IT : Work Allocation of Departmental Representatives before ITAT
Tuesday 23 July 2013
No addition under sec. 68 if share applicants were identified and they had given their bank statemen
IT : Where Assessing Officer made addition in income of assessee-company under section 68 on plea that it could not prove that share applicants had enough money on date of purchase of its shares, since share applicants were identified and they had submitted their bank statements, cash extracts and returns filing receipts, impugned addition was not justified
IF PWD rates are available to work out construction cost, no rationale in adopting rates of metropol
IT: Where PWD rates were applicable, rates prevailing at metropolitan cities could not be adopted for working out cost of construction so as to estimate deemed income under section 69B for purpose of assessment
Rent-a-cab service availed for transportation of employees is eligible for input service credit
ST : Rent-a-cab services availed in relation to transport of employees is eligible for input service credit; however, no credit is available upto extent of amount recovered from employees in that regard
Act of curbing distribution and exhibition of films in certain regions is anti-competitive
Competition Act : Rules and regulations of appellant-associations, representative bodies of distributors and exhibitors of cinema films, by which they were compelling producers and distributors of cinema films to compulsorily register their films with them and prohibiting members to deal with non-members were violative of provisions of section 3(3)(b) of Competition Act, 2002
Sec. 88E rebate for STT can be claimed in both situations - tax payable as per normal provisions or
IT: Purpose of section 88E is to grant an assessee to a limited extent rebate in tax on account of securities transaction tax already borne by it and this rebate would be equally applicable to tax as computed under section 115JB or tax as calculated under normal provisions of Act
Government Planning To Overhaul Sez Policy To Push Declining Exports
NEW DELHI: Beset by falling exports, the government is revisiting its policy on special economic zones in the hope of rekindling interest among investors. With industry and state governments citing problems with land acquisition, the commerce department is considering relaxing the minimum area requirement for more sectors in the final amendments in the SEZ rules.
These changes are being looked at even as the government is yet to put into effect the announcement made by commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma three months ago.
The department has identified agro-processing SEZs as the main thrust area and plans to cut minimum land requirement from 100 hectares to 10 hectares for agro-processing SEZs.
"We are looking at some changes following demands from industry and also state governments," an official told ET. "States have demanded relaxation as they do not have enough land."
Among the changes being mulled is halving of the area requirement for setting up of multi-services SEZs to 50 hectares from 100 hectares. Multi-services SEZs would be considered on a par with single-product SEZs.
As per the new changes, SEZ developers will also be able to add another sector on additional contiguous 50 hectares on multi-product SEZs.
To give a fillip to exports, the government in April had halved the minimum area requirement for single-product SEZs to 50 hectares and that for multi-product SEZs to 500 hectares. While the minimum land requirement norm for IT SEZs was scrapped, it was left unchanged for multi-services SEZs. These changes, however, are yet to be implemented.
According to sources, Sharma has put these proposals on the fast track and asked ministry officials to ensure that the new norms are put in place before the end of the month. The law ministry, however, is yet to vet the proposed notification. If accepted, these changes will supplement the policy alterations made by the government three months ago.
Falling exports has put pressure on the current account deficit, which widened to an all time high of 4.8% of GDP in 2012-13. Continued contraction in exports in the current financial year has set alarm bells ringing among policymakers who are now casting about for ways to boost exports.
India's exports declined 1.41% to $72.4 billion in the first quarter of 2013-14.
SEZs, which witnessed 31% growth in exports despite an overall contraction of 1.86% in the country's outbound trade, are seen as the new saviour.
Source:-economictimes.indiatimes.com
Indian Wool Importers Get Relief On Quarantine Issue
July 23, 2013
The wool importers have been complaining of difficulty and harassment on quarantine issue for the last three years. Some Quarantine Officers and Custom Officers had stopped clearance of wool imports seeking animal quarantine clearance/ NOC.
The wool importers raised this issue before the Union Minister of Textiles Dr. K S Rao recently during his recent meeting with the Wool Industry Stakeholders.
Various associations of industry have been representing continuously that this step has created disruption and jam in smooth flow of wool import. The imported wool is being used for producing exportable products and hence, this step had, in fact, adversely affected domestic value addition and exports also.
Dr. Rao took up the matter and met with Union Agriculture Minister Shri Sharad Pawar on 17th July, 2013. The issue has been resolved by the issuance of clarification on 18th July, 2013 by Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture.
The Office Memorandum clarifies that the issue of requirement of Sanitary Import Permit/ NOC for import of wool is to be decided as per the notification No.S.O.794(E) dated 28.03.2008 issued by the Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries.
Accordingly as per clause 3(II)(V) of the Notification No.794(E) dated 28.3.2008, import of following varieties of wool do not require Sanitary Import Permit(SIP) from Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries, or ‘No Objection Certificate’ from the Animal Quarantine and Certification Services(AQCS) of the designated port. Hence, the consignment of the following varieties of wool need not be referred to AQCS of the concerned port for issuance of NOC for clearance of the product:-
“Garneted stock of wool or of fine or coarse animal hair, wool and fine or coarse animal hair, carded or combed (including combed wool in fragments), yarn of carded wool not put up for retail sale, yarn of combed wool not put up for retail sale, yarn of fine animal hair (carded or combed) not put up for retail sale, yarn of wool or of fine animal hair put up for retail sale, yarn of coarse animal hair or of horse hair (including gimped horse hair yarn whether or not put up for retail sale), woven fabrics of carded wool or carded fine animal hair, woven fabrics of combed wool or carded fine animal hair, woven fabrics of coarse animal hair or of horse hair”.
Dr. Rao has thanked the Shri Pawar for his quick response in resolving this long-standing issue. This clarification will remove the condition of NOC/ clearance certificates on above mentioned varieties of wool to the wool Importers, will aid smooth inflow of wool imports, help the domestic industry engaged in value addition, making carpets, woolen clothing, garments and other woolen products and also help in increasing the country’s exports.
Source:-www.fibre2fashion.com
India To Raise Import Taxes On Luxury Items
Jul. 23 – India is set to increase import duties on a number of luxury items, including automobiles, televisions, high-end mobile phones, tablets, laptops and exotic foods. As part of a series of strategic tax and FDI initiatives currently being implemented by Finance Minister Chidambaram, the increases are specifically targeting at imported consumer goods that add no manufacturing or FDI value to the country.
“The increases in these strategic items comes at a time when India is, for the first time, coordinating its FDI policy with tax policy,” says Chris Devonshire-Ellis, Managing Partner of Dezan Shira & Associates. “For example, while luxury tax is being imposed on smartphones and tablets, at the same time FDI restrictions in the telecommunications industry are being relaxed. The message is clear: manufacture these products in India for the domestic market or face being priced out through luxury tax. The same is true of autos and other sectors.”
India thus far has a patchy record of matching FDI policy with import duties. However this has now changed, and corporate policy as to accessing the Indian consumer market will have to change along with it.
Automotive
India’s auto market has been suffering the past eight months with sales falling. However, it is the world’s sixth largest auto market and is expected to be the third largest by 2020. Luxury tax increases will mean a 100 percent surcharge on imported autos. The status of the main foreign brand autos in India is summarized below:
Audi
Audi assembles the A4, A6, Q5 and Q7 models at ŠkodaAuto’s plant located at Aurangabad, Maharashtra while the other models are imported from Ingolstadt, Germany.
BMW
BMW has an assembly plant in Chenglepet, Chennai. The plant assembles BMW 3 and 5 series sedans and X1 SUVs while the other available models are imported.
Ford
The American auto giant has just announced plans to make India its global manufacturing hub for small cars. Its “Project B562” will see three different models roll off production lines at its Sanand plant in Gujarat from 2014.
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz India manufactures S-series 320 L, E-series E200, E230 and E250 and C-series cars while other variants are imported.
ŠkodaAuto
ŠkodaAuto India’s product range includes the Fabia, Octavia, Laura and Superb models. The Fabia, Octavia and Laura models are assembled at Škoda’s Aurangabad plant, ŠkodaAuto’s first auto assembly plant setup outside of Europe.
Volvo
Volvo imports completely built units from Volvo’s Gothenburg factory in Sweden.
Mobile phones and tablets
India has the world’s fastest growing mobile phone subscriber base and is the second largest mobile subscriber market with some 867 million subscribers after China. Luxury tax on imported items will rise from 1 percent to 6 percent in what is a highly price competitive market. The status of primary international brand sales to India are as follows:
HTC
No manufacturing plant in India – all items are fully imported from Taiwan.
Apple
No manufacturing or assembly plant in India. Fully imported from China.
Samsung
Samsung has a production facility in India located at Noida. However, it has not started production of S4 models in India yet. S4 devices sold in India are imported from South Korea, but the company have announced the S4 will soon be manufactured in India.
Laptops
Lenovo – Market Share: 17%
Running assembly/manufacturing factory in southern Puducherry, India with 3 million units per annum capacity. Had another manufacturing facility at Baddi Himachal Pradesh, but closed down in 2010. Imports laptops and components in India from its manufacturing facilities in China, Japan, Singapore and the United States.
ACER – Market Share: 15.7%
Imports completely built laptops. Acer India has no plans of setting up a full-fledged manufacturing plant in India. It prefers instead to make small modifications on its completely built products in a factory in Pondicherry.
HP - Market Share: 15.5%
HP has an assembly/manufacturing plant in Pantnagar, Uttaranchal with 5.7 million units per annum capacity. Might be importing components (adequate information not available).
Dell – Market Share: 12.4%
Dell opened plants in Penang, Malaysia in 1995, and in Xiamen, China in 1999. These facilities serve the Asian market and assemble 95 percent of Dell notebooks.
They do, however, have a manufacturing unit in Chennai, India. Dell globally sources around 1,300 components worth US$26 billion from China, including components that arrive at the facility in India.
Asus – Market Share: ~5%
Imports from China, Taiwan. Asus does not have its own manufacturing plants. It sources its products from original equipment manufacturers such as Compal and Wintron.
It imports the products from China to its warehouse in Goa, from where it is distributed to retail outlets across India.
Source:-www.india-briefing.com
Rupee Gains 37 Paise In Opening Trade
The Indian rupee opened higher by 37 paise at 59.39 per dollar versus 59.76 yesterday. "RBI is more likely to prefer sucking out liquidity via bond issuance to ensure that interbank rates remain well above the repo rate, says Rajeev Malik of CLSA.
The Indian rupee opened higher by 37 paise at 59.39 per dollar versus 59.76 yesterday.
Rajeev Malik, CLSA said, "India will likely suffer more downgrades to GDP growth forecast if the RBI goes ahead with a sustained and aggressive liquidity squeeze, but it will still eventually have to live with a weaker rupee. A CRR hike on July 30 cannot be ruled out. Tactically, the RBI is more likely to prefer sucking out liquidity via bond issuance to ensure that interbank rates remain well above the repo rate."
The euro dollar holds above the 1.32 mark. The dollar index was trading around 82.
Source:-www.moneycontrol.com
Gold Imports By India May Slump As Purchases Tied To Exports
Jul 23 2013
Mumbai: Gold imports by India, the world’s biggest user last year, may plunge after the central bank linked inbound shipments to exports to cut a record current-account deficit and stem a decline in the currency.
Overseas purchases may tumble 63% to 175 metric tons in the six months through December from a year earlier, said Bachhraj Bamalwa, a director at the All India Gems & Jewellery Trade Federation. The Reserve Bank of India announced new rules late Monday, making it mandatory for importers to set aside 20% for re-exports as jewelry.
The curbs may cause a shortage of bullion in the domestic market as the country’s average annual exports of gold jewelry are about 70 tons, Bamalwa said. Consumption in India, which imports almost all the bullion it uses, was 864.2 tons last year, according to data from the World Gold Council.
It would tighten up supply even further than the existing measures already have, said Victor Thianpiriya, an analyst at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. in Singapore. It is exactly what the government is targeting. It is likely to further increase smuggling and the cost associated with imports, so I expect that local prices will climb further.
India doubled a tax on inbound shipments to 8% this year and curbed financing to tackle a surge in demand after bullion entered a bear market in April. Finance minister P Chidambaram last week appealed to Indians to moderate demand, while ruling out a complete ban on imports.
Rupee decline
The current-account deficit, the broadest measure of trade tracking goods, services and investment income, widened to $87.8 billion in the year ended 31 March from $78.2 billion in 2011-2012, according to official data. The deficit is the biggest risk to the $1.9 trillion economy, according to the central bank. The rupee, which touched a record low of 61.2125 per dollar on 8 July, rose as much as 0.4% to 59.48 per dollar on Tuesday
The central bank said agencies importing bullion will need to ensure that at least 20% of the shipment be made available for exports. Importers may supply gold only to the jewelry business and bullion dealers who sell to the jewelers, it said in a statement. Importers have to retain 20% of the gold in customs bonded warehouses and will be allowed to make fresh purchases only after at least 75% of the quantity has been exported, the bank said
Quantitative restriction
You can see a substantial reduction in imports post these measures because these measures are becoming almost like quantitative restrictions, said Samiran Chakraborty, Mumbai- based analyst at Standard Chartered Plc. It ensures that the deficit on account of gold doesn’t blow out of proportion. There is a now a ratio that is prefixed.
Imports of gold and silver fell to $2.45 billion in June from $8.39 billion a month earlier, government data showed 12 July. Consumption in India accounted for 20% of global demand in 2012, according to data from the council.
Gold for delivery in August was little changed at Rs27,558 ($462) on the Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd. at 11:29 am in Mumbai. Futures fell to Rs24,830 per 10 grams on 28 June, the lowest since August 2011. Spot gold in London dropped 0.4% to $1,330.07 an ounce.
The new rules will make it tougher for importers and jewelers as they will necessarily need to allocate supplies for exports, said Gnanasekar Thiagarajan, a director at Commtrendz Risk Management Services Pvt. Exporters will have to search for markets as gold exports are not doing so well at this point of time.
Jewelry exports
Jewelry exports plunged 73% to $556.8 million in June from $2.06 billion a year earlier, according to the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council. Shipments rose 13% to $13.05 billion in the year ended March, council data showed.
While the central bank scrapped curbs on imports on a consignment basis and restored purchases on credit, the new measures may prompt banks to discontinue sales of coins and bars to retail investors.
Most banks had stopped minting new gold coins after the government clamped down on imports earlier and they are only selling old stocks now, said Suresh Hundia, proprietor of Hundia Exports Ltd. and a former president of the Bombay Bullion Association. Coins sales by banks is as good as stopped.
Source:-www.livemint.com
Ban On Onion Exports Won't Impact Domestic Prices
July 23, 2013
A section of the Department of Agriculture feels export curbs on onions would have little impact on the prices of the commodity, as the price of Indian onions is more than prices abroad and exports have shown a slowing trend.
Officials said Indian onions were priced at about $480 a tonne in the international markets, while prices of onions from Pakistan and China stood at $410 a tonne and $300-350 a tonne, respectively.
“Therefore, to expect an export ban on onions to have a major impact on domestic prices is unreasonable, as exports have already slowed because of the price differential,” said a senior official.
In June, India exported about 1,50,512 tonnes of onions, a 23 per cent fall compared to May and a 9.01 per cent fall compared to April. In the April-June period, onion exports stood at 5,11,616 tonnes, worth Rs 776.47 crore, around 1.09 per cent less than in the corresponding period last year. In 2012-13, exports stood at 1.82 million tonnes.
The official said domestic prices of onions were lucrative for traders and farmers. Therefore, the tendency to export was low. A recent report by the Nasik-based National Horticulture Research and Development Foundation (NHRDF) said the current rise in onion prices was primarily due to the slow release of stored onions by farmers, especially in Maharashtra, in anticipation of better prices in the coming days.
It added the situation would ease in the next few weeks, as farmers would be compelled to sell stored onions in the market, as losses would rise because of high humidity conditions in Maharashtra. "The arrival of the new crop from Andhra Pradesh, which will start from August, will also ease the situation," NHRDF said.
"The Ramzan season is underway in most parts of West Asia, a big market for Indian onions. Therefore, overall international demand is slack," said a trader from a leading export house.
According to the Department of Consumer Affairs, in the last month, the average retail price across the country had risen Rs 10-20 a kg. In areas such as Siliguri, Indore, Gwalior, Dehradun and Delhi, prices rose by about Rs 20 a kg in the last month.
Alarmed by the sudden and sharp rise in retail price of onions, the government is believed to have been contemplating a ban on exports as the option of increasing the Minimum Export Price (MEP) is no longer available as the method was scrapped last year.
Few days back a PTI news report quoting an unnamed government official said that the government was keeping a close watch on onion prices and was considering various options including a ban on export to control prices. Total onion production in 2012-13is expected to be 15-16 million tonnes, almost the same as last year.
Source:-www.business-standard.com
India’S Iranian Oil Imports More Than Halve In June
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s imports of crude oil from Iran more than halved in June from a year ago, as refiner Essar Oil (ESRO.NS) became the only remaining Indian client of the sanctions-hit country, tanker data obtained by Reuters showed.
India’s imports for June fell about 60 percent on an annual basis, pointing to imports from Iran’s top four customers – China, Japan, India and South Korea – of around 860,000 barrels per day (bpd) for the month, down more than a third on the year.
That would be the lowest for Iran’s top four buyers since April, when big drop-offs in barrels shipped into India and Japan cut the total to 635,750 bpd, the smallest in decades.
U.S. and European Union sanctions aimed at Iran’s disputed nuclear programme are costing Tehran billions of dollars per month. And U.S. lawmakers want to toughen them further, with the goal of reducing Iran’s oil shipments to 500,000 bpd or less.
“The downturn year-on-year of Iranian crude imports will continue,” said Praveen Kumar, who heads the South Asia oil and gas team at consultancy FGE.
“Everyone was waiting for the elections (in Iran) to happen and hoping that the new president will be more open to coming back to the negotiating table … but we don’t think there is going to be a breakthrough,” Kumar said.
Western countries believe Iran’s nuclear programme is aimed at making a bomb, while Iran says it is for peaceful purposes.
Iran’s president-elect, Hassan Rouhani, who takes office next month, pledged in June to be more transparent on the nuclear programme but no immediate curtailment of its uranium enrichment is expected.
Indian imports from Iran dropped to 140,800 bpd in June, down 45 percent from May, data from trade sources on tanker arrivals shows.
India’s imports from Iran dropped in the first half of the year to 211,400 bpd, down more than 42 percent from the same period in 2012, according to the data.
A Reuters estimate of June crude imports from Iran by Asian buyers is based on the Indian tanker data, earlier data on Chinese and South Korean oil imports, and an assumption that Japan imported about 200,000 bpd last month.
The figure for Japan, which reports its full oil import data for June next week, is close to its average daily shipments of Iranian crude for the year ended March 31.
Similar calculations and assumptions put Asia’s imports of Iranian oil at about 975,280 bpd for the first half of 2013, down just over a fifth from a year ago.
GRAPHIC: Asia’s Iranian crude imports link.reuters.com/vyw45t
Iran’s share of total Indian oil imports dropped to 5.4 percent in the first half, down from more than 10 percent from last year, the tanker arrival data also showed.
Hindustan Petroleum Corp (HPCL.NS) and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals (MRPL.NS) halted their Iranian oil purchases in April amid difficulties securing insurance for refineries processing oil from the sanctions-hit country.
Last month, Washington granted its third 180-day waiver on sanctions applied to Asian countries, including India, China and South Korea, for significantly reducing Iranian oil imports in the six months through May.
Japan won its third six-month waiver in March as part of a different review process. Japan’s renewal will come up in September, while the waivers for the other Asian buyers will come up in November-December.
India imported nearly 66 percent more oil from Latin America in the January to June period as it cut its dependence on Iran. The region accounted for about 19 percent of India’s overall imports, up from 12.6 percent in the same period a year ago.
Overall, Asia’s third-largest economy shipped in 14 percent more oil in June than a year ago, while Indian imports for the January-June period rose 9.7 percent, the data showed.
(Additional reporting by Florence Tan in SINGAPORE; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Tom Hogue)
Source:-www.firstpost.com
U.S. Probes Steel Pipe Imports From India, Eight Other Countries
The U.S. Commerce Department on Tuesday launched one of its biggest trade investigations in years into charges that manufacturers in India, South Korea and seven other countries are selling steel pipe used by oil and natural gas producers at unfairly low prices in the United States.
Imports of oil country tubular goods (OCTG) from the nine countries totaled nearly $1.8 billion in 2012, more than double their total in 2010, as rising U.S. oil and natural gas production have increased demand for the pipe.
In 2010, the United States slapped duties on imports of OCTG from China after they hit about $2.8 billion in 2008. That created an opening for the other foreign suppliers.
The latest case targets South Korea, which exported about $831 million worth of the pipe to the United States last year, as well as India, Vietnam, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey and Ukraine.
U.S. producers are asking for anti-dumping duties as high as 240 percent on India, 158 percent on South Korea, 118 percent on Thailand and 111 percent on Vietnam to offset what they say is below market pricing, and lesser but still hefty duties on the other five countries.
For two countries, Turkey and India, U.S. producers are seeking additional countervailing duties to offset alledged government subsidies.
The Commerce Department will make a preliminary decision on countervailing duties in September and on anti-dumping duties in December. Final decisions will come in 2014.
U.S. companies seeking the relief include U.S. Steel(X.N), which told the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) at a hearing on Tuesday that it spent $2.1 billion in 2007 to boost its OCTG production by buying a smaller manufacturer.
But "for three years now, I have heard the same tale from our salesmen: 'Imports are underselling us. We must lower our prices or our customers will go elsewhere,'" Doug Matthews, a senior vice president at U.S. Steel, told the panel.
Under the U.S. system, the Commerce Department investigates charges of unfair trade and determines whether duties are appropriate and if so at what level. But the ITC must approve the probe and has the final word on whether duties are imposed.
The commission will vote in mid-August on whether there is enough evidence that the imports are injuring U.S. producers for the Commerce Department to continue with the probe.
Other producers involved in the case include Maverick Tube Corporation, Energex Tube and TMK IPSCO.
They told the Commission that U.S. demand for OCTG between 2010 and 2012 was the strongest they had seen in 25 years, but imports prevented them from getting a fair price for their products.
"While the last few years should have been extremely strong for Maverick, the import surge deprived us of the benefits of recovering demand," Brad Lowe, a senior executive at Maverick, told the ITC. "Imports have taken away sales and have significantly suppressed and depressed market prices."
Linda Andros, legislative counsel at the United Steelworkers Union, told the panel that U.S. jobs were at risk.
"If unfair trade is left unchecked, ... there is no doubt that many of our members that produce these products will begin being laid off," Andros said.
Scott Barnes, senior vice president at TMK IPSCO, conceded that OCTG imports have fallen so far in 2013, after rising in previous years.
But that's only because "we aggressively fought imports back by price cutting in the latter part of 2012," Barnes said.
Source:-in.reuters.com
Pulses Import Bill To Decline 25% On Higher Domestic Output
July 23, 2013
India’s pulses import bill is set to decline 25 per cent this financial year due to a record domestic output and an unabated fall in prices globally. The fall in import will save around $730 million (Rs 4,350 crore) outflow.
Pulses import hit a record 4.02 million tonnes (mt) in 2012-13, an increase of 15 per cent from 3.5 mt the previous year. But the import bill shot up 41.34 per cent to Rs 13,354 crore in 2012-13 from Rs 9,448 crore in the previous year. The sharp increase in the bill was attributed to a staggering 13.6 per cent depreciation in the rupee against the dollar.
“This year, however, import is set to decline by a minimum 0.50 mt or 13 per cent of the entire import quantity on bumper output estimates from local sources. Coupled with that, pulses prices have fallen by at least 15 per cent since April. Accumulatively, this will lower pulses import bill by 25 per cent,” said Bimal Kothari, vice-president of India Pulses and Grains Association (IPGA) and owner of Pancham International Ltd, a Mumbai-based pulses importer.
The ministry of agriculture has set a target of 19 mt of pulses output for this year against 18.45 mt reported in the second advanced estimates on Monday. India’s 40 per cent pulses output comes from the kharif crop, while the remaining from the rabi season.
“The monsoon has been favourable so far with over 50 per cent of 36 meteorological sub-divisions has reported normal to excess rainfalls. Given that the trend continues in the rest of the period this monsoon season and estimates for supportive soil moisture for rabi sowing, pulses output in India may comfortably hit the record target of 19 mt,” said Pravin Dongre, president of IPGA and chief executive of the Indian subsidiary of Glencore, one of the world’s largest commodity trading companies.
Domestic as well international prices of pulses have slumped 15-20 per cent in the last three months. All varieties of pulses have fallen. Chana, for example, has plunged to Rs 2,700 a quintal from Rs 3,000 a quintal in April. Tur and urad have also declined proportionately to trade at around Rs 3,200 a quintal.
Also, tur in Myanmar is quoted at $625 a tonne today, a decline of $125 from the level of $750 a tonne in April. Similarly, urad, chana and yellow peas are currently quoted at $525 a tonne, $470 a tonne and $400 a tonne, respectively, from $650 a tonne, $570 a tonne and $460 a tonne in April.
Kothari emphasises to increase yield which has been stagnated at 650 kg/hectare in India against the world average of 1,800 kg / ha. For this, however, hybridisation is going on all across the country with research is in progress to scale up pulses yield.
Source:-www.business-standard.com
Mere tax deduction by payer doesn't decide taxability in hands of recipient; penalty order set aside
IT/ILT : Mere fact that payer deducted tax at source cannot be a sole reason to conclude that amount is taxable in hands of recipient and, therefore, if recipient does not offer said amount to tax in return of income, it does not necessarily follow that penalty has to be imposed under section 271(1)(c)
Time-limit to repatriate export proceeds for the period 01-04-13 to 30-09-13 to be reckoned as 9 mon
FEMA/ILT : Export of Goods and Software - Realisation and Repatriation of Export Proceeds - Liberalisation
Gold: 20% of import to be exported back; gold for domestic use to be made available to jewellers onl
FEMA/ILT : Import of Gold by Nominated Banks/Agencies/Entities
IRDA’s clarifications on guidelines on insurance repositories and electronic issuance of insurance p
INSURANCE : Clarifications on The Guidelines on Insurance Repositories and Electronic Issuance of Insurance Policies
Foreign currency loans given by assessee to its AE to be benchmarked at LIBOR instead of at domestic
IT/ILT : For benchmarking lending in foreign currency, interbank rate should be taken for international transaction instead of domestic prime lending rate
Addition just because a peer co. declared higher profit isn't permissible if assessee had clean hist
IT: Addition in gross profit rate of assessee with reference to case of another assessee was not justified, when assessee's past history was available and there was no material difference in facts pertaining to relevant assessment year and past history year
Services of ‘Rent-a-cab’ for commutation of employees between office and residence are input service
ST : Rent-a-cab service used for bringing employees from residence to factory and back, and, service of air travel agents for booking tickets for visit of officers to different offices of buyers (railways) are input services, eligible for credit
AO can’t outright reject sec. 154 application on reasoning that the underlying matter is a debatable
IT : Where certain issue was neither taken nor decided by Assessing Officer, application under section 154 could not be held to be not maintainable on ground that issue was debatable
Unless terms of sale of land requires pre-sale development, expenditure thereon could not be allowed
IT : Assessees did not produce any written agreement for pre-sale development of land nor was there any prior payment by purchaser therefor and assessees financial capacity was also not proved, pre-sale land development expenditure could not be allowed
Reasons for initiating re-assessment and materials on record should have a live nexus - Delhi HC
IT: Reasons recorded for validity of notice for reopening assessment should have live nexus with material on record
In case of payment through credit cards, value of services would include commission retained by Cred
ST/ECJ : In case of payment of services through credit card, commission retained by card-issuing organization represents consideration for a separate service rendered by it and, therefore, taxable amount in hands of service provider is price charged without deducting such commission
COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX: DELHI -I Vs. BHARTI AIRTEL LIMITED
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No more exemption from return filing for salaried taxpayers; special counters to file paper return u
IT : Special IT Return Receipt Counters for Salaried Tax Payers with Income upto Rs. 5 Lakh
No concealment penalty for additions during scrutiny assessment if assessee didn’t conceal any mater
IT : Assessee having disclosed all material facts, no penalty could be imposed under section 271(1)(c) on basis of additions made by Assessing Officer in scrutiny assessment
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