India Thursday announced an updated foreign direct investment (FDI) policy that simplifies joint venture norms and opens up new areas for overseas funds. The updated policy allows overseas firms in existing joint ventures to operate separately in the same business segment. Earlier, they needed prior approval from their Indian partners. ” FDI policy is part of ongoing efforts of procedure simplification and foreign direct investment rationalisation, which will go a long way in inspiring investor confidence,” Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said in a statement.
The Finance Ministry will conduct a study on the modus operandi of concealment of blackmoney in the country by major business and public sectors and other channels. The study report will be based on the investigation and intelligence reports of the Income Tax department which conducts nation-wide searches and raids in the country to unearth tax evasion and flow of blackmoney. The I-T orders and tax demand notices which were raised after such searches will form a part of this report which will have both public and restricted versions. These will be put in public and departmental domain respectively, a senior Finance Ministry official said.
State Bank of India (SBI) on Thursday extended its controversial special interest rate home loan product (teaser loans) till further notice. The product, which has faced flak from the sector regulator Reserve Bank, will continue to be sold till further notice from the lender, a highly-placed bank official said. The apex bank feels that teaser loans attract new customers with low interest rates, but existing customers who have to pay more are disadvantaged vis-a-vis the new ones.
UK-based Vodafone on Thursday acquired 33 per cent stake of its Indian partner Essar in the joint venture Vodafone Essar for USD 5 billion and may go for a new ally or opt for public offering to remain FDI compliant. “Currently we (Vodafone) are having 42 per cent stake in Vodafone Essar and after acquiring Essar’s additional 33 per cent stake in the joint venture our holding will go up to over 75 per cent”, Vodafone’s spokesman Ben Padovan said.
The Netherlands-based Rabobank on Friday said it has received approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to establish banking presence in the country through a maiden branch in Mumbai. Rabobank is present in India through a wholly owned subsidiary, Rabo India Finance (RIF), which is registered as a non-banking finance company (NBFC).
The Supreme Court today issued notices to Subramani Gopalakrishnan, partner of the global auditing firm PriceWaterhouse (PW) and V S Prabhakar Gupta, internal audit head of scam-hit IT firm Satyam Computers, over a plea by CBI seeking cancellation of their bail granted by the Andhra Pradesh High Court. A bench of justices P Sathasivam and B S Chauhan issued notices to Gopalakrishnan and Gupta directing them to file their replies by April 13.
The Reserve Bank has missed the deadline to issue the much-awaited guidelines for giving new banking licences. “I am sure we are not issuing it (licence) today,” RBI Deputy Governor K C Chakrabarty told PTI. In the Budget 2011-12, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had said the RBI plans to issue guidelines for the grant of new banking licences before the close of this financial year.
The government has capped service tax on foreign exchange transactions at Rs 5,000, which is seen as a bid to pacify market players, who feared a significant drop in the country’s forex volumes due to high levies on such transactions. As per a notification, tax for foreign exchange transactions will be calculated “at the rate of 0.1 per cent of the gross amount of currency exchanged for an amount up to Rs 1,00,000, subject to the minimum amount of Rs 25”.
Pune-based stud-farm owner Hasan Ali Khan, accused of money-laundering and stashing away huge amounts in foreign banks, on Thursday approached the Supreme Court challenging a lower court’s order allowing the ED to interrogate him in its office while being in judicial custody.
Investors had lost around Rs 250 crore after their money was invested by Citibank fraudster Shivraj Puri in Nifty options, said a police chargesheet filed in the Rs 400 crore scam. As per the chargesheet filed in the Civil Senior Division Court here on Tuesday, a sum of Rs 292.68 crore, fraudulently obtained from investors, was invested by Puri in Religare Security Ltd, Bonanza Portfolio Ltd and India Infoline Trader Terminal, out of which around Rs 250 crore were lost, Gurgaon Police Commissioner S S Deswal said.
