Against the backdrop of Sebi banning 14 life insurers from selling ULIPs, the insurers are likely to meet here on Monday to discuss their future course of action against the order. SEBI had, late yesterday night, banned 14 life insurance companies from selling ULIPs–insurance products that invest in equity–on the ground that they were akin to mutual funds and were launched without obtaining registration from it.
Credit card and personal loan defaulters are finding that they have nowhere to hide. Armed with a new information service, banks are tracking down defaulters who have gone missing or moved to another town to escape recovery agents. Now, an email alerts the bank whenever an errant borrower resurfaces to fish for a new loan—anywhere in the country. The information service is being sold by Credit Information Bureau of India Ltd (CIBIL).
Insurance regulator IRDA on Saturday said that ULIP policies, under which a portion of funds is invested in the stock markets, are safe and secure. “Policy holders of the Unit Linked Insurance Products (ULIPs) offered by different insurance companies are assured that these policies are safe and secure”, said IRDA chairman J Hari Narayan in a release that followed market regulator Sebi banning such schemes of select companies last night.
In a significant order late on Friday, market regulator Sebi banned issuance of Unit-Linked Insurance Plans, popularly known as ULIPs, by life insurance companies. Sebi has asked 14 private insurance companies, including market leaders like SBI Life, ICICI Prudential Life and Reliance Life Insurance, not to issue any more ULIP products. The Sebi order does not cover state-owned insurance major LIC. There is no immediate clarity on the fate of existing products.
Move over Mumbai, Kolkata has arrived. The country’s highest taxpayer could be from this city never mind the fact that he was forced to pay the whopping amount after an income tax raid. Santiago Martin has coughed up an unbelievable Rs 19 crore which, the West Bengal circle of the income tax department claims is perhaps the highest amount paid by a single assessee.
Cooperative sugar mills in Maharashtra on Wednesday received a much-needed relief as the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has agreed not to attach their bank accounts or demand part payment of income tax dues for 2007-08 and 2008-09.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has brought all the dispute resolution panels (DRP) under the supervision of the Director-General of Income-Tax (International Taxation).Budget 2009-10 had introduced the concept of DRPs to provide an alternate dispute resolution mechanism to facilitate expeditious resolution of disputes on a fast track basis. This facility was made available only to foreign companies.
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and Rural Electrification Corporation Ltd (REC) have kept their targets to raise funds in the current financial year through tax-free infrastructure bonds unchanged, at a total of Rs 6,500 crore. Analysts feel it is a wise step not to raise the target now, as the market is yet to pick up in a big way.
An insurance inspector posted at the Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) here has been arrested for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 15,000 from a complainant. The CBI laid a trap and the accused inspector Om Prakash was caught red-handed while demanding and accepting the bribe of Rs 15,000 from the complainant, a CBI spokesperson said here today.
Apex auditor CAG today lamented that private telecom operators are not providing their account books to it, despite request from the government. “In the telecom sector, we have still not got access to records of private service providers despite the request for such audit coming from the government itself,” Comptroller and Auditor General of India Vinod Rai said at a conference on accountants general here.
