In the Digital world, when every industry has come up with the idea of digitizing their platform, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has undertaken an initiative to revamp the delivery of its service mechanisms to boost its foreign trade. As a step towards it, the first phase of Digital platform of DGFT will go live on 13th July 2020 by the department through its website: https://www.dgft.gov.i
The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has cancelled the summer vacation, 2020 for all its benches, in view of loss of work due to the lockdown imposed by the Central Government in the wake of pandemic of COVID- 19. A notification issued by the Registrar of NCLT in this behalf states that “the Honourable President of NCLT is pleased to order that summer vacations falling in the months of May, June & July 2020 as shown in the calendar of the NCLT bench, New Delhi, i.e., Principal Bench stand
Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs had issued a letter dated April 27,2020 regarding guidelines for conduct of personal hearing in virtual mode under Custom Act, 1962 Board has decided that personal hearing may be conducted through video conferencing facility, in respect of any proceeding under Customs Act 1962. The guidelines for the conduct of virtual mode of personal hearing through video conferencing facility are as under: In any proceedings before appell
The CBIC vide Circular No. 17/2020 dated April 3, 2020 on “Measures to facilitate trade during the lockdown period- section 143AA of the Customs Act, 1962” wherein relaxation was given to accept an undertaking in lieu of a bond required during customs clearance upto 30.04.2020, subject to conditions as underlined in the circular. The said circular was issued in the context of lockdown announced by the Government for the period 25.03.2020 to 14.04.2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic. In the backgr
Ministry of Commerce vide Trade Notice No. 03/2020-21 dated 15th April 2020 has come up with the clarification and the specification as to how the MEIS scheme would be replaced with RoDTEP. Following has been the pointers given in the said trade notice:- Even though the entire foreign trade policy has been extended by 1 year upto 31.03.2021 but the MEIS scheme would co
Commissioner of customs has issued a public notice dated April 01,2020 regarding clearance of goods to SEZ- facilitation during lockdown period in view of outbreak of COVID-19. It has been brought to the notice of this office that due to lockdown imposed by the Government in view of outbreak of COVID-19, the Importer / Customs Brokers are unable to submit, duly assessed, duplicate and quadruplicate copies of Bills of Entry. As a measure of trade facilitation, it has been de
The decision was taken after field formations flagged the unavailability of notarised stamp papers for furnishing the bonds that was being faced by importers, exporters and their authorised custom brokers, during the lockdown period. The Board will review the order after April 14, when the nationwide lockdown ends.
New Delhi: The government on Tuesday said banks and select financial institutions have reported frauds of over Rs 1.43 lakh crore during the April-December period of the current financial year. Replying to a question on banking frauds and action taken against fraudsters, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the government in 2015 issued a framework for timely detection, reporting and investigation related to large-value bank frauds to public sector banks (PSBs). The framework was issued to
MUMBAI: Banking Sector - The changing technology landscape would challenge the traditional banks with Fintech and Big Data driving growth, but banks would continue to be in a position of primacy in finance with them adopting evolving technologies, Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das has said. Even as technology firms provide the tools for reaching customers and enhancing credit assessments, they would be ‘service providers’ to customers on their own or act as agents of banks, he
GUWAHATI: What is expected to provide impetus to Aadhaar enrollment in Assam, financial inclusion outreach initiative of the public sectors banks, co-operative bank, and rural banks will be held from February 26 to 28. Union Finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman will attend the outreach initiative on February 27. Aadhaar enrollment in Assam is abysmally low. Sunil Kumar Tandon, chief general manager (CGM) for Northeast India of State Bank of IndiaNSE -1.11 % said, “State Bank alone will set up
NEW DELHI: ?Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's Budget for 2020-21 was light on new structural reforms, Fitch Ratings said on Wednesday adding ?it has not materially altered its forecasts for India's economic growth to rise to 5.6 per cent in the next fiscal from 4.6 per cent in 2019-20. "We believe it is highly unlikely the country's general government debt will be brought within the ceiling of 60 per cent of GDP by FY25, as stipulated in the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act,"
NEW DELHI: FDI in India - Foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country has increased to USD 284 billion during 2014-19, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Saturday while presenting the Union Budget for 2020-21. "India's FDI got elevated to the level of USD 284 billion during 2014-19 from USD 190 billion that came in during the years 2009-14," she said. The foreign inflows into India grew 15 per cent to USD 26 billion during the first half of the current financial year. Sect
Import duty hike - ASMA had urged government to reduce import duty on primary aluminium to 2.5%, remove duty on scrap, increase duty on downstream products to 20% from 7.5% and remove aluminium from all FTAs to protect the domestic industry from cheap imports KOLKATA: Aluminium Association of India has appealed to the government to increase import duties on aluminium products to curb imports in the interest for both primary and downstream players. In a letter to the princi
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal's order dismissing the Registrar of Companies (RoC) plea seeking modification of its verdict in the Tata-Cyrus Mistry matter. A bench comprising Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices B R Gavai and Surya Kant agreed to hear Tata Sons Pvt Ltd's appeal and issued notice to the parties concerned. The apex court said it would hear the matter along with the main plea filed by Tata Sons against NCLAT's verdict.
Quality issue on steel - The BIS shall be the certifying and enforcing authority for the goods,” the department said in the orders. NEW DELHI: In a move to curb imports of certain substandard steel items and cables, the government has issued quality control orders for these products. The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has come out with two separate orders as per which these products will have to conform to the specified standards and bear the standard mar
India Attractive in Itself - Hong Kong-based private equity group Pacific Alliance Group (PAG) is looking to invest upwards of a billion dollars in India over the next three years to buy out targets, provide growth equity and even structured finance with an eye to fix broken balance sheets of India Inc. “We have been following the economic situation in India for the past 20 years… But the macro-economic conditions are much more improved now. The growth rate has slowed down but is still st
This is to update you regarding a CBIC’s circular no 02/2020- Customs dated 10th January 2020 on ‘levy and collection of Social Welfare Surcharge (‘SWS’) on imported goods when the Basic Customs Duty and Additional Duties of Customs are debited through duty credit scrips’ (under various schemes such as Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS), Services Exports from India Scheme (SEIS), etc. of the FTP). It has been clarified that
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman may announce second-round capital infusion for public sector general insurance companies in the upcoming Budget to improve their financial health. The government infused Rs 2,500 crore in the three insurers -- National Insurance, Oriental Insurance, and United India Insurance -- through first supplementary demands for grants for 2019-20 last month. However, these companies would require an additional Rs 10,000-12,000 crore capital dose to meet the prescr
NCLAT Dismisses ROC - The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal on Monday dismissed the Registrar of Companies' petition seeking modification of the judgement in the Tata-Mistry case and said its ruling had not cast any aspersions on the RoC. "There is no ground to amend judgement dated December 18, 2019," a two-member NCLAT bench said. On December 18, the tribunal ruled reinstating Cyrus Mistry as the Executive Chairman of Tata Group and also termed conversion of Tata Sons from a public
Profitable Businesses in India - India is a country with a huge potentiality and opportunity to explore and excel in a very short period. The opportunity also expanded with the emergence of digital India and skill India in recent times and by obtaining a record-breaking position within 3 years, from 130th position in 2016 to 63rd position in 2019 among 190 economies. The most trending business for
Washington: Rushing into Crypto Currencies - Many countries have cautioned against rushing into crypto currencies, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Sunday, as Facebook's proposed virtual currency Libra became a buzzword during the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. In fact, Reserve Bank of India Governor Shantikanta Das spoke about crypto currencies during one of the interventions this week. The RBI has banned the use of
Mumbai: Voda Idea bond yield Jumps 43% - Vodafone IdeaNSE 1.59 % bond yields surged 42.91 per cent pulling prices down in a secondary market transaction on Wednesday as investors turned apprehensive over its financials. Normally, those bonds are traded in the 10-20 per cent yield range with limited secondary market transactions taking place. Bond yields and prices move in the opposite directions. A British bank headquartered in Londo
The finance ministry has recommended the closure of struggling telecom companies BSNL and MTNL, Financial Express has reported. The cost of closing the two state-run companies would not be as high as Rs 95,000 crore, a number put out by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), the report said. The sum of Rs 95,000 crore factored in a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) for all 1.65 lakh BSNL employees and its debt repayment, the report said. The government has rejected DoT's request fo
Once considered the third-largest realty developer in India, Mumbai-based Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL) has only spiraled down over the last few years, with the latest knock being the arrest of its promoters in connection to one of the country’s biggest bank scams. On Thursday, Mumbai Police’s economic offenses wing (EOW) arrested HDIL’s executive chairman Rakesh Kumar Wadhawan and his son Sarang, the managing director of the company, in connection with a ?4,355-cror
In a statement, Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) said it has sought requisite details of their findings as well as that of any "member/firm alleged to be involved in the alleged financial irregularities at the lender. New Delhi: Chartered accountants' apex body ICAI has sought information from the RBI and other authorities on the PMC Bank crisis to check whether any auditor was involved in the alleged financial irregularities at the lender. Taking note of the "enormity of
The 0.75 per cent discount being given on credit card payments made to buy fuel at petrol pumps will be withdrawn from October 1. From today, that is October 1, there are five changes that will have a bearing on your personal finances. Here is a look at those five changes and how it can impact your financial decisions and finances. External benchmarking of loans As directed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), all float
NEW DELHI: The government has stayed with the borrowing plan for the fiscal, as announced in the budget, sending a strong signal that it will try and meet the fiscal deficit target despite a sharp cut in corporate tax rate that is expected to cost Rs 1.45 lakh crore. It will borrow Rs 2.68 lakh crore in the second half of the fiscal, having borrowed Rs 4.42 crore in the first half, of the total planned Rs 7.1 lakh crore for FY20, the finance ministry said on Monday. “Rs 2.68 lakh crore borr
NEW DELHI: Private sector banks have said that there is no problem of liquidity and enough demand for loans exists, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Thursday, while asserting that the economy will revive in second half of the financial year as consumption takes off and banks raise their lending. “On the whole, it was a very tonic-like meeting where I have heard good things, positive things. Not one voice said there’s a concern. None of them voiced liquidity concerns,” Sithara
Gems and jewellery exports continued its downtrend registering a fall of 14 per cent in August to $2.84 billion against $3.32 billion logged in the same period last year. In rupee terms, exports were down 12 per cent to ? 20,242 crore (? 23,077 crore). The hike in import duty on cut and polished diamond to 7.5 per cent from 2.5 per cent in the Budget to curb round-tripping has impacted gem and jewellery exports as the industry has to pay high duty to bring back the consignments that have b
Two days of bank strike will be followed by another two days of weekly holidays in the next week of September Most bank branches are likely to function only for three days in the week NEW DELHI : If a two-day bank strike called by a cluster of four bank officers union next week is successful, then most bank branches in India would be closed for four consecutive days from September 26 to 29. Four bank unions - All India Bank Officer's Confederation, the
Under this scheme, the government will give partial credit guarantee for purchases of such assets up to Rs 1 lakh crore this fiscal. The guarantee will cover up to 10% of their first loss. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday met chiefs of state-run banks and asked them to ensure that no stressed loan of MSME that is still standard is declared non-performing asset by March 31, 2020, taking advantage of an existing RBI scheme. Keeping with the Budget announcements to help address st
The NCLAT has allowed an appeal filed by financial creditor Hero Fincorp Ltd., on the ground of discriminatory treatment with similarly situated 'Financial Creditors'. The NCLAT Bench, headed by S J Mukhopadhay, took this view while hearing an appeal Hero Fincorp against the NCLT's approval of the resolution plan for the corporate debtor 'Rave Scans Pvt. Ltd.'. The successful resolution applicant was one of the directors of the corporate debtor, Rahul Jain. It was Hero Fincorp's contention
MUMBAI: After forcing banks to link retail loans to an external benchmark, the RBI is looking at the way non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) and mortgage companies price their products. While an external benchmark might not be mandated for housing finance companies (HFCs), banking regulator wants to bring more transparency in their pricing. Meanwhile, the RBI is also not in favour of a combined fixed and floating home loan product which SBI chairman Rajnish Kumar had recently spoken about.
The last Union Budget was somewhat timid, perhaps, given the growth slowdown, but recent economic policy changes have shown more willingness to respond vigorously to the problem. The current ruling coalition has shown a propensity for bold moves in its attempt to reshape India’s polity and society to match its vision of the nation. The economy has sometimes received similar treatment, with the GST finally being implemented; demonetisation, and public sector bank merger
MUMBAI: HIGHLIGHTS CARE Ratings has downgraded businessman Anil Ambani-led Reliance Home Finance's long-term debt programme, market-linked debentures, subordinated debt, non-convertible debentures (NCDs) and upper tier-11 NCDs to ''D''. CARE said the action is primarily due to delay in servicing of principal on one of the NCDs. Reliance Home Finance said the rating action is "untimely and uncalled for". Reliance Home Finance said it
The PNB Housing Finance board okayed a plan to raise capital of up to ?2,000 cr in July Two of its existing shareholders, private equity firms General Atlantic and Carlyle, will also infuse funds into the mortgage lender Mumbai: Goldman Sachs Group, PremjiInvest and the family office of Sunil Kant Munjal are in advanced talks to invest in PNB Housing Finance Ltd, said two people directly aware of the discussions. PNB Housing is looking to raise as much as
Import and Export are part and parcel of business. There are several incentive schemes and benefits in India over trade providing an advantage for trading and payments of customs duties. Once duty credit scrips are issued one can avail the benefit of getting a discount while making payment with customs. Some of the common and most availed Export Incentive Schemes and benefits are:-
FM Nirmala Sitharaman said that the new scheme, which will replace Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) will incentivize exporters than existing schemes put together. Saturday, September 14, 2019 - 17:34 With GDP growth sliding to six-year low of 5 per cent in April-June quarter and several sectors facing low demand, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday announced a fresh set of measures to boost exports and the housing sector. The key measures include extending the sc
The declining economic outlook and increasing political pressure are pushing central banks into more aggressive unconventional monetary policies. Simultaneously, fears are growing that such steps, especially negative interest rates, actually threaten the stability of the financial system. The risk setting off dangerous feedback loops in credit markets and the real economy, where the second and third-order effects are difficult to anticipate or control. As the experience of banks in Japan and
FM Nirmala Sitharaman Press Conference HIGHLIGHTS: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said that the government is fully aware of the ongoing slowdown and is taking measures to revive economic growth. On job losses especially in the auto sector, Finance Minister said that the government is taking inputs and working to tackle the problem. Addressing the media on ‘100 Days of Bold Initiatives & Decisive Actions’ of the government at 2 pm at Chennai, Sitharama
RBI told Equitas that 'its request for extension of timeline for listing of share of ESFB cannot be acceded to' In September last year, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had barred Bandhan Bank from opening new branches without its approval The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has turned down a proposal by Equitas Holdings seeking extension of the listing deadline for its subsidiary Equitas Small Finance Bank (ESFB)
Exporter and Importer of any country need to register the company with several authorities, institutions and government scheme. Such registration or policy helps the company to grow continuously without any hurdles in the form of incentives/benefits while conducting export and import trade. IEC (Import Export Code) is a number given by the Director of Foreign trade that is mandatory for importing and exporting goods and services from India. In simple words, to expand the goods or services fro
Equitas Small Finance Bank (SFB), which completed three years of operations on Wednesday, has missed its listing timeline. While the holding company — Equitas Financial Holdings, which owns 100 per cent stake in Equitas SFB — is a listed entity, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) rules mandate that the SFB be listed separately within three years of launch of business. Equitas SFB, the first such bank, began operations on September 5, 2016. The company has been considering a reorganisation
New Delhi: The finance ministry expects the remaining four public sector lenders to be out of the RBI's prompt corrective action (PCA) framework with the recent round of capital infusion. Currently, Indian Overseas BankNSE 2.00 % (IOB), Central Bank of India, UCO Bank and United Bank of India are under this framework which puts several restrictions on them, including on lending, management compensation and dire
HIGHLIGHTS Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said there will not be a single job loss due to merger of banks Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday unveiled a plan to merge 10 public sector banks into four The All India Bank Employees Union said the amalgamation would lead to the closure of banks besides job losses Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday allayed fears of jo
FY20Q1 growth fell to its slowest pace since March 2013 amid a prolonged slowdown in few sectors GDP growth was impacted by the slowdown in manufacturing, agriculture and construction sectors, which witnessed year-on-year deceleration in growth Services sector, the biggest contributor to the GDP, grew at 5.9% as against 6.5% in the year-ago quarter New Delhi: In a sign that the economy is going through a prolonged slowdown phase,
The government on Friday said that it would merge 10 public sector banks into four, bringing down the number of PSU banks to 12 from 21. The PSU bank mergers would help in better management of capital, said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while announcing the proposal as a part of a package of ‘reforms’ for the economy. She also announced a series of governance of government banks in the hope that the capital infused by the government into the lenders would result in stronger banks.
HDB Financial Services, HDFC Bank-owned non-banking financial company (NBFC), will raise Rs 15,000 crore via non-convertible debentures (NCDs) and Rs 500 crore through subordinated bonds to support expansion in the loan book. HDB Finance, an NBFC in the retail financing space, has seen its overall loan portfolio grow by 22 per cent to Rs 56,287 crore as on June 30 from Rs 45,889 crore a year ago. Its loan book has diversified, with an increased presence in commercial vehicle/construction equi
Modi, after delivering his sixth straight address to the nation on the Independence Day from the ramparts of the Red Fort here, went into brainstorming with Sitharaman and all top officials in her ministry. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday comprehensively reviewed the state of the economy with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as his government scrambled for solutions to tackle a fast-spreading slowdown in various sectors, which is eroding wealth and causing job losses. Modi, aft
Market changes can immensely affect your business to a great extent which might push your business toward high growth and also pull down in the market. The assurance about short-covering lifted benchmark indices and rate cut by Reserve Bank of India's Monetary Policy Committee on August 7. The BSE Sensex climbed 277.01 points to 36,976.85, while the Nifty50 rallied 85.70 points to 10,948.30 and formed strong bullish candl
The beginning of April brings with it a number of changes that every tax payer needs to be aware of to better understand their tax liabilities as well as the benefits that the Government is offering them. Let’s take a look at some of the major changes 1. Income tax Imagine if your social media profiles contributed to building your profile for the Government. This profile would be used only for tax purposes and would take into account your behavior on Facebook, Twitter and Inst
Transfer Pricing: Arm’s length principle Transfer Pricing was introduced in India in 2001 and since then it has gone through numerous changes in respect to amendments for the purpose of strengthening the rule. In simple words, if one was to define transfer pricing’s ‘Arm’s Length Principle
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