The government will provide an additional incentive of Rs.1,050 crore to labour- intensive sectors like handicrafts, handlooms and leather goods, whose exports have been badly hit by the downturn in the US and Europe, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said on Monday. “In order to give immediate relief, a bonus incentive is being provided to sectors whose exports are still not doing well,” Sharma said, announcing the annual supplement to the foreign trade policy.
Last year, when I presented the Foreign Trade Policy 2009-14 on 27 August, 2009, the world was passing through the greatest economic crisis we have seen in recent times. Economies and markets world-wide were in turmoil, causing a sharp contraction in international trade, adversely impacting global investment flows and rendering over 50 million people jobless.
The Reserve Bank of India’s plans to have access to banking data online from the industry is being stymied by state-owned banks’ reluctance to use technology that they have already deployed. An angry RBI has told public sector banks that they have failed in their business process re-engineering efforts after spending millions on a centralised information technology system.
In an order that will help companies and individuals who face penalty proceedings on account of the delay in filing returns, a Delhi bench of the Income-Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) has ruled that penalty cannot be levied if there is a genuine reason for the delay.
DLF, the country’s largest real estate developer, has approached the Competition Appellate Tribunal, questioning the Competition Commission of India’s (CCI’s) powers to initiate proceedings on an issue dating to 2006, much before CCI got its authority to act on such cases. It has also questioned the procedure followed by CCI, citing a CAT precedent.
How about your fixed deposits being flexible? Soon this could be possible, as the country’s biggest bank SBI is all set to offer floating interest rates on term deposits. The floating rate term deposit product will offer no guarantee on returns, as the interest will change with the revision of base rates.
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.
