The Finance Minister, Shri Pranab Mukherjee has asked insurance industry to give more focus to generate the required level of awareness about the benefits of insurance to rural people particularly those living in semi-urban and rural areas. They should make all efforts to take the necessary steps to ensure the reach of insurance to general masses.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes has approved notification of ten lakh rupees as the maximum amount of gratuity entitled to exemption under sub-clause (iii) of clause (10) of section 10 of the Income Tax Act 1961. The notification will be applicable to employees who retire, or become incapacitated before retirement, or expire, or whose services are terminated, on or after the 24th May 2010.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has said unit-linked insurance plans (Ulips) need further reforms on the back of the changes already announced by the insurance regulator. The finance minister also hinted at a resolution to the dispute between Sebi and Irda over Ulip regulation.
The next time you plan to buy an insurance policy through a corporate agent, please check whether the agent is legally authorised to sell the policy or not. This has become necessary because the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority has said that 4,261 corporate agents out of 7,000 in the country were not authorised to sell policies from March 31, 2010.
In exercise of the powers conferred by clause (aa) of sub-section (1) of section 7 of the Customs Act, 1962 (52 of 1962), the Central Board of Excise and Customs, hereby makes the following further amendments in the notification of the Government of India in the Ministry of Finance (Department of Revenue) No. 12/97-Customs (N.T.), namely:-
The Central Government, in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of Section 4 of the Special Economic Zones Act, 2005 (28 of 2005) and in pursuance of rule 8 of the Special Economic Zones Rules, 2006, hereby makes the following amendment in the notification of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Department of Commerce, number S.O. 1626(E) dated 7th July, 2008 with respect to sector specific Special Economic Zone for engineering sector by M/s. Ansal Kamdhenu Engineering SEZ Limited at Village Bhagan, Tchsil-Ganaur (Sonepat) and village Kurar Ibrahimpur, Tchsil-Sonepat on NH-1, Haryana,
Instances have come to the notice of the Authority that a large number of firms were floated by the same set of individuals under different or similar names to act as Corporate Agents. Some of corporate agents were observed to utilize the services of a large number of people not having requisite Licence/Certificate to solicit or procure the insurance business, and paid remuneration for procuring the insurance business.
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) has now proposed to streamline the promotion of insurance products through distance sales channels, such as the telephone and the internet. It has said it will issue rules in this regard and these will cover selling by ‘voice mode’, which includes telephone calls, ‘electronic mode’ (e-mails, internet and interactive television) and also the ‘physical mode’, though postal mail and newspapers.
SEBI has received feedback from investor associations regarding improving transparency in disclosing the regulatory orders and arbitration awards issued by depositories. Based on the feedback and inputs received from them, in the interest of investors and to improve transparency; all regulatory orders i.e., orders against listed companies, depository participants, trading / clearing members and arbitration awards issued by Depositories need to be made available to investors.
Please refer to paragraph 2.3.1 of our Master circular UBD. PCB. MC. No.1/13.05.000 / 2009-10 dated July 1, 2009 on Exposure Norms and Statutory / Other restrictions. In terms of the circular, the total exposure of UCBs to real estate including individual housing loans and commercial real estate is restricted to 15% of the total deposit resources of a bank. In view of the requests made by a few banks and the federation, it is clarified as under:
