Wednesday, 11 September 2013
Sum paid for satellite signals distributed to cable operators isn't subject to sec. 194C
Service recipient is entitled to get credit even if service tax is paid by service provider on exemp
Fee from demobilization of rigs attributable to voyage undertaken outside India is part of sec. 44BB
Deductions not claimed initially couldn't be claimed during assessment pursuant to search and seizur
Textiles, Farm Products Drive Export Pick-Up In August
11-Sep-2013
Very few macro data points about India present a cheerful picture today, but export growth is certainly one. Trade data released on Tuesday showed merchandise exports increasing 13 per cent in August 2013, compared to a year ago, to $26 billion. That reduced the trade deficit and caused the rupee to perk up, too.
India’s product exports have now gone up for a second month in a row after posting year-on-year declines until June. In fact, the last time exports managed double-digit growth in dollar terms was 20 months ago.
So what contributed to the pick-up in exports? The base effect has helped to some extent, as exports actually declined 6 per cent in August last year. Exporters say the recent surge in exports has been driven mainly by textiles, agricultural products, pharma products and chemicals. The improvement has come more from a revival in demand in key importing countries, and from recent policy measures, than from the rupee’s depreciation.
Policy boost
A. Sakthivel, Chairman of the Apparel Export Promotion Council, said the government’s recent interest subvention scheme for exporters has boosted apparel exports.
“Demand in the US, UK and German markets has been picking up. Also, orders from neighbouring countries have seen an improvement. In addition to this, the government’s interest subvention scheme for exports at 3 per cent and other market focussed schemes have helped improve exports,” he said.
In fact, textile exports, which make up about 10 per cent of the export bill, have been showing steady improvement. They expanded 9 per cent from April-June 2013. Readymade garments fared particularly well, increasing by percent.
“Sectors such as textiles, pharma, chemicals, leather and even agriculture have driven growth in July and August.
However, sectors that continue to languish are engineering and gems and jewellery, which are yet to come into the positive zone,” said M. Rafeeque Ahmed, President, Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO).
Market participants are optimistic that exports will grow at a higher pace from October onwards. “The second half of 2013-14 is expected to pan out better with growth scaling up further in the coming months. The government needs to support sectors which are still in the negative zone as well as continue to extend aid to sectors which have been performing well in the last few months,” said Ahmed.
The rupee’s depreciation against key currencies has also given exporters a competitive edge in several sectors. “As realisations are better now, exporters have been able to bag more orders by offering better pricing to the buyers. These order flows should help sectors such as engineering to see their growth pick up from October onwards.
If manufacturing picks up and infrastructure starts to improve, we can expect a growth of 15 per cent in 2013-14,” said Walter D’Souza, Chairman of FIEO, Southern Region.
Source:- thehindubusinessline.com
Weak Rupee Cuts India's August Vegetable Oil Imports By A Fifth: Survey
11-Sep-2013
India's vegetable oil imports likely fell nearly 20 percent in August from a month ago as the weak rupee made purchases more expensive, a Reuters survey showed, bringing some small relief on the economic front to the government.
India is the world's biggest buyer of vegetable oils and its imports cost around $10 billion last fiscal year - about 2 percent of the total value of Indian imports. New Delhi needs to curb imports as the steep fall in the rupee hikes costs and swells its current account deficit.
The rupee lost about 16 percent in value between June 1 and Aug. 31, hiking prices of dollar-denominated imported vegetable oils. At the same time, a heavy monsoon means there should be ample local supply, cutting dependence on imports.
Imports of all vegetable oil, including non-edible oil, slid to 713,333 tonnes in August, according to the average estimate of six traders surveyed. The Solvent Extractors" Association of India will release its official data later this week.
India buys mainly palm oil from Malaysia and Indonesia and a small quantity of soyoil from Brazil and Argentina.
It imports about 60 percent of its cooking oil demand of 17 million to 18 million tonnes. Palm oil makes up about 80 percent of the imports.
In the year to Oct. 31, 2013, cooking oil imports could rise 10 percent on the year to 11 million tonnes, estimated the country's top importer of edible oil in March.
Higher costs likely cut total palm oil imports in August by 14 percent to 496,833 tonnes from the previous month, the survey showed. Refined palm oil imports probably tumbled 51 percent to 104,800 tonnes to mark its third straight monthly drop, the average of the survey showed.
Imported refined palm oil averaged $813 per tonne in August on the country's west coast, while the delivered price for crude palm oil was $808 per tonne. That spread was slightly wider than about $4 per tonne in the previous month, traders said.
Soyoil imports may have fallen 42.5 percent in August, according to the survey, on low seasonal demand and a strong production outlook given higher than average monsoon rains.
In India, soybean is the main summer season oilseed crop which is planted in June and July as the monsoon progresses over the growing areas of central and western India.
High global prices for soyoil because of concerns about bean supply in the U.S. Midwest due to dry weather conditions also likely curbed appetite for imports.
At Mumbai port, imported crude soyoil averaged around $965 per tonne in August, up $10 per tonne from the previous month.
Traders said as sunflower oil were nearly on par with soyoil prices, imports of the former probably rose last month. In August, imported sunflower oil was quoted around $960 per tonne on India's west cost.
"In September, imports could be around 800,000 tonnes of edible oils as the Indian currency gradually recovers its lost ground," said Sat Narain Agarwal, a Delhi-based trader.
Traders in the survey estimated vegetable oil stocks at Indian ports at the end of August had fallen by about a third to an average of 475,000 tonnes from July. Domestic refiners have been using old stocks to avoid costly imports, the traders said.
Source:- economictimes.indiatimes.com
Car Exports In August Cash In On Weak Rupee
11-Sep-2013
Car exports jumped 63 per cent in August, helped by an over 20 per cent fall in the rupee and efforts to explore markets such as Africa and Latin America.
“The growth in exports has been accelerated by the slide in the rupee over the past few months,” said Sugato Sen, deputy director-general of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam). Efforts to expand the non-European markets following the economic slowdown in Europe have started to bear fruit, he said.
Leading auto companies, including Hero MotoCorp, Tata Motors, Bajaj, Mahindra & Mahindra, Hindustan Motors and Maruti Suzuki India have either set up supply chains and manufacturing units or are in the process of doing so in Africa and South America.
Siam data show that the export of passenger cars, which include not only cars but also utility vehicles and vans, stood at 59,903 in August against 36,749 in the same period last year.
Exports during April-August rose 8.3 per cent to 2,38,419 units compared with 2,20,088 units a year ago. Analysts said the demand for small cars was the highest.
Maruti Suzuki India sold 87,323 units in August. Of this, exports stood at 11,305 units against 4,025 units last year.
Hyundai Motor India, which posted an overall growth of 11.58 per cent in August, is the country’s largest passenger car exporter. The company exported around 24,008 units against 18,629 units in August 2012.
Analysts said both Maruti and Hyundai specialised in and exported small cars. Emerging economies, with price point preferences similar to India, contributed to the surge in sales.
Source:- telegraphindia.com
Coal India To Start Imports By Sept-End
State-owned Coal India (CIL) is likely to float a tender for its maiden coal import by September-end. The miner, however, would seek advance payment from its customers for the imported coal.
“A series of meeting with power producers and trading firms has taken place. The first import shipment would be for five to six million tonnes (mt), which would be enough to meet the supply commitment for the time being. Larger shipment could happen later in the year,” a senior CIL official said.
According to officials, the final pre-bid meeting with government-owned trading firms like MMTC and State Trading Corporation, through which imports shipments would be channelised, is scheduled later this week. On August 8, CIL had a Pre-Notice Inviting Tender meeting with power producing public sector power entities regarding supply of imported coal to power plants facing coal shortage.
“Since this would be the first shipment, the modality of import is being worked out. We expect the power plants to make advance payments for imported coal. So, this would happen after getting firm commitments from the power plants,” the official said.
The tender, expected to be floated by September-end, would specify the quality aspect — the gross calorific value as per CIL’s Fuel Supply Agreement (FSA) with power producers.
CIL has signed 140 FSAs, committing 80 per cent assured supply to power stations with a total capacity of about 60,000 Mw. Coal India can supply 65 per cent of the requirement from domestic production and another 15 per cent through import.
According to CIL, a few FSAs are yet to be signed due to some plant-specific issues. The company has to sign total 173 FSAs for a capacity of 78,000 Mw.
The Centre had issued a Presidential directive to CIL last year to sign FSAs with the power producers assuring at least 80 per cent fuel supply.
As far as domestic production is concerned, between April and July, CIL produced 135.64 mt of coal against a target of 140.32 mt during the period.
The offtake stood at 153.47 mt against the target of 156.86 mt.
Source:- business-standard.com
Levying 10% Export Duty On Surplus Cotton Likely To Be Discussed
The government might on Thursday discuss a proposal to impose 10 per cent tax on cotton exports above the declared surplus, to streamline exports and ensure a stable price regime.
Officials said the proposal, floated by the textiles ministry, had recommended imposing the duty on the freight on board value or a maximum of Rs 10,000 a tonne, whichever is less, for all cotton exports over the declared exportable surplus. Other proposals included declaring exportable surplus in September every year, based on the estimates of the Cotton Advisory Board.
The ministry was also for registration of cotton export contracts with the directorate general of foreign trade, to monitor the exports. The ministry wanted an inter-ministerial group to review the cotton position and make recommendations to vary or suspend the duty. However, the agriculture department was against the proposal. “The department of agriculture is clear that any sort of curb on export of farm commodity hurts the interest of growers,” a top official said.
India’s cotton production in 2013-14 crop marketing year that starts from October was expected to be 40 million bales (1 bale=170 kg), almost 4 million bales more than last year. This, trade sources said, could leave 10-12 million bales of surplus of which almost 10 million could be easily exported.
Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar too had written a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh few weeks back urging him to maintain a stable export policy for agriculture products in the interest of farmers.
India’s cotton production in 2013-14 crop marketing year that starts from October is expected to be around 40 million bales (1 bale=170 kilograms), almost 4 million bales more than last year because of benign weather during the sowing stage.
This, trade sources said will leave almost 10-12 million bales of surplus cotton of which almost 10 million could be easily exported.
‘I don’t see the justification in bringing such a distribution policy as any move to scuttle exports will only harm the farmers,” an official from a leading international trading firm said.
He said India’s cotton will find it difficult to find market in 2013-14 crop year as China is expected to offload a huge almost 10 million bales of cotton next year in the international markets which will pull down prices.
“In such a situation if the government wants to impose further curbs on exports, it will out price Indian cotton,” a trader said.
Recently, textiles minister Kavuri Sambasiva Rao advocated for the need to create a cotton stabilisation fund. He had said that fund would be used for the benefit of importers only and charged from surplus export.
Cotton has been sown in around 11.31 million hectares, down just 0.26 per cent from the same period last year till last week in 2013-14, according to data by the agriculture department.
Source:- business-standard.com
Fresh Cotton Arrivals Open Strong In Punjab, Haryana
Fresh arrivals of raw cotton opened on a strong note, with mandis in Punjab and Haryana seeing up to 20% higher rates in the first 10 days of September as against the corresponding period last season on account of steady demand. On Wednesday, the rates were quoted at Rs 4,000-5,200 per quintal in some mandis of Punjab.
In the first week of September 2012, raw cotton was sold for Rs 3,500-4,000 per quintal due to sluggish demand in the domestic and international markets.
Though arrivals are still low, farmers are happy with the initial rates of raw cotton. Traders expect the rates of the fibre crop to be range bound due to less carryover stock and strong demand in the coming days.
Citing strong dollar and limited carryover stock in the markets, the North India Cotton Association (NICA) president Mahesh Sharda said, "Prices of cotton are hovering at Rs 4,800-5,200 per quintal in various markets of southern Punjab."
Another cotton trader and former NICA chief Rakesh Rathi said the rates of ginned cotton and yarn are rising due to surge in rates of dollar along with low stocks from the previous season. Perception of damage to cotton crop in some districts of Punjab due to floods is also making the traders buy the crop at higher rates."
Meanwhile, expressing delight over attractive rates for their produce, farmers are hoping for an increase in prices with the arrival of better quality raw cotton. "We are happy to get Rs 5,000 per quintal and hope the rates rise further in the coming days," said a cotton farmer Angrej Singh at Mansa grain market. Another farmer Mohinder Singh said on Tuesday that a cotton trader had offered him Rs 5,200 per quintal for raw cotton.
Cotton crop has been damaged due to floods in Muksar and Fazilka - two major growing districts of Punjab.
Punjab and Haryana account for nearly 13-14% of India's total cotton output. Cotton was sown over 5.20 lakh hectares in Punjab and over 6 lakh hectares in Haryana. The target for cotton output in Punjab and Haryana for the 2013-14 crop year (ending on August 31, 2014) is 19.58 lakh bales (1 bale=170 kg) and 26.82 lakh bales, respectively, sources said.
Source:- timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Gold Price To Lose More Gloss In 2014
Gold prices are likely to contract further in 2014, after tumbling for the first time in more than a decade this year with the case for bullion undone by confidence in a stabilising global economy, a metals consultancy said on Thursday.
In an update to its Gold Survey 2013, Thomson Reuters GFMS said the market could beat a retreat below $1,300 towards the end of 2014 as U.S. monetary stimulus is withdrawn, fuelling talk of rising interest rates.
The consultancy expects prices to average $1,350 next year, down 7 percent from $1,446 in 2013, with support seen between $1,200 and $1,250.
Markets are widely tipping the U.S. Federal Reserve to start tapering its $85 billion monthly bond-buying as early as this month.
"Although the Fed tapering has been priced in already by the gold market, that is not to say that you won't be getting a bit of a wobble as of when it is announced," Rhona O'Connell, head of metals research and forecasting said.
"And certainly one of the most important elements is that when they start talking about raising interest rates that is also likely to put some pressure on the market in terms of sentiment," she added.
The consultancy still held out for a positive start to next year, with geopolitical tensions and a possible breakdown in negotiations over the U.S. debt ceiling raising the possibility of a brief price rise to $1,500 in early 2014.
Gold prices have fallen by around a fifth this year, hitting a three-year low in June of $1,180.71 an ounce, after the Fed signalled it would start tapering its bond-buying programme by the end of the year, with an aim to withdraw it by mid-2014.
Prices are currently around $1,360, some $540 below their September 2011 record high of $1,920.30 an ounce.
PHYSICAL DEMAND FADES
GFMS remained cautious on physical demand growth, saying that exceptional levels seen in the first half were unlikely to be replicated in the coming months as inventories in traditional buying strongholds China and India had been replenished.
April's gold selloff - which saw spot prices slump $200 an ounce in two days in their sharpest slide in 30 years - and another retracement in June sent bar and coin demand to a record high of 725 tonnes, and jewellery fabrication to its strongest since 2007 at 1,137 tonnes in the first half of the year.
Thomson Reuters GFMS said first-half Chinese high-carat jewellery buying rose to 620 tonnes in the first six months of the year, against 500 tonnes for the full calendar year in 2012.
"China's physical demand is slowing down as gold prices rose from earlier lows and because there was so much buying between April and August that people already stocked up for the upcoming gifting season," O'Connell said.
"At the moment, we are looking at the second half of the year probably being some 80 percent of what the first half was."
China's gold market has grown at a blistering pace in recent years, helping fuel a rally in gold prices to a record $1,920.30 an ounce in 2011. The country is poised to overtake India's position as the top gold consumer by as much as 100 tonnes this year, GFMS said.
Indian jewellery fabrication jumped by 25 percent in the first half to almost 350 tonnes. But demand is now expected to fall as the Indian government introduced a series of measures to curb gold imports, due to their contribution to the country's expanding trade deficit.
LOW INVESTOR APPETITE
Exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which issue securities backed by physical metal, lost 660 tonnes as of the end of August from a peak of 2,691 tonnes at the end of 2012 on Fed tapering expectations.
"The amount of gold that has come out of ETFs was more than enough to feed physical demand from Asia after the big price fall in the second quarter, which was too good an opportunity to miss for an awful lot of people from grassroots, retail, private individual purchasers," O'Connell said.
Net central bank buying fell by 32 percent to 191 tonnes in the first half and is seen reaching 361 tonnes for the year, down from 445 tonnes in 2012, GFMS said.
On the supply side of the market, global mine production rose three percent to 1,416 tonnes in the first six months and is expected to rise 0.8 percent to 1,501 tonnes in the second half. Scrap supply fell 14.3 percent to 662 tonnes in the same period and will continue to drop by 10.2 percent to 736 tonnes in the second half.
GFMS said producers remained net de-hedgers of gold in the first half of the year, with an increase of interest in establishing fresh hedge positions more than offset by several producers taking the fall in price as an opportunity to close out hedging contracts more cheaply and in some cases for profit.
Source:- in.reuters.com
Rupee Rises To 62.92 Per Dollar, On Track For 6Th Straight Gain
The Indian rupee traded at its highest since August 19 and is on track to extend its winning streak to a sixth session on Thursday. The partially convertible rupee traded at 62.92 per dollar, up 0.7 per cent as against Wednesday's close of 63.38.
The rupee's sharp recovery has been aided by the easing of geopolitical concerns, with an attack on Syria appearing less imminent, and the announcement of a series of steps to attract inflows by the new central bank Governor, Raghuram Rajan.
The rupee has now recovered 5.8 per cent over the last five sessions, its longest winning streak in a year, since Raghuram Rajan took over as the central bank chief on September 4 and unveiled a raft of steps including allowing banks to borrow more overseas and offering a concessional swap facility to banks to raise deposits from overseas Indians. (Read: Why Raghuram Rajan says analysts are like Indian cricket fans)
Thursday's gains came on the back of dollar weakness, which remained under pressure on growing expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve's impending stimulus reduction might be smaller than some had believed.
The Federal Open Market Committee meets next Tuesday and Wednesday. While it is still widely expected to begin scaling back its $85 billion monthly asset-buying programme, Friday's disappointing jobs data prompted many to believe the reduction will be more modest than some had previously expected.
A Reuters survey earlier this week showed most economists see the U.S. central bank trimming its asset purchases by about $10 billion.
Avinnash Gorakssakar, head (research) at miintdirect.com told NDTV that for now the scare that the rupee may hit 71-72 per dollar might not materialise.
"August trade data has given hopes that exports are picking up. That will help in curtailing the current account deficit and will be positive for the rupee," he added.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have resumed buying shares in the spot markets, which has boosted sentiments.
However, stock markets traded lower today after five days of rally led to an over 10 per cent gains in the benchmark indices.
The BSE Sensex was down 0.5 per cent or around 100 points at 19,899, while the Nifty traded 26 points lower at 5,887. The rupee traded off the day's high at 63.16 as of 09.30 a.m.
Source:- profit.ndtv.com
Cumulative holding of group of shareholders and not of each shareholder is considered for SEBI's tak
Sec. 245 should be adhered to strictly before adjustment of refund against demand; CBDT directs its
Corporate guarantees under approval route if Indian Party holds 'indirectly' 51% stake in its overse
Limit on banks to borrow funds from overseas market enhanced to 100% of capital with upper limit of
Interest on loan given to AEs to be benchmarked on LIBOR rates and not on domestic prime lending rat
Enduring benefit won't label an exp. as capital exp. if it just facilitates trading operations
Exemption granted to services provided by National Skill Development Corporation or its affiliates
Prior to 1-4-2001, construction services for expansion of plant were eligible for input service cred
HC overruled sec. 69B additions as discrepancies in financials were duly explained and rectified
If money or shares didn't exchange hands in a transaction, consequent losses therefrom are 'speculat
Writ not maintainable against SEBI in case of denial of operation of demat account by depository
Dividend isn't includible in denominator for determining prorated credit under Cenvat Credit Rule 6(
CIT exercised revisionary powers as assertion of assessee wasn't backed by vouchers, yet it was acce
Income tax returns: Disclosure of yachts and more aimed at plugging wealth tax evasion
Rich business persons gearing up to file their income tax returns for fiscal 2013 by the due date of September 30 find themselves saddled with additional disclosure requirements. They are required to disclose assets — both immovable and movable — held in India in personal capacity as of March 31, 2013. Individuals with taxable income of more than Rs 25 lakh from business or profession (they could be sole proprietors or partners in a firm) have to file their returns in ITR Form 3 or 4. If such assets are held by the proprietary concern or the firm and reflected in its financial statements, no such disclosure is required. Collection of assets details via I-T returns is being perceived as an attempt to bridge this gap. "The I-T Act has inbuilt checks like compulsory quoting of PAN in various transactions and also the mechanism of deduction of tax at source. However, there is no absolute method for collection of data for wealth tax purposes . Disclosures in I-T returns will help collect such data," explains Dilip B DesaiBSE -4.96 %, vice-chairman, DH Consultants. For businessmen and professionals who have to make such disclosures, it does entail more administrative work, followed by perhaps attending to inquiries by the tax department. |
RBI/2013-14/241 A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 41 dated 10-09-2013
RBI/2013-14/241
A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 41
September 10, 2013
To
All Category - I Authorised Dealer Banks
Madam/ Sir,
Overseas Direct Investment – Amendment
Attention of the Authorised Dealer (AD - Category I) banks is invited to para 2(iv)(b) of A. P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 69 dated May 27, 2011 on Overseas Direct Investment – Liberalization / Rationalization, which reads as under:
“(b) Further, it has also been decided that issue of corporate guarantee on behalf of second generation or subsequent level step down operating subsidiaries will be considered under the Approval Route, provided the Indian Party directly or indirectly holds 51 per cent or more stake in the overseas subsidiary for which such guarantee is intended to be issued.”
- The contents of the paragraph are amended to read as under:
“(b) Further, it has also been decided that issue of corporate guarantee on behalf of second generation or subsequent level step down operating subsidiaries will be considered under the Approval Route, provided the Indian Party indirectly holds 51 per cent or more stake in the overseas subsidiary for which such guarantee is intended to be issued.”
- All other contents of the A. P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 69 dated May 27, 2011 shall remain un-changed.
- AD - Category I banks may bring the contents of this circular to the notice of their constituents and customers concerned.
- The directions contained in this circular have been issued under Sections 10(4) and 11(1) of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 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