine themselves to retail banking, a
step the finance ministry feels can help improve their
financial health. Financial services secretary GS Sandhu, who
took over earlier this month, told ET's Dheeraj Tiwari in an
interview about the new approach and how staying away from
corporate lending can make public sector banks laden with bad
loans more healthy.
|
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