Government on Thursday said it has prosecuted over 13,000 companies during the three years ending 2008-09 for not following the provisions of the Companies Act. “As many as 13,437 companies were prosecuted for non-compliance of provisions of the Companies Act, 1956, during the last three years–2006-07 to 2008-09,” Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid told the Lok Sabha.
The finance ministry is hoping to recover about Rs 10,000 crore from non-resident service providers to oil and gas explorers in India. Finance Minister has inserted a clarification in the Finance Bill 2010-11 that will stop these companies and other service providers who had so far used a simpler tax regime to claim a lower tax rate.
The government may ask third party administrators (TPA) that provide cashless medical insurance service to undergo external audit following complaints of delays in settling claims. “We have received number of complaints over delayed settlement of claims. There is also an issue of one TPA working for more than one insurance firm, leading to delay in processing,” said an official who did not wish to be named.
At Ahmedabad-Based Fountainhead, a little-known coaching academy for chartered accountants, February 20 was a day of celebration. The two-year-old chartered accountants’ training institute was playing host to a recruiting team from global consulting firm Ernst & Young (E&Y), rated among the world’s top four.
Mumbai based lawyers, doctors and film professionals are under Income-Tax department scanner, the department is planning to carry out a series of raids on such professionals, on grounds of incomplete disclosures. According to people familiar with the development, the department got into action after reports that a low-profile Mumbai-based lawyer had an unreported income of Rs 8 crore in his bank account.
When you buy a house through a home loan, every EMI you pay towards servicing the loan increases your equity in the house. Once you payoff the loan in full, your equity in the house is 100 per cent. In reverse mortgage, exactly the opposite happens. When you pledge your house for reverse mortgage with a lending institution, your equity in your own house decreases with every disbursal that the lending institution makes to you.
The Indian Medical Council (Professional conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002 were amended by Medical Council of India with the prior approval of Government of India by inserting a new Clause 6.8 which states that a medical practitioner shall not endorse any drug or product of the industry publicly. Any study conducted on the efficancy or other wise of such products shall be presented to and/or through appropriate scientific bodies or published on appropriate scientific journals in a proper way.
The Government of India has authorized Financial Intelligence Unit – India (FIU-IND) to enter into Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with FIUs of other countries to exchange information pertaining to money laundering and terror funding. So far, FIU-IND has signed MOUs with FIUs of Mauritius, Philippines, Brazil, Malaysia, Russian Federation, Australia and Canada and information is being shared between FIU-IND and its counterparts. Further, India has entered into MOUs with China and Vietnam which find mention of crime relating to money laundering.
The ‘Paid News’ issue was raised in Rajya Sabha today under Calling Attention Notice tabled by Shri Sitaram Yechury regarding the role of print and electronic media indulging in paid news in disguise as news. The text of Minister of Information & Broadcasting Smt. Ambika Soni’s statement made in response to the Calling Attention Notice is as follows:
