| Professional
News |
| DTC |
| Should the DTC be
scrapped? Article |
Delhi : As part of its
reform agenda, the government introduced the Direct Taxes Code
(DTC) with the intent to bring about a tax legislation which
is simple and reflective of the current global and Indian
economic scenario. The DTC has evolved since its introduction
in 2009 and currently exists in the form of the Direct Taxes
Code 2013 which was released by the finance minister recently
and is available for public comments. The DTC 2013 seeks to
strike a balance between reining in fiscal deficit and at the
same time providing a fillip to the country’s economic
growth.
|
| GST |
| New govt must roll out GST to raise
capex: Crisil |
Delhi : Expressing concerns
over a fall in capital expenditure as a percentage of GDP,
Crisil on Monday said the new government must speed up the
process of implementing Goods and Services Tax and cut
subsidies to free up more resources for productive investment.
As against the 13th Finance Commission's capital expenditure
to GDP target of 4.5% to be achieved by fiscal 2015, what has
actually been achieved is less than half of the target, the
ratio for fiscal 2014 was 1.7% and the same is budgeted for
fiscal 2015," Crisil said in a report.
|
| Misc. Corporate Laws
& Other Commercial Policies |
| Govt for discussion paper on royalty
payment ceiling |
Delhi : Amid worries over a
50 per cent rise in royalty payments by Indian firms to their
foreign partners or multinational parents in four years to
2012-13, the government is likely to bring a discussion paper
for review of the present unbridled policy, after the Lok
Sabha polls are over."The discussion paper will come in the
next couple of weeks," a senior official in the Department of
Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) said. The last phase
of elections will be over on May 12.
|
| CCI shifts focus from 'legal form' to
'business rationale |
Delhi : Since May 2011, when
the merger control provisions of India's Competition Act, 2002
came into force, all mergers or acquisition of shares and
assets that are above specified asset/turnover thresholds have
to be notified to the Competition Commission of India (CCI)
for pre-merger scrutiny. The CCI may either approve the
transaction or impose structural or behavioural remedies to
ensure that the transaction, when consummated, does not cause
any anti-competitive harm in any Indian market. In extreme
cases, the CCI is even empowered to block a
transaction.
|
| Govt frames rules for states to
ensure cover for those hit by hydel
projects |
Delhi : The power ministry
is framing guidelines for the implementation of local area
development fund (LADF) to ensure state governments pass on
the intended monetary benefits to people affected by hydel
projects.The Centre's revenue from the sale of 1% free power
to discoms goes to the LADF. (The government doesn't pay hydel
stations for power given free to project-affected people, it
is, in fact, entitled to get its entire share – 12% – of power
procured from the hydel stations free of cost).
|
| Power PSUs may be allowed to sell
Centre’s quota in open market |
Delhi : In what could turn
out to be a bonanza for central generating utilities such as
NTPC, the government has proposed to let them directly sell
25% of the Centre's quota of power from their projects in the
unregulated market to open-access consumers.These utilities
are currently required to earmark 15% of their output to the
Centre, which will then use the same to meet exigencies like
acute shortage of power in any part of the country. The
proposal is to allow central power utilities to keep a quarter
of their share to the quota with themselves for sale in the
market where tariff is not regulated.
|
| Finance & Money
Markets |
| Cyclical stocks see buying interest
as market rally broadens |
Maharashtra : The market
momentum appears to be broadening even as the benchmarks
continue to touch new highs. Buying interest is clearly
spreading towards the cyclical sectors, which have
underperformed the benchmarks for most part of the last two
years, given that the number of stocks outperforming the
benchmark indices has jumped in the year so far. For instance,
of the 348 stocks from the BSE 500 universe, which exist in
the index since a decade, 204 have outdone the Sensex returns
(7.2%) in 2014 compared to 105 in 2013.
|
| Commodities |
| EU ban on Indian Alphonso imports
leaves traders bitter |
Delhi : The 28-member
European Union has temporarily banned the import of Alphonso
mangoes, the king of fruits, and four vegetables from India
from May 1, sparking protests from the Indian community,
lawmakers and traders.The recent decision by the grouping's
standing committee on Plant Health came after 207 consignments
of fruits and vegetables from India imported into the EU in
2013 were found to be contaminated by pests such as fruit
flies and other quarantine pests.
|
| Commodities futures market caught in
bear grip |
Delhi : The commodities
futures market continues to reel under the twin impact of the
commodities transaction tax (CTT) and the National Spot
Exchange Ltd (NSEL) imbroglio. These developments, which have
affected liquidity and discouraged trading, have led to a
sharp dip in turnover in the market.In the first fortnight of
this month, the turnover dropped by 70 per cent to Rs.
2.36-lakh crore from Rs. 7.87-lakh crore in the corresponding
year-ago period.
|
| INTERNATIONAL
BUSINESS |
| Pfizer ponders next step after
AstraZeneca snubs $100-bn bid |
US drugmaker Pfizer is working on its
next move in a potential $100-billion battle for Britain's
AstraZeneca after having two bids rejected, as deal-making
grips the healthcare industry.Pfizer said on Monday it made a
£58.8-billion ($98.9 billion) bid approach to AstraZeneca in
January and had contacted its British rival again on April 26
seeking further discussions about a takeover.
|
| U.S. Said to Sanction Seven Russians,
17 Companies |
The Obama administration will sanction
seven Russians and 17 companies, including some involved in
the financial, energy and infrastructure sectors, according to
a congressional official briefed on the actions. President
Barack Obama said today in Manila that the U.S. is “moving
forward with an expanded list of individuals and companies
that will be affected by sanctions. They will remain targeted.
It will also focus on some areas of high-tech defense exports
to Russia.”
|
| Banking |
| Moody’s: RBI curbs on overseas loan
facilities may increase NPAs |
Maharashtra : The RBI’s
recent restrictions on credit facilities extended by Indian
banks to overseas entities of Indian companies are likely to
increase the amount of reported bad loans, Moody’s said in a
report on Monday.“The new regulations are likely to increase
the amount of reported non-performing corporate loans.
However, the increase would reflect a truer picture of bank
asset quality,” the report said.
|
| ICICI, Axis & HDFC Bank will gain
most from economic revival, say
analysts |
Maharashtra : Getting the
economy going again will be among the primary tasks of the new
government, although there are few concrete signs of a
turnaround amid gloomy forecasts of a possibly weak monsoon.
But if and when some of the sunnier prognostications come
true, the banking sector will be among the
beneficiaries.Banking analysts are of the view that once the
economy picks up, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank will gain on
account of loan growth and HDFC Bank will benefit on account
of better credit quality and margin improvement.
|
| Notifications
& Circulars |
| INCOME
TAX |
| Circular No. 09/2014
(Delhi) 23/04/2014
|
| Clarification regarding treatment of expenditure incurred
for development of roads/highways in BOT agreements under
Income-tax Act,1961-regarding |
| SEBI |
| CIR/IMD/FIIC/ 09/
2014 (Maharashtra) 28/04/2014
|
| Infrastructure facilities and submission of periodic
reports |
| CIR/MRD/DP/ 14
/2014 (Maharashtra) 23/04/2014
|
| Revised guidelines for Liquidity Enhancement Scheme in the
equity cash and equity derivatives segments |
| RBI |
| Notification No.
RBI/2013-14/575 (Delhi) 28/04/2014
|
| Usage of Transaction Type Code (TTC) in RTGS |
| Notification No.
RBI/2013-14/576 (Delhi) 28/04/2014
|
| Auction of Government of India Dated Securities |
| Notification No.
RBI/2013-14/572 (Delhi) 25/04/2014
|
| Reporting of Cross Border Wire Transfer Report on FINnet
Gateway |
| Notification No.
RBI/2013-14/573 (Delhi) 25/04/2014
|
| Reporting of Cross Border Wire Transfers |
| Notification No.
RBI/2013-14/574 (Delhi) 25/04/2014
|
| Reporting of Cross Border Wire Transfers |
|
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