In a significant order late on Friday, market regulator Sebi banned issuance of Unit-Linked Insurance Plans, popularly known as ULIPs, by life insurance companies. Sebi has asked 14 private insurance companies, including market leaders like SBI Life, ICICI Prudential Life and Reliance Life Insurance, not to issue any more ULIP products. The Sebi order does not cover state-owned insurance major LIC. There is no immediate clarity on the fate of existing products.
An income-tax raid on a Delhi-based infrastructure and power major with a turnover of over $2.5 billion led to the disclosure of unaccounted income worth Rs 212 crore. Assuming a profit rate of 10%, the disclosure also amounted to an admission that the businessman had withheld disclosing a turnover worth Rs 2,000 crore which, had it been accounted for, would have spelt big gains for other tax departments such as service tax, central excise, VAT and others.
Move over Mumbai, Kolkata has arrived. The country’s highest taxpayer could be from this city never mind the fact that he was forced to pay the whopping amount after an income tax raid. Santiago Martin has coughed up an unbelievable Rs 19 crore which, the West Bengal circle of the income tax department claims is perhaps the highest amount paid by a single assessee.
Cooperative sugar mills in Maharashtra on Wednesday received a much-needed relief as the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has agreed not to attach their bank accounts or demand part payment of income tax dues for 2007-08 and 2008-09.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has brought all the dispute resolution panels (DRP) under the supervision of the Director-General of Income-Tax (International Taxation).Budget 2009-10 had introduced the concept of DRPs to provide an alternate dispute resolution mechanism to facilitate expeditious resolution of disputes on a fast track basis. This facility was made available only to foreign companies.
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and Rural Electrification Corporation Ltd (REC) have kept their targets to raise funds in the current financial year through tax-free infrastructure bonds unchanged, at a total of Rs 6,500 crore. Analysts feel it is a wise step not to raise the target now, as the market is yet to pick up in a big way.
An insurance inspector posted at the Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) here has been arrested for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 15,000 from a complainant. The CBI laid a trap and the accused inspector Om Prakash was caught red-handed while demanding and accepting the bribe of Rs 15,000 from the complainant, a CBI spokesperson said here today.
Apex auditor CAG today lamented that private telecom operators are not providing their account books to it, despite request from the government. “In the telecom sector, we have still not got access to records of private service providers despite the request for such audit coming from the government itself,” Comptroller and Auditor General of India Vinod Rai said at a conference on accountants general here.
The Board of Approval of the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) met here today to consider proposals for setting up of Special Economic Zones and also to approve other miscellaneous requests pertaining to SEZs. Addressing the Board of Approval members, the Chairman informed that so far 574 formal approvals have been granted for setting up of SEZs out of which 353 have been notified.
For the first time in the history of the stock market, investors who lost out on allotment of shares due to a scam will receive compensation from money recovered from scamsters. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will on Monday hand over the cheques to investors who lost out because scamsters cornered the shares meant for retail investors in initial public offerings (IPO) during 2003-05.
