A suggestion by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) that foreign shareholding in new private sector banks be capped at 50 per cent with a lock-in of 10 years has led to some consternation among banks in which a majority share is held by overseas investors. The discussion paper has also triggered a debate if the proposal will make it tougher for banks to attract sufficient capital while ensuring that the shareholding is widely spread.
Stung by rejection of its demand for restoration of tax breaks on production of natural gas, the Oil Ministry has asked the Finance Ministry to let courts decide if 7-year tax holiday should apply only to oil and not on gas produced from the same well.
Facing flak from India and others for acting as a safe haven to foreigners stowing away wealth, Swiss banks have said they will share account details of suspected money launderers if the request is supported by four specific details. The specific details that someone requesting information should provide are the identity of the suspected offenders, details of the alleged offence, along with facts to undermine the suspicion, name of the bank and branch concerned in Switzerland and a written request from the foreign country’s tax authority.
Black money stashed abroad by Indians will now be traced more efficiently as Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and the Financial Intelligence Unit (India) have signed a pact to exchange information on tracking unaccounted funds, say official sources.
SEBI has, on 19 July 2010, released the report of Takeover Regulations Advisory Committee (TRAC) constituted under the Chairmanship of Mr. C. Achuthan on the proposed changes to the existing SEBI (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations, 1997. TRAC has given their recommendations and also issued a draft of proposed takeover regulations which would replace the existing takeover regulations. The report is open for public comments upto 31 August 2010.
A case was made for giving relaxation to companies, which have their assets predominantly as investments in shares for holding stake in group companies but not for trading, and companies which do not carry on any other financial activity i.e. Core Investment Companies (CICs), from the regulatory provisions applicable to Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs).
Any act, omission or concealment to be a fraud within the meaning of the Regulations need not be committed in a deceitful manner; intention to deceive is not an essential requirement of the definition of fraud as given in the Regulations; even making a false statement without believing it to be true is by itself an act of fraud.
The question as to whether a reimbursement for expenses would form part of the taxable income is not res integra insofar as this Court is concerned. In CIT v. Siemens Aktiongesellschaft [2009] 177 Taxman 81 (Bom.), a Division Bench of this Court held that sharing of expenses of the research utilised by the subsidiaries as well as the head office organization would not be income which would be assessable to tax.
Genuineness of the gift transactions cannot be determined without looking into the human probability aspects, surrounding circumstances such as relationship of the donor and donee and if assessee fails to establish any of these facts, the gift transaction cannot be treated as genuine.
Credit for brought forward MAT is to be given from gross demand before charging interest u/s 234B. 2. Interest u/s 244A was allowable on the refundable taxes arrived at after giving credit of brought forward MAT from the gross demand.
