Ahead of the Reserve Bank’s quarterly monetary policy, RBI is likely to signal interest rate hikes to suck out liquidity from the market and check prices from spiraling further. Reserve Bank may also raise the amount banks need to park with the apex bank (CRR) by up to 50 basis points. Reserve Bank could raise the short-term borrowing (reverse repo) rate by 25 basis points. Reserve bank is likely to hike cash reverse ratio by up to 50 basis points.
In a bid to allay the Indian government’s fears about round tripping, the Financial Services Commission of Mauritius has imposed a stringent set of conditions on Mauritius-based companies investing in India. THE Financial Sevices Commission of Mauritius has imposed a stringent set of conditions on Mauritius-based companies investing in India in a bid to allay fears about round-tripping of funds. The Mauritian government has also warned that licences of entities investing in India would be revoked if they source funds from India.
To prevent misuse of class action suits, the new Companies Act may specify a minimum number of shareholders or creditors of companies for exercising the right to file such cases, the Corporate Affairs Minister, Mr Salman Khurshid, has said. This is a major change from the current position on class action suits as mentioned in the Companies Bill, 2009, which is now before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance.
The ministry of company affairs said that it was yet to receive a detailed report from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India on the audit and accounting major PricewaterhouseCoopers, which was involved in an accounting goof-up in the Rs 10,000-crore (Rs 100-billion) Satyam scandal.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) is in a fix over the application of one safe harbour rate to all sectors. A committee, formed last month to frame safe harbour rules as announced in the 2009-10 Budget to minimise transfer pricing disputes, has estimated that there is a huge difference in the margins of companies which would come under the ambit of safe harbour.
Bank Accounts, Beneficiaries and Some Scamsters Involved in Income tax Refund Fraud in Mumbai Identified. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has stated that an officer in the Income Tax department, Mumbai noticed on or about 12th January, 2010 that refunds had been issued from his jurisdiction without his knowledge or approval of his higher authorities. The officer immediately brought the matter to the notice of his superior officers.
The Revenue Department has submitted its comments on the goods and services tax discussion paper, which was released by the State Finance Minister’s Committee on November 10. It wants excise duty, octroi, purchase tax, and local taxes to be brought under the GST ambit, along with alcoholic beverages and petroleum products. The department has agreed to levy GST plus excise duty on tobacco products.
On 22 January 2010, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) issued a press release setting out the roadmap for International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) convergence in India. The roadmap requires IFRS to be made applicable in a phased manner. This is an historic step that will elevate Indian entities and their finance and accounting professionals to much greater heights. The publication of the roadmap was eagerly awaited by those who have been saying that the convergence to IFRS in India is a matter of when and how” and not “if.”
If you thought getting income tax details of a third person would be an easy task following the recent order of Central Information Commission (CIC), then you are mistaken. In a case filed by Delhi-based chartered accountant R.K. Gupta, the CIC had on December 14 ordered the Income Tax (I-T) Department (Delhi) to allow him inspection of records and give information regarding tax details of Escorts Limited and Dr Naresh Trehan. The commission had asked the I-T department to give these details to Gupta before January 15.
ATM transactions may have become free for customers, but banks now have to pay Re 1 for every ATM transaction that is routed through the National Financial Switch — the backbone of ATM networks in the country. The charge has been introduced after RBI transferred ownership of NFS from its technology arm IDRBT to the newly-formed National Payments Corporation.
