Archive for 2008

External commercial borrowing (ECB) norms are not likely to be relaxed any further soon, sources in the finance ministry indicated on Friday. Can you think of any other relaxation?" asked a senior finance ministry official in reply to a question on the possibility of easing ECB norms more. Full Article

Volatility in lending and deposit rates witnessed during the year is expected to end in 2009 with interest rates seen to be going down, due primarily to an easy monetary stance being pursued by the Reserve Bank of India] to push growth. Full Article

A resident of Pune, Vikram Som fractured his leg. But instead of going through the hassle of visiting a hospital for an X-Ray, waiting in a long queue and then returning to fetch the report in the evening, he simply called the STAT 24x7 helpline. He scheduled the X-Ray appointment which was done in the confines of his home at his convenience. That's not all. He got the report in an hour. Full Article

The government is likely to revise downwards indirect tax collections target for the current financial year by at least Rs 20,000 crore (Rs 200 billion), because of cut in industrial production due to the global economic slowdown and duty sops. Full Article

The farm loan waiver scheme may not trigger a tendency among farmers to default intentionally, Amarendra Sahoo, chief general manager, rural planning and credit department, Reserve Bank of India , said on Thursday. "The farm loan waiver may not impact. Some farmers may wilfully default. But genuine people will repay loans," Sahoo said. Many bankers have been expressing concern that the farm loan waiver scheme announced in Union Budget for 2008-09 would have an impact on .. Full Article

The Revised Standard on Auditing (SA) 540, 'Auditing Accounting Estimates, Including Fair Value Accounting Estimates, and Related Disclosures' provides timely guidance on audit of fair value and accounting estimates in the current times of market uncertainty and liquidity crunch. Accounting estimate is an approximation of a monetary amount in the absence of precise means of measurement. Risk of material misstatement increases significantly since accounting estimate invol.. Full Article

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India has constituted a committee on Public Finance with the objective of extending a helping hand to the Centre, state and local administrative departments in nation building, an official of ICAI said on Monday. ICAI Programme Director V C James told reporters here, the committee's key objective is to study, review, analyse and recommend measures to tackle the fiscal problems of the central or state governments, PSUs, Civic bodi.. Full Article

During a verification of electronic returns, the department found that as many as 1,714 taxpayers under the self-assessment scheme (where tax-payers determine their tax liability and pay accordingly) had not paid their tax dues. In a few cases, the amount due was around Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion). Full Article