amendment bill

The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) today said that tax rates under the proposed Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime in India is likely to be between 16% and 20%. Full Article

Starting Thursday, Delhi shifted to a 5% Value Added Tax (VAT) slab from 4%. The shift to the 5% slab will impact the prices of medicines, surgical and medical equipment, IT and electronic products like computers and software, and industrial inputs, among other things. The five percent slab will cover 170-odd items. Full Article

Views and suggestions are solicited on the Indian Trusts (Amendment) Bill, for submission to the Hon’ble Parliamentary Standing Committee. Please click for text of the Indian Trusts (Amendment) Bill, 2009 alongwith statement of Objects and Reasons. Full Article

The Parliament has passed the the Competition (Amendment) Bill, 2009 which is to replace the Competition (Amendment) Ordinance, 2009 and to further amend section 66 of the Competition Act, 2002. Rajya Sabha passed it today, while the Lok Sabha had already considered and passed it on 14th December, 2009. Full Article

A bill enabling the State Bank of India (SBI) to split its shares and issue bonus shares may be placed in the current winter session of Parliament. Besides, the amendments to the State Bank of India Act, 1955, envisage the preferential or private placement of shares. The SBI (Amendment) Bill also proposes to allow India’s No. 1 bank to bring down the government holding to 51 per cent, which is on a par with other nationalised banks. Full Article

Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) has criticised HRD ministry’s proposed amendments to the Copyright Act and said it was disappointed to note that the ministry has not done any consultations with broadcasters on proposed changes like amendments in ‘Fair Use’ provisions. Full Article

The Constitutional amendment will be the basis for the new tax regime and will be followed by adoption of separate state and Central GST laws. The last amendment to the Constitution dealing with a financial matter was in 2000, when the Centre was given the power to tax services. The Ministry of Finance was in consultation with the law ministry on drafting of the amendment Bill. Full Article

The much-awaited Companies Bill, 2008 has been introduced in the Lok Sabha. Minister of Corporate Affairs, Shri Prem Chand Gupta introduce the Bill to consolidate and amend the law relating to companies. Two days ago, i.e., on 21.10.2008 Shri Gupta had withdrawn the Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2003 which was introduced in the Rajya Sabha on7.5.2003 as the said Bill was not in tune with the present day requirements of corporates in India. Full Article