Non-declaration of activities involving compliance with other laws doesn’t amount to suppression

ST : Department is deemed to be aware of requirements under other laws applicable to assessee and non-declaration by assessee of its activities involving compliance with other laws doesn't amount to suppression of facts so as to warrant invocation of extended period of limitation

Concealment penalty upheld as illicit money was disclosed by assessee consequent to reassessment not

IT: Where assessee, at first instance, had not accounted for amount in question and when notice under section 148 was issued then only assessee chose to disclose above receipt, provisions of section 271(1)(c) attracted

BPCL not a dominant procurer of transportation business when other players also hiring similar servi

Competition Act : Where there are enough players for hiring truck transportation services in India, BPCL - oil marketing company was not a dominant procurer of services of trucks for transportation of goods

Exemption for agricultural income doesn’t mandate ownership of the agricultural land

IT : Ownership of land is not a prerequisite for having agricultural income and it would suffice if revenue is derived from agricultural activities carried out on an agricultural land situated in India

No tax in India on Cyprus based Shipping Co. if its place of management is located in Cyprus

IT/ILT : Where assessee, a non-resident company registered in Cyprus, was in shipping business and it had effective management of enterprise in Cyprus, income earned by assessee from shipping business was not taxable in India

Bajaj Auto Bearish On Domestic Sales, Sees Export Growth

4-Jun-2013

New Delhi: A day after Bajaj Auto disappointed with its May sales numbers coming in 4 per cent lower than last year mainly on exports for the month falling 14 per cent, the company's managing director today said that in the next few months, the company sees exports picking up.



However domestic sales are seen to be tepid, Bajaj Auto managing director Rajiv Bajaj told NDTV



"Exports will grow but can't say the same about domestic sales," Mr Bajaj said.



Mr Bajaj called the May performance a "one-off" and said in a month or two, exports will stabilise.



The motorcycle business is expected to be a "mixed picture" he said adding, "See a relatively weak two-wheeler market in June, July, August."



Bajaj Auto has been facing stiff competition from Hero MotoCorp that registered an all-time high monthly sales figure of 5,57,890 units in May, up from 5,56,644 units last year.



"As far as three-wheelers are concerned we have done well to demonstrate 14 per cent growth ...I believe we can do better," Mr Bajaj said adding, "We're launching the first of many new three-wheelers this month."



Despite exports falling sharply, domestic sales for Bajaj Auto were up in May by 3 per cent owing to the launch of new 'Discovers'.



"Demand was driven by the marriage season in the North,"Mr Bajaj said.



At 2:20 pm Bajaj Auto stocks were trading 0.16 per cent up at Rs. 1,765, after recovering from yesterday's slump to Rs. 1,746 post the weak May data.

Source:-profit.ndtv.com

Rupee Near One-Week High; Rbi, Government Steps Aid

The rupee is trading at 56.36/37, after touching 54.3250, its highest since May 30, and higher versus its close of 56.44/45 on Tuesday.



Traders say sentiment for the dollar weak after the government and RBI steps on Tuesday.



India is likely to raise the cap on foreign investment in sovereign debt by $5 billion soon, two finance ministry officials said.



The Reserve Bank of India also extended the restrictions on the import of gold on consignment basis by banks to all nominated agencies and trading houses.



Some traders also cited dollar flows towards the Unilever stake raising deal, though it was not too large, they said.



Unilever Plc plans to pay up to $5.4 billion to raise its stake in its Indian subsidiary Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HLL.NS). The open offer opens June 21 and closes July 4. HSBC is the manager to the open offer.

Source:-in.reuters.com

Essar Ports, Adani Ports Vie For Eastern Coast Projects

MUMBAI: Two of the country's largest port operators — Essar PortsBSE -1.58 % and Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone — have been vying to take control of port projects on the east coast that promise better growth potential than the ones on the west coast.



While Adani Ports have held discussions with Dhamra Port to acquire a majority stake, Essar Ports won the right to develop three iron ore berths at Vishakhapatnam port for more than Rs 800 crore. Dhamra Port has a natural advantage as the port has adequate draft to handle large vessels.



In addition, Essar and Adani have also bid for developing a Rs 4,000-crore mega container terminal at Chennai port and is also expected to bid for a project at Ennore Port for a container terminal. "The east coast of the country is a mineral rich area while the west coast is a consumption rich area. Container business only contributes to 10%-12% of the total cargo in India. In such a scenario, east coast which handles cargo, including raw materials, minerals and bulk cargo, has huge potential," Rajiv Agarwal, MD of Essar Ports, told ET.



Traffic from the eastern coastline has witnessed a surge and is expected to handle 35% of the country's total cargo by next year, according to industry experts. Ports on the east coast are key gateways for import of coal, iron ore and other cargo, excluding container cargo, and a change in India's trade pattern has also added more potential for port operators. In recent times, China has emerged as the largest trade partner while the trade between India and other south Asian countries, including Singapore and Indonesia, have also been on the rise. "There is a huge potential in the port sector across India. On the east coast also we see potential, but the governmentneeds to put in place enabling infrastructure to make the east coast more attractive," Rajeev Sinha, Director at Adani Ports, told ET.



Essar currently operates two terminals at government-controlled Paradip port for handling iron ore and coal. The company believes that the iron ore terminal in Vishakhapatnam will help it to increase its third party cargo by at least 15%.



Adani Ports, meanwhile, had recently said that the company's focus will be on the east coast of the country. It has raised money by offloading its stake in Abbot Point terminal in Australia to invest in port projects on the east coast.



With several major power plants coming up in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, the ports in east coast are expected to handle coking coal and non-coking coal imports besides helping in the coastal movement of coal to Tamil Nadu.



The shipping ministry had recently decided to set up two new ports on the east coast in West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh to cater to the rising cargo growth in the region. Major ports under government control on the east coast include Paradip port, Vishakhapatnam port, Kolkata port and Chennai port.



"In the short run, ports on the east coast will have to cannibalize into each other as the cargo is coming from a common hinterland. But in the long run, there is a huge potential and India is lacking in terms of port capacity," said Shailesh Garg, director at London-based Drewry Maritime Research.

Source:-economictimes.indiatimes.com

Mundra Port Docks Largest Container Ship In India

4-Jun-2013

NEW DELHI: Adani Ports and SEZ's (APSEZ) Mundra Port today handled one of the largest and longest container vessels in the world--MV MSC Valeria, having a capacity of 14,000 TEUs, sources said.



According to marinetraffic.com, a leading website on marine traffic, MSC Valeria docked at about 1023 hrs in the morning at Mundra port -- the largest private port in India.



Docking of MSC Valeria, the ultra-large container ship having an overall Length of 365.5 metres (1,199.2 feet), at Mundra port was a first for any of the Indian ports as they have never handled such a large container ship in the past, shipping industry sources said.



MV MSC Valeria is owned by Switzerland-based MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company and is currently plying between China and West Mediterranean. The container ship was put into service last year.



The container ship berthed on the new container terminal of the Mundra port which has two large berths alongside water depths of 17.5 metres.



However, APSEZ officials declined to comment on handling MSC Valeria.



The company was in the process of raising about Rs 1,000 crore by offloading its over 3 per cent stake to qualified investors. The share sale was launched today through an institutional placement programme.



Mundra Port is APSEZ's flagship port and had handled 82.13 million tonnes (MT) of cargo and 1.74 million TEUs of container volume in the last fiscal. It has a total cargo handling capacity of 200 MT per annum and also operates two container terminals with an annual capacity of about 2.5 million TEUs.



TEUs, or twenty feet equivalents, are the standard units for quantifying cargoes at the container ships.



APSEZ shares rose 1.14 per cent today to close at Rs 155.20 apiece on the BSE.

Source:-economictimes.indiatimes.com

India Iron Ore Exports Shown 157% Higher In 2012-13 - Study

4-Jun-2013

Business Standard reported that though the mining crisis in India led to an unprecedented decline in iron ore exports in 2012 to 13, following a regulatory crackdown.



Figures compiled by the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence & Statistics, under the commerce ministry, showed India's iron ore exports jumped a whopping 157% to 121 million tonne in 2012 to 13, compared with 47 million tonne a year ago.



The same data showed the export value for iron ore declined to about USD 1.6 billion from about USD 4.6 billion through the same period.



These figures vary significantly from data released by other entities. According to the Federation of Indian Mineral Industries, outbound shipments of iron ore declined from 61.74 million tonne in 2011 to 12 to 18.37 million tonne in 2012 to 13.



Latest provisional data from the mines ministry showed iron ore exports during the April to December 2012 period stood at 14.2 million tonne.



DGCIS Director General Mr D Sinha said Business Standard that "We have released the principal commodity wise figures for March 2013, as well as April-March 2012 to 13. The item level data for March 2013 is currently under validation.”



He added according to provisional figures, in 2012 to 13, iron ore exports stood at only 17 million tonne, compared with 47 million tonne in 2011 to 12. A revision would be made when item wise figures are released by end of this month.



To a query on whether the revision would lead to a change in the value of export figures for the item, he said that "There will be no change in the value figures for exports." To increase domestic availability of iron ore, the government had, last year, increased the duty on iron ore exports to 30%.



Also, due to various illegal activities in the mining sector, exports from 2 of the largest iron ore producing and exporting states, Goa and Karnataka, were banned.



Source:-www.steelguru.com

Before inveting make sure that your money is protected

Before investing, especially with companies promising high returns, investors must ensure that the entity is registered with the Reserve Bank of India, Securities & Exchange Board of India or any other financial sector regulator and is authorised to accept funds — in the form of deposits or otherwise. Raising public money does not necessarily mean acceptance of deposits. A deposit is acceptance of money with a promise to return it with interest. Raising money by way of share capital, money raised as security deposit, earnest money and advance against goods or services and subscriptions to chits are not treated as deposits.

Entities that can raise public deposits

RBI allows banks, cooperatives and some non-banking fi nance companies (NBFCs) to accept deposits. RBI issues special licences to these NBFCs including housing fi nance companies for raising deposits up to a certain limit. Some companies are authorised by the ministry of corporate affairs to raise deposits from the public.

Cooperative credit societies and salary earners' societies can accept deposits only from their members. Others are not legally allowed to raise deposits. NBFCs registered with the RBI are not allowed to raise deposits unless by way of a deposit accepting certificate. Unincorporated bodies like individuals, partnership fi rms and other association of individuals cannot raise deposits, even if they do fi nancial business.

RBI follows a restrictive policy in allowing companies to raise deposits. Protection of depositors' interest is the RBI's supreme concern. Banks are the most regulated fi nancial entities and therefore the safest as far as your money is concerned. The maximum interest rate that an NBFC can pay to a depositor is 12.5% a year.

But, banks can fail too. The Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation insures deposits up to Rs 1 lakh. This means depositors' money up to Rs 1 lakh is safe and they will get back anything up to this limit even if a bank fails.

NBFCs Permitted to Raise Deposits

There are some 257 NBFCs that are allowed to raise deposits. The list is available on the RBI's website (www.rbi.org.in — sitemap — NBFC list — list of NBFCs allowed to accept deposits).

Collective investment schemes are not deposits

Collective investment schemes are schemes where companies raise money as advance for delivering goods or services at a future date. RBI does not regulate them and does not treat this collection of money as a deposit. The Securities & Exchange Board of India does.

RBI bars chit funds from accepting deposits

Chit funds are legal under the Chit Funds Act, 1982, which is a central act but administered by state governments. Chit funds can raise money from their members. RBI barred these entities from accepting deposits from the public in 2009 and can prosecute them in case they violate the law. Violation of deposit-accepting rules is a criminal offence.

If unincorporated entities are found accepting public deposits, they are liable for criminal action. Further, NBFCs are prohibited by RBI from associating with any unincorporated bodies. If NBFCs associate themselves with proprietorship/partnership firms accepting deposits in contravention of the RBI Act, they are also liable to be prosecuted.

Political Parties are public authorities and are subject to RTI Act

CL : Land and huge Government accommodations at concessional rates, income-tax exemptions and free air-time on Doordarshan-all these benefits to political parties given by Central government show that they are substantially financed by the Central Government and, therefore, they are public authorities under section 2(h) of the RTI Act. Inspite of being non-governmental, they come to wield or directly or indirectly influence exercise of governmental power. Political Parties continuously perform

Losses to AEs in transactions with assessee doesn’t guarantee existence of ALP and no shifting of pr

IT/ILT : Where in course of international transactions, AE has been incurring losses on margin retained by it from contract price, it does not mean that assessee's income from such transactions has to be considered at arm's length on ground that there is no shifting of profits

Before disallowance of excess cash payment, assessee should be heard

IT : If declaration in Form 15-I filed by payee are found to be in order, disallowance under section 40(a)(ia) cannot be made in hands of payer

Holding period to be computed from the date of earmarking of shares acquired under ESOP with deferre

IT: Where under ESOP scheme assessee-employee was allotted certain number of shares on different dates in 1995-96 to 1999-2000 and such shares were sold by assessee in 2004, gains arising thereof was taxable as long-term capital gains

RBI/2012-13/504 A. P. (DIR Series) Circular No.107 dated 04-06-2013

Reserve bank of India

A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No.107

June 4, 2013

To

All Scheduled Commercial Banks which are

Authorised Dealers (ADs) in Foreign Exchange/ All agencies

nominated for import of gold

Madam/Sir

Import of Gold by Nominated Banks /Agencies

Attention of Authorised Persons is drawn to our A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 103 dated May 13, 2013 on the captioned subject in terms of which, it was decided to restrict the import of gold on consignment basis by banks, only to meet the genuine needs of the exporters of gold jewellery. It has now been decided to extend the provisions of this circular to all nominated agencies/ premier / star trading houses who have been permitted by Government of India to import gold. Accordingly, any import of gold on consignment basis by both nominated agencies and banks shall now be permissible only to meet the needs of exporters of gold jewellery.

2. It has further been decided that all Letters of Credit (LC) to be opened by Nominated Banks / Agencies for import of gold under all categories will be only on 100 per cent cash margin basis. Further, all imports of gold will necessarily have to be on Documents against Payment (DP) basis. Accordingly, gold imports on Documents against Acceptance (DA) basis will not be permitted. These restrictions will however not apply to import of gold to meet the needs of exporters of gold jewellery.


3. The above instructions will come into force with immediate effect. ADs may bring the contents of this circular to the notice of their constituents and customers concerned. They are also advised to strictly ensure that foreign exchange transactions effected by / for their constituents are compliant with these instructions in letter and spirit.


4. All other instructions relating to import of gold issued from time to time shall remain unchanged.


5. The directions contained in this circular have been issued under Section 10(4) and Section 11(1) of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), 1999 (42 of 1999) and are without prejudice to permissions / approvals, if any, required under any other law.

Yours faithfully,

(C D Srinivasan)

Chief General Manager

RBI/2012-13/520

DTH isn’t a place-related entertainment and is not covered in negative list, Supreme Court

ST : Section 66D(j) covers an activity in negative list only if an entertainment takes place in a specified place or locations and persons are admitted to such place on payment of a charge, DTH operation, which is not a place-related entertainment, cannot be covered in negative list

Minimum tax effect for filing appeal is compulsory unless revenue's case is covered by the exception

IT : Where Tribunal deleted addition made to income of assessee holding that provisions of section 40(a)(ia) were not applicable, it could not be said that instant appeal would fall in exception laid down in clause (a) of Para 8 of Instruction No. 3/2011, dated 9-2-2011

No reversal is required under Cenvat Rules 6(3) or 6(3A) in respect of interest earned on deposit

ST/ECJ : Interest earned on advances received in course of business are exempt services, but, no reversal is required under rule 6(3) or 6(3A) of CENVAT Credit Rules, 2004 in respect thereof

Resulting Co. allowed to claim bad-debts of demerged Co. if business is acquired as a going concern

IT : Where assessee-company consequent upon a scheme of demerger had acquired business of its holding company as going concerns and thereafter continued to run and operate said business, assessee was entitled to write off bad debts, which had been acquired from holding company