IT/ILT : Where assessee, a logistics service provider, undertook international transactions with its AEs and it had earned/paid revenue from /to its AEs in same proportion, transactions had been recorded at arm's length price and there was no justification for making adjustment in ALP worked out by assessee
Tuesday, 21 May 2013
Obligation to frame Code of Conduct to prevent ‘insider trading’ is sacrosanct; its violation invite
SEBI : Requirement of framing a Code of Conduct for prevention of insider trading by companies is a mandate of law and nobody can be allowed to violate same
Sum paid to the other party to the agreement even on its refusal to honour the agreement is not an a
IT : Where second party, by its own, terminated processing agreement with assessee without giving timely notice to assessee to arrange alternate processor, payment made by assessee to said party for taking some time could not be said as business expenditure
North East Company Begins Cement Export
21-May-2013
GUWAHATI: Star Cement made NE proud on Sunday as it dispatched its first full rail rake from its greenfield cement plant at Sonapur village, on the outskirts of Guwahati, to other parts of the country.
Till recently, manufacturers from other parts of the country used to meet the region's cement requirements. However, the region has now been able to produce excess cement to supply it to the rest of the country.
The first line dispatch of railway rake loaded with Star Cement was flagged off on Sunday.
Jyoti Swaroop Agarwal, president (sales & marketing), Star Cement, said, "Eastern India's demand growth is currently double the national average. The projected compound annual cement demand growth rate for the region is around 13 per cent for the next few years. For the country as a whole, it is under 7 per cent".
He added that the company is well placed to tap into economic opportunities in the eastern market which has witnessed a spurt in cement demand in the last few years.
Entering into new territories like North-Bengal, Sikkim and Bihar, it has become a true pan-Eastern India company, first from NE to earn this tag. Last year, Star Cement had started exporting clinkers to Bangladesh.
Source:-timesofindia.indiatimes.com
India: Poultry Sector Seeks Ban On Maize Export
21-May-2013
The poultry industry has sought a ban on the export of maize, a key raw material of the poultry feed, for stabilizing chicken and egg prices amid fresh price hike of different feeds in the international markets, according to Financial Express.
India: Poultry sector seeks ban on maize export
Industry owners said the poultry feed prices will go up further affecting the local eggs and meat supply if the government does not check maize export amid production fall in the global markets.
Breeders Association of Bangladesh (BAB) president Moshiur Rahman said a group of vested local traders is pushing the government to permit maize export when only fifty percent of our demand is being met by the locally-produced maize.
We need to import the rest 50% of maize from the international market to produce feed for the poultry birds, he added.
The present demand of maize in poultry industry is nearly 1.6 million metric tonnes per year. In last fiscal 2011-12, a total of 1.6 million tonnes of maize was produced in Bangladesh, Department of Agricultural Extension data showed.
The government should ensure smooth marketing facilities and check political unrest to ensure better prices for the maize growers instead of allowing export, Mr Moshiur said.
Maize is an essential raw material for producing poultry feeds in which nearly sixty percent of feed ingredient is available, millers said.
Feed Industry Association Bangladesh (FIAB) President Ihtehsham B. Shahjahan said prices of poultry feeds have already increased in last few months in the international markets.
If the government does not ban export of locally-produced maize, the poultry feed production cost will rise further hitting the poultry farmers in chicken and egg production, he said.
Managing Director of Aftab Bahumukhi Farms, Fazle Rahim Khan Shahriar said since major supplier India has started to control maize export due to its production fall for draughts and floods, there is possibility of further price hike of the poultry feed.
Mr Ihtehsham said according to law, maize export is prohibited unless the price is above US$600 per tonne. "However, ignoring the existing law, maize has been exported to Nepal in recent times at US$190 per tonne."
Bangladeshi maize is also being smuggled to neighboring India due to its high grade, he said seeking check on the smuggling to the neighbouring country.
Mr Shahriar, also the FIAB general secretary, said the poultry feed price of soya has been increased to Tk 55-60 per kilogram from Tk 33-35 per kg, meat & bone meal to Tk 50-55 from Tk 32 per kg, mustered oilcake to Tk 30-33 per kg from Tk 18 per kg, maize to Tk 23-24 from Tk 13 per kg, rice bran to Tk 22-23 per kg from Tk 14.
"If the government does not ban the locally-produced maize export, the poultry feeds will be costlier and the meat and eggs price will be affected further," he also told the FE.
The price of egg and chicken in the Bangladesh's local market has already gone up by nearly 40 per cent over the last one and a half years affecting the low-income people.
Saidur Rahman Babu, General Secretary of BAB said that 60% of poultry farms and 70% hatcheries and breeding farms were closed due to bird flu attack in 2007-2008 period.
"Many of the farmers have been trying to revive their production. But the fresh price hike of maize and other feeds in the local and international markets have hit the struggling poultry farmers," he added.
The poultry leaders said they were trying to recover from the previous losses from the bird-flu outbreak producing more day-old chicks and eggs.
The feed manufacturers said Bangladesh is now producing high quality feed at international standards. They are using superior quality nutrients and enzymes so that protein is absorbed in feed easily.
Source:-www.worldpoultry.net
Rupee Near Six-Month Low; Continued Dollar Buying
The rupee hits a fresh near 6-month low in opening trades. The rupees falls to 55.48 after opening at 55.335, currently at 55.43/44 versus Tuesday close of 55.41/42.
Dealers say follow-on dollar buying is pushing the pair up after a late surge on Tuesday.
The chief dealer of a private bank tips 55.20-55.50 band for the session.
Dealers say the bias may remain for the pair's strength on month-end dollar demand with crucial 55.20 level taken out on Tuesday.
The Bank of Japan on Wednesday decided to keep monetary policy on hold, but one board member tried unsuccessfully to loosen the central bank's commitment to achieving its 2 percent inflation target within two years.
Source:-in.reuters.com
Deliberate non-payment of ST warrants invocation of extended period to recover ST dues
ST : Collection of amounts by mentioning same on reverse side and not paying service tax thereon amounts to mis-declaration of value and suppression of facts on part of assessee and extended period of limitation was invocable
Cec Says No To Export Of Iron Ore Pellets From Karnataka
Bangalore, May 21: The Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC) here on Tuesday ruled out any possibility of allowing export of iron ore pellets from Karnataka-based miners. The team of CEC officials led by its chairman P V Jayakrishanan held day-long discussions with Karnataka Mines and Geology Director and top forest officials, besides lease-holders owning A and B category mines, on according permission to restart mining operation in the state.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Federation of Indian Mineral Industries Vice Chairman Basant Poddar said the CEC told miners that there is no scope for allowing export of iron ore pellets at this stage from Karnataka. The SC had ordered suspension of iron ore exports from Karnataka in 2011. Poddar also said the CEC told that miners will not be allowed to either do mining or dump ore in overlapped area between two mines.
"The survey map fixed by the Joint Survey Team of the CEC last year will be sacrosanct and there is no scope for any further dispute," he said. However, if there is any minor overlapping in the Category C mines, such area will be exempt from mining, Poddar said. Poddar said as many as eleven mines in Category A and two mines in Category B have restarted mining operations.
"These mines can produce about 4.5 million tonnes per annum." Former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa had banned export of iron ore from July 26, 2010. Until the export was banned, Karnataka exported about 20 million tonnes of iron ore annually. The CEC had convened the meeting to discuss various issues including overlapping of mining leases and implementation of Reclamation and Rehabilitation (R&R) Plans, Poddar said.
The meeting was convened following the April 18 Supreme Court order allowing reopening of all Category A and B mines in Karnataka. The court had clamped a total ban on mining in 2011 following allegations of corruption and environmental damage. It had set up a CEC which studied the situation on the spot and reported to the court.
Source:-news.oneindia.in
India Leads Asian Cuts In Iran Oil Imports Ahead Of Waiver Review
NEW DELHI/SEOUL, May 21 (Reuters) - India has slashed Iranian oil imports by almost a fifth since December, the sharpest cut among Asian buyers, in a move that should increase its chances of winning a new U.S. waiver next month on sanctions targeting oil trade with Iran.
Sanctions imposed by the United States and Europe to force a halt to a controversial nuclear programme that Tehran says is for peaceful purposes saw Iran's oil exports more than halve last year, costing it $5 billion a month in lost revenue.
The sanctions have forced refiners in India, Iran's second-largest oil buyer, to reduce imports because national insurer the General Insurance Corp. of India has said that cover and losses on processing the crude would not be payable by European reinsurers.
Local insurers rely on reinsurers, who are mostly based in Europe and the United States, to share the financial burden in case of claims on equipment worth billions of dollars.
The United States in June will review the 180-day exceptions granted to Asian importers that make continuous reductions in oil purchases from Iran. Waivers allow Iranian imports without the risk of being cut off from the U.S. financial system.
Refiners want to continue using the Iranian crude many of their plants are configured to process, as changes will need lengthy testing of new grades or cause an alteration in output.
"We are hopeful that India will get a waiver again because of this forced cut in imports," said an Indian government source, who was not authorised to talk to media.
Officials in Iran's top customer China, which cut its oil imports by 3 percent from the previous waiver period, also expect to have their country's waiver renewed. South Korea has increased its Iranian imports and is sending a delegation to the United States to discuss its continued exemption from sanctions.
Waivers on U.S. sanctions have been granted twice to China, India, South Korea and other Asian buyers. Japan, another top buyer, won its third exemption during an earlier review period.
A U.S. State Department spokesman said it was too early to tell if Asian buyers would get waiver renewals next month.
Overall, December to April Iranian oil imports by China, India and South Korea were nearly unchanged at 833,000 barrels per day (bpd), compared with the previous six-month period, according to customs and trade data and a loading programme obtained by Reuters.
Daily Iranian oil imports by the three were down 15 percent from the six-month period December to May a year ago.
The biggest winners in recent months filling the supply gap left in some Asian countries by falling Iranian exports include Iraq, Libya, and Central and South American exporters.
CHINA
China imported an average 440,800 bpd of crude from Iran in the December-April period, down from 455,000 bpd in the previous six months. From a year ago, daily imports rose about 6 percent as Iranian shipments in the first quarter of 2012 fell sharply due to a contract dispute.
Beijing opposes the U.S. and European sanctions on Iran and views them as unilateral moves made outside a United Nations framework. Even so, last year China cut imports from Iran by 21 percent versus 2011 to 438,448 bpd.
For all of 2013, China may cut imports another 5-10 percent, and it expects that to be enough to retain a waiver on U.S. sanctions, said trade officials familiar with the import strategy of state refiner Sinopec.
China's imports for April were 371,500 bpd. China largest refiner Sinopec Corp processes nearly all the Iranian crude imported into the country, which is shipped in by its trading arm Unipec and state trader Zhuhai Zhenrong Corp.
INDIA
India imported 224,532 bpd from Iran in the December to April period, according to the data and information gathered by Reuters, down from 270,380 bpd it bought in the previous six months. Compared with a year ago, imports fell about 40 percent.
Its imports from Iran in April are expected to be about 123,000 bpd, according to the preliminary loading programme.
Indian insurers have said they will not cover refineries processing Iranian crude because reinsurers in Europe and the United States, who dominate the global insurance market, will not honour claims on refineries, ports or other facilities handling Iranian oil.
Two of Iran's Indian clients - Mangalore Refineries and Petrochemicals Ltd and Hindustan Petroleum Corp - have said they will not import oil from Iran as long as they are unable to hedge their risk.
SOUTH KOREA, JAPAN
South Korea's imports of Iranian crude averaged 167,649 bpd in the December to April period, up 45 percent from the prior six months. The imports fell about 9 percent from a year ago.
The comparison to the previous six months was thrown off because South Korea imported no Iranian oil in August and September last year. Its imports in April are expected to be about 190,000 bpd, according to the preliminary loading data. SK Energy and Hyundai Oilbank process Iranian oil in the country.
A South Korean delegation is expected to visit the United States mid to late-May to discuss the exemption, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said, declining to be identified as he was not authorised to speak to the media.
South Korea may have to commit to cut Iranian imports by up to 20 percent over the next six months, the source said, though Seoul could take heart from the extension of the sanctions waiver for Japan, another close U.S. ally, in March.
For the six-month period ended February, a month before Japan secured its third waiver, Japan's imports from Iran rose 31 percent to 200,000 bpd compared with the previous six months.
But they fell a third from a year earlier. Japan had also halted its imports of Iranian crude for one month in the second half of 2012, skewing its data.
Japan probably imported about 179,000 bpd in April, and Tokyo plans to cut purchases from Iran by about 15 percent this year from a year earlier. JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corp is Japan's top buyer of Iranian oil. (Additional reporting by Meeyoung Cho in Seoul, Florence Tan in Singapore, Osamu Tsukimori and Risa Maeda in Tokyo, Writing by Manash Goswami; Editing by Tom Hogue, Simon Webb and Ed Davies)
Source:-www.reuters.com
India To Foot $8 Bn For Coal, Fertiliser, Scrap Imports
21-May-2013
While the fall in prices of gold and crude oil in recent weeks will help India prune its import bill, coal, fertiliser and steel scrap, among others, will only see more imports, as their prices have moderated. The import bill of the three commodities is projected to go up $8 billion. This could offset the benefit of the fall in gold and crude prices from the trade deficit viewpoint.
Analysts say the price outlook of most commodities is moderate or lower compared to last year, but import dependence has been rising.
Salil Garg Director, Corporates India Ratings & Research, said, "India's coal import in 2012-13 was 135 million tonnes, including thermal and coking coal, and we see imports will increase 10 per cent as demand from power plants is increasing."
Thermal coal prices were in the range of $85-110 a tonne last year and at present are $80. For 2013-14, the price outlook has been lowered. Citi has said the average price could be $89.
In the last two years, import of fertiliser in volumes and value has increased 30 per cent. In 2012-13, urea import was around eight million tonnes, while DAP and MOP were 7.75 million tonnes.
Vaishali Chopra, fertiliser analyst, Rabobank Group, India, said, "Urea remained the preferred choice as a fertiliser, due to its low price for farmers. This trend for skewed demand in favour of urea will continue in 2013, as it remains out of the Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS). The imports for DAP and MOP will be depressed, as their prices are higher in the retail market."
Prices of DAP and MOP are expected to moderate during 2013-14 but imports will depend on improvement in demand.
Another commodity where the import bill is rising is steel scrap. The reason is falling ore production. The Karnataka ore mining issue was cleared only last month, while Goa mining is on halt.
Sajid Chinoy, India economist, JP Morgan Securities Services, said, "With ore extraction falling sharply, the economy has been forced to import much larger quantities of scrap metal, which have almost doubled from $7 billion in FY10 to $13 billion in FY13."
He says the import bill due to coal will increase by $3.5 billion, fertiliser, $1.5 billion, and steel scrap, $3 billion, in 2013-14.
Source:-www.business-standard.com
Takeover Code empowers SEBI to permit withdrawal of open offers only where performance of offer is i
CL : Regulation 27(1)(d) of the 1997 Takeover Code[corresponding to Regulation 23(1)(d) of the 2011 Takeover Code] doesn't empower SEBI to permit withdrawal of an offer merely because it has become uneconomical for acquirer to perform the public offer. Other two clauses of Reg. 27(1) are within the same genus of impossibility. Therefore, applying the principle of 'ejusdem generis' "such circumstances" in clause (d) would also be restricted to situation which would make it impossible for the acqu
AO is bound by stock valuation as accepted by sales tax authorities; and can’t reassess on third par
IT : Unless and until competent authority under Sales Tax Act differs or varies with closing stock of assessee, return accepted by said authority is binding on Income-tax authorities and Assessing Officer, in such a case, has no power to scrutinize return submitted by assessee
Concealment penalty can’t be imposed if divergent views exist on disallowance of an exp.
IT : Where disallowance of bad debt was due to difference of opinion, no penalty under section 271(1)(c) could be imposed on that account
RBI/2012-13/503 A. P. (DIR Series) Circular No.105 dated 20-05-2013
RBI : Export of Goods and Software - Realisation and Repatriation of export proceeds - Liberalisation
Click Here:http://www.eximguru.com/Notifications/export-of-goods-and-software-30799.aspx
Click Here:http://www.eximguru.com/Notifications/export-of-goods-and-software-30799.aspx
Trade Notice No. 02 /2013 dated 20-05-2013
DGFT : Constitution of 2nd Task Force on Transaction Cost
Click Here:http://www.eximguru.com/Notifications/constitution-of-2nd-task-force-30800.aspx
Click Here:http://www.eximguru.com/Notifications/constitution-of-2nd-task-force-30800.aspx
Electricity charge recovered from tenant not includible in rent from letting out of an immovable pro
ST : Electricity charges, towards electricity consumed by tenant, recovered on actual basis by landlord are not includible in value of renting of immovable property services; but, operation and maintenance charges are includible
Disallowances omitted by AO inadvertently during final calculation is rectifiable under sec. 154
IT : Where certain disallowance made by Assessing Officer by detailed discussion was left from final calculation, such mistake could be corrected under section 154
Provision of free transport provided to employees for business purposes doesn't amount to a service
ST/ECJ : Provision of free transport facility to employees for business purposes cannot be regarded as 'service' because work done and wages received are independent of use or otherwise of such facility by employees and, hence, a proportion of work performed by employee does not amount to consideration
Since investment in ICDs was part of business, loss therefrom was held as business loss by ITAT
IT : Where investment in inter-corporate deposits (ICDs) were part of business activities as interest accrued therefrom had been treated as business income, loss arising on such investment was allowable as business loss
Amendment to sec. 2(15) fixing monetary limit authorises AO to deny exemption and not to revoke regi
IT : Amendment to section 2(15) by introducing Proviso fixing monetary limit in respect of public utility services cannot be a reason to cancel registration in exercise of power under section 12AA(3)
Frequency for renewal of registration by depositories increased, liability fixed in case of defaults
SEBI : SEBI (Depositories and Participants) (Amendment) Regulations, 2013 - Amendment in Regulation 20A and Insertion of Regulations 39A & 64A
Period for realisation and repatriation of export proceeds reduced to 9 months for ADs
FEMA : Export of Goods and Software - Realisation and Repatriation of Export Proceeds - Liberalisation
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