Sunday 5 January 2014

TDS provisions won't get attracted on payer if it made payments without claiming them as expenditure

IT: Once assessee has not claimed expenditure qua reimbursement of expenses, assessee is not liable to deduct tax at source


Mere reimbursement of inspection charges by customers are not includible in assessable value

Excise/Customs : Third party additional inspection charges incurred by assessee on behalf of their customers and, subsequently, reimbursed to them by their customers are not includible in assessable value of excisable goods


ITAT rightly deleted additions as assessee reconciled sales figure as per TDS certificate with books

IT: Where Tribunal deleted addition made by Assessing Officer taking a view that assessee had been able to reconcile sales figures appearing in TDS certificate with those recorded in books of account, said finding of Tribunal being a finding of fact, no substantial question of law arose therefrom


Goods aren't liable to confiscation merely on non-fulfilment of export obligation under EPCG Scheme

Excise & Customs : Where notification relating to EPCG scheme itself provides that, in event of non-fulfilment of export obligation, importer has to pay duty and interest, such non-fulfilment of export obligation cannot amount to violation of conditions of notification so as to render goods liable to confiscation


Higher Supply, Export Demand Likely To Keep Cotton Price Firm

Cotton ticked higher on Friday, supported by a weaker dollar and falls in stockpiles, but still posted its biggest monthly loss since June on expectations of growing supply and tepid demand going forward.



Cotton prices have bottomed out and are expected to remain moderately firm in January. However, profit booking at higher levels is likely to keep prices under check.



Cotton prices have been sliding since June last year. In May, kapas prices in the futures market were around Rs 1,100 per 20 kg lot. Similar to other kharif crops, a bearish trend has been prevailing on the cotton counter due to good monsoons.



Reports about better sowing activity started pulling down prices in June. Gujarat reported 10 per cent rise in sowing and all the other cotton-producing states also got better rainfall compared with 2012-13. In August, the price was at Rs 950. Short covering saw price rise briefly to Rs 1,070 level, but by November, it came down to a low of Rs 905 in the futures market.



“Usually arrivals start by October and the market will wait for the prices to further cool down. The demand being low during November, the price came down to Rs 905 level. Usually cotton demand picks up after Diwali,” said Ajitesh Mullick, assistant vice-president for retail research at Religare Commodities.



As per November estimates of the Cotton Association of India, the country produced 38.5 million bales (a bale is 170 kg) of cotton in 2013-14 compared with 35.67 million bales in 2012-13. India consumes around 25 to 26 million bales of cotton, while the remaining stock is usually exported.



In the past few weeks, there have been reports about demand picking up in both domestic as well as export markets. According to market watchers, exporters have started receiving orders from China. However, there have been also reports about the Chinese government planning to end its cotton stockpiling. Much will depend on the policy decision of the Chinese government, as that country is a major importer of Indian cotton.



Further, arrivals came down in December after a fall in price in November as farmers held back their stocks expecting the price to rebound.



In the past few days, cotton price has bounced back from the November low. NCDEX kapas April contract quoted around Rs 1,020 last week. Kapas has support at Rs 950 and resistance of Rs 1,050.



“The price will remain moderately firm in the near term. However, there could be profit booking at higher levels and this will bring down the price slightly. If the US dollar gets stronger against the rupee, there could be good export demand for cotton. This can also firm up domestic price,” said Mullick.


Source:- mydigitalfc.com





Even advances given by trust to fulfil its objects to be deemed as application of income

IT: Where assessee-society was formed at instance of Government with object to create world class automotive testing, validation etc., advances given by assessee towards implementation of project had to be treated as application of income and not as an investment out of grant received by assessee


India’S Aim Break Ceylon Tea Monopoly In Russia Chairman, Indian Tea Association

Asia Siyaka Tea Market report last week quoted the Indian Tea Association’s (ITA) chairman as saying at the Annual General Meeting of the Association that Sri Lanka’s monopoly of the Russian market should be broken.



Chairman ITA Arun A. Singh said, ‘It is time to break the Sri Lanka monopoly of the Russian market. Exports to Russia ( of Indian teas) should increase in the days to come’.



The report further said an industry delegation led by the ITA and backed by the Indian Tea Board is expected to visit Russia in May this year to promote Indian tea and take a market share from rival exporter Sri Lanka.



We were unable to seek clarification on this emerging competing element, from the Sri Lanka Tea Board, but industry sources who declined to be quoted were somewhat sceotical in their assessment that this new development could affect the Ceylon Tea brand. They said the Russian pallet was more or less attuned to Ceylon Tea as their favourite beverage. Additionally, India absorbs most of the tea produced there.



Russia imports about 180,000 tonnes of tea annually. Sri Lanka accounts for about 30 percent of these imports. Indian tea absorption in the Russian market is about 25 percent. Singh further said Ceylon Tea on retailer shelves fetches around $ 5, whereas Indian tea sells at around $3 . 50



Singh further said, ‘While Darjeeling, Assam, Nilgiri, are household names worldwide the lesser known names, for instance, Dooar, Terai, and Cacher, should attract stronger promotion.’



He also said it was time they pursued other markets where Ceylon Tea was strong.He said Iran and some other Middle East markets should have greater market shares of Indian teas.



Sections among tea circles here were not quite certain how they would react faced with this new threat. They said the Colombo tea auctions did not reflect panic among buyers or shippers. The tea auctions, they said, were an indicating barometer of envisaged market trends.



Last week Colombo continued to record good prices. Low growns particularly had good demand. However Westerns, Nuwara Eliyas and Uda pusellawas did not fare so well. Although year end crop returns were not at hand, tea brokering sources said 2013 was a good year for Ceylon Tea.


Source:- island.lk





Thirty days period specified for filing complaint under Negotiable Instrument Act excludes default d

Negotiable Instruments Act : For purpose of calculating period of one month which is prescribed under section 142(b) of Negotiable Instrument Act, period has to be reckoned by excluding date on which cause of action arose


ITAT calls for exclusion of comparables in which high operating margin occurred due to extraordinary

IT/ILT : Where assessee had entered into international transactions with its associated enterprise and Commissioner (Appeals) selected certain companies as comparable to assessee for determination of ALP, since there was an extraordinary event which resulted in high operating profit margin of said companies, Assessing Officer was directed to exclude above comparable and re-work out arm's length margin


HC calls for collection of taxes like honeybee; reduces pre-deposit requirement realizing assessee's

GST : Where assessee has claimed financial crunch and also that competitors/opposite parties may close down business of assessee, requirement of pre-deposit much be reduced so that tax can be collected like a honeybee, without damaging flower itself


Petrorabigh Exports First Shipment From King Abdullah Port

Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical Company (PetroRabigh) on Sunday exported the first shipment of petrochemical products from King Abdullah Port, located at King Abdullah Economic City in Rabigh.




The shipment represents the first export operation of the port. The cargo, which consists of 54 containers of polymer material, was shipped on board a carrier heading to Singapore.


“The port is an important infrastructure investment which is, among other things, aligned with Saudi Arabia's strategy of developing downstream industries so as to drive value and job creation,” commented Jarmo T.


Kotilaine, a regional analyst.Abdullah bin Saleh Al-Suwailem, president and CEO of PetroRabigh, said: “The shipment is a significant step forward in the export operations of PetroRabigh products due to the proximity of the port to the headquarters of the company's operations.”

It would contribute to the reduction of logistics costs for freight, accessing global markets faster, and relieving congestion at Jeddah Islamic Port, he said in a statement to Arab News.




PetroRabigh processes up to 400,000 barrels per day of Arabian Light crude oil, and uses 1.2 million tons per year of ethane as feedstock to produce a variety of petrochemical products.


Source:- arabnews.com





Gold Is No Longer A Safe Investment

The crash in gold prices was one of the biggest shockers of 2013. A correction had already begun at the fag end of 2012, but prices really crashed in 2013, triggered by fears that the US Federal Reserve would scale down and do away with the economic stimulus.



However, Indian investors in gold were cusioned against the crash due to the fall in the rupee. As the dollar became costlier, gold continued to fetch a higher price in India. Besides, the government introduced certain measures that pushed up the domestic price of the metal. Import duty on gold was hiked from 2% to 10%, increasing the landed cost of gold. Quantitative restrictions were also imposed on gold imports, such as the RBI's 20:80 scheme, which mandates that 20% of imports need to be re-exported .



As a result of these measures, domestic prices of gold have receded by only 4.3%, compared to the 28% drop in global gold prices during 2013.



This gap in the price of gold has created an opportunity for 'legal smuggling' of the metal. NRIs returning to India after spending more than six months abroad are allowed to carry up to 1 kg of gold. Jewellers are using NRIs as carriers , even offering to pay for their air fare if they bring in gold for them. Even if they pay the import duty of 10% on bars and coins or 15% on jewellery, the arrangement works out to be profitable (see table).



The wide difference in the domestic and international prices of gold have led to another anamoly in the capital market. The market price of gold ETFs, which is based on the domestic price of the metal, is far higher than their NAVs, which is based on the landed cost of gold. The difference is as high as 10%.



Since gold has rallied for more than a decade now, most investors had begun to believe that gold prices can only go up. However, the crash in gold prices has shattered this myth, at least for the global investors. This explains why they are now dumping gold. The gold holdings in SPDR Gold Shares, the largest gold ETF in the world, have came down from 1,351 tonne at the end of 2012 to just 814 tonne now, a fall of around 40%.


Source:- timesofindia.indiatimes.com





Rupee Opens Lower At 62.35 As Dollar Strengthens On Fed Outlook

The Indian rupee on Monday opened lower at 62.35 per dollar against its Friday’s close of 62.15, as the US currency held steady, supported by an upbeat outlook on the US economy by outgoing Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke that fanned expectations of more stimulus reduction from the US central bank. .




The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 80.85, up 0.07% from the previous close of 80.79.




The yield on India’s 10-year benchmark bond was trading at 8.837%, compared with its Friday’s close of 8.837%.

At 9.08am, the domestic currency was trading at 62.37 per dollar, down 0.34% from previous close. India’s benchmark Sensex was trading at 20,913.79 points, up 0.3%.




The HSBC Services Purchasing Managers’ Index, compiled by Markit, will be out at 10.30am for December on Monday. The services PMI for November stood at 47.2.




Traders will be on the lookout for possible RBI intervention after talks that the central bank intervened in Friday trade to prop up the rupee gainst the dollar.Foreign funds were net sellers of $2.9 million in stocks on Friday, provisional exchange data showed.


Source:- livemint.com