The Empowered Committee of State”s Finance Ministers on GST today agreed in principle to the concept of services tax based on the ‘negative list’ and suggested that the Centre could prepare such a list which would help widen the tax base. The committee headed by Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar Sushi Kumar Modi met here today to deliberate on the concept paper of taxation of services based on the negative list.
On 20th December, 2011, Moody’s Investor Services released a credit rating update for India. It upgraded the rating on long-term government bonds denominated in domestic currency from Bal to Baa3 (from speculative to investment grade). The long-term country ceiling on the foreign currency bank deposits was also upgraded from Bal to Baa3 (from speculative to investment grade). Apart from this, Moody’s had upgraded the short-term government bonds denominated in domestic currency from NP(Not Prime) to P-3 (from speculative to investment grade). This short-term rating had been upgraded for the first time since it was newly assigned in1998.
Indirect tax collections have increased by over 16 per cent to 2,85,787 crore rupees during April-December in the country. This is mainly driven by an uptick in service tax collection. Total collection of indirect tax in Customs, Central Excise and Service Tax was 2,46,168 crore rupees in the same period last year.
The Council, at its 312th meeting held on 25th to 27th December, 2011, has approved an upward revision in fee charged by the Expert Advisory Committee for giving its opinion. The approved fee is given below: (i) Rs. 50,000/- per query where the query relates to: an enterprise whose equity or debt securities are listed on a recognised stock exchange, or an enterprise having an annual turnover exceeding Rs.50 crore based on the annual accounts of the accounting year ending on a date immediately preceding the date of sending the query.
20 Proposals of Foreign Direct Investment Approved Based on the recommendations of Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) in its meeting held on December 23, 2011, Government has approved 20 Proposals of Foreign Direct Investment amounting to Rs. 1935.24 crore approximately.
The Trojan horse employs a powerful two-step process to commit the electronic crime. First, the virus lies in wait until a customer with an infected computer visits an online banking site, steals their login credentials and tricks the victim into divulging additional personal information such as debit card information. Then, after the stolen card number is used for a fraudulent purchase, the virus intercepts any further visits to the victim’s banking site and scrubs transaction records clean of any fraud. That prevents — or at least delays — consumers from discovering fraud and reporting it to the bank, buying the fraudster critical extra time to complete the crime.
Seeking to enhance role of auditors in ensuring solvency of banks, the Reserve Bank of India wants chartered accountants to ask pointed questions concerning risk assessment and capital adequacy of lenders.
In order to guard against possible leakage of names figuring in the secret bank accounts lists it has received from foreign shores, the CBDT has ordered the I-T department to obtain a signed undertaking from any government entity or department who demands the data for their own probe.
The Convocation for the newly enrolled Members admitted during the period April, 2011 to August, 2011 will be held as per schedule given below with a view to inculcate a sense of belongingness and attachment with the Institute.
In all other matters, the concerned DC, SEZ should take all necessary steps, including consultation with Government Counsel and represent the matter before the relevant Court on behalf of UoI also.
