Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s decision to increase the tax concession on construction of real estate complexes from 67 per cent to 75 per cent of the gross value of property, including land value, has been welcomed by the industry and analysts.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India plans to tighten the rules for transfer of sub-accounts by foreign institutional investors. Sebi defines sub-accounts as entities that include foreign companies, foreign individuals and institutions, funds or portfolios established or incorporated outside India, on whose behalf FIIs propose to make investments in India.
Honourable Supreme Court on Friday issued notices to the Centre and 14 life insurers on a petition by market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India seeking transfer of cases from high courts relating to Unit Linked Insurance Products.
Government on Friday said that ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank cannot be called Indian-owned banks, setting at rest the debate generated over the nationality of the top two private sector lenders. At best, the two can be called as Indian-controlled banks,” DIPP secretary R P Singh said when asked about the government’s stand in the wake of the two seeking clarifications on the matter.
The Government has informed the Parliament that the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) in terms of Section 17(2) of the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 constituted a fact finding Committee called High Powered Committee to look into the entire gamut of financial reporting,
India chartered accountants eyeing work opportunities abroad will soon be spoilt for choice, with their nodal agency, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, negotiating with its counterparts in Canada, Singapore and Ireland to allow the professionals to take up assignments in these countries.
To strengthen corporate governance practices, the Institute of Company Secretaries of India will soon come out with a new secretarial standard asking a director of a company to disclose his transactions with other entity in which he has financial interest.
Home minister P Chidambaram clarified in Parliament on Thursday that government agencies were fully authorised to tap the phones of suspected tax evaders. Chidambaram said the Central Board for Direct Taxes (CBDT) and other enforcement agencies were empowered to intercept phones to detect cases of tax evasion. However, he admitted that the present regime of phone-tapping needed more safeguards to prevent misuse.
Government on 28.04.2010 introduced in the Rajya Sabha three bills to enable CAs, Company Secretaries and Cost Accountants to form limited liability partnership firms in line with global practices.
The Central Government have notified the “Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China” as ‘specified territory’ for the purpose of Explanation 2 to Section 90 of the Income Tax Act 1961 vide Notification No. 25 of 2010 (F.No.500/124/9-FTD-II). The notification enables the Central Government to enter into a double taxation avoidance agreement with SAR of Hong Kong.
