The committee constituted by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to look into the issue of customer service by banks to small borrowers including pensioners will hold its first meeting this month. It will submit its report within four months after the meeting.
Through Finance Act 2010, the government had sought to levy service tax on renting of immovable property to businesses, despite the fact a similar law enacted three years ago remained non-enforceable, thanks to a Delhi High Court ruling on a petition challenging the law filed by major retailers.
Companies managing to evade taxes on services received from abroad, such as management consultancy and banking, now may not be able to to do so as the government is all set to plug the loopholes in the system which helped flourish the practice till now.
PricewaterhouseCoopers has improved its commend of FTSE100 audit clients increasing its share of the top flight to 41 in the second quarter of this year. According to the Hemscott adviser rankings PwC remains the biggest auditor among Blue Chips though overall KPMG has improved its position among to maintain the firm’s lead in having the most audit clients among listed companies.
A federal appeals court ruled against PricewaterhouseCoopers in a long-running bankruptcy case that could now examine whether the firm acted in good faith as the auditor for a defunct hospital system. The case involved the Allegheny Health, Education and Research Foundation, a Pittsburgh-based nonprofit hospital system that filed for bankruptcy in July 1998 with approximately $1.3 billion in debt, according to Reuters.
The Union finance ministry plans to define any equity placement prior to an Initial Public Offer as promoter shareholding for the purpose of calculating minimum public float. The new definition will be part of an amendment to the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Rules, 1957, that would prescribe a minimum public float of 25 per cent in all companies irrespective of their size or ownership status.
To control costs and reduce mis-selling of mutual funds, the Securities and Exchange Board of India’s Mutual Fund Advisory Committee (MFAC) has recommended several measures. The recommendations, if implemented, would lead to further transparency in the functioning of fund houses.
The central board of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has approved the proposal to hire specialists from outside — the first such move in the bank’s 75-year history. The first batch is likely to join the department of information and technology.
With more SEZs becoming operational, the Centre will consider on June 8 framing rules that would allow migration of units from one special economic zone to the other. As of now there is no specific provision for transfer of a unit from one SEZ to the other.
Corporate houses seeking banking licences will come under the scrutiny of both the Reserve Bank of India and the finance ministry, which are keen to restrict the entry of players involved in dubious transactions. The books and accounts of all group companies will be examined before granting the new banking licences, proposed by the finance minister in the Union budget, said a finance ministry official privy to the deliberations on the subject.
