IT : Since amendment in Finance Act, 2002 was not clarificatory but amendatory in nature, non-competition fee received under a negative covenant is taxable only with effect from 1-4-2003, and not retrospectively
Tuesday 28 January 2014
Institution teaching Arabic language was educational in nature even if it mandated reading of Quran
IT : Where assessee, running a college for Arabic language affiliated to Madras University, claimed exemption under section 10(23C)(iiiad), said claim could not be rejected merely on ground that its students had to pray daily along with religious leader and they had specific dress code accordingly to Islamic specifications
No reversal of Cenvat credit if no credit was taken on moulds cleared as waste or scrap
Cenvat Credit : Rule 3(5A) of CENVAT Credit Rules applies only if cenvated capital goods are cleared as waste/scrap; if no credit was taken on capital goods and credit was taken only in respect of inputs/input services used for making capital goods, no reversal is warranted on waste/scrap clearance of such capital goods
Korea Wants Duty Cuts For Auto, Machinery Exports To India
South Korea has demanded a deep cut in tariffs on its goods entering India, under the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, signed by the two countries in 2009 and taking effect from 2010.
The two governments had decided to revise the pace, during the recent visit here of South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye.
“We have been urging India to liberalise tariff duties, especially in automobiles, auto parts and Korean machinery. We want drastic reduction in this,” Dong Seok Choi, director-general, Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency, told Business Standard.
Talks for revising the pact are expected to begin by the middle of this year. The first round will be in Seoul, said Dong.
The Indian government has asked South Korea for greater market access for its information technology export, generic medicine and textiles. Dong said Korea was aware of these wishes.
India’s trade deficit with Korea rose from $5.1 billion in 2009-10 to $8.9 bn in 2012-13. The matter was raised by commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma with South Korean counterpart Yoon Sang-jick during a meeting here early this month.
On the pending approval for the $12-bn project in Odisha of Posco, the Korean steel giant, Dong said this would induce more Korean companies to invest. “Korean SMEs (small and medium enterprises) are very keen to do business here and Posco will give them a boost. Korea is also keen to invest in India, mainly in aerospace, ship building, construction and urban development,” he added.
He also said some Korean companies, such as Hyundai, Samsung and LG, had planned to expand in the country in the next couple of years. “Many Korean companies want to make India their research and development hub,” he said.
Source:- business-standard.com
India Adds 5% Duty On Iron Ore Exports Lme Steel Billet Improves
Looks as though India has “imposed a 5 percent duty on exports of iron ore pellets, taking yet another step in conserving the raw material for domestic steelmakers that has slashed its shipments to top market China,” reports Reuters.
“India already levies a 30 percent tax on exports of iron ore fines and lumps since December 2011. Along with mining and export curbs in key producing states Karnataka and Goa aimed at addressing illegal mining, the tariffs have helped cut India’s iron ore exports by around 85 percent, or 100 million tonnes, over the past two years.”
“Iron ore pellets had been exempted from any duty previously given negligible exports out of India.”
Strengthening prices ended a two-day flat streak as the steel billet cash price moved up by 4.3 percent on Monday, January 27 on the LME to $365.00 per metric ton. The 3-month price of steel billet rose by 1.4 percent on the LME to $360.00 per metric ton.
* Get the complete prices every day on the MetalMiner IndX
Chinese steel prices closed flat for the day. The price of iron ore 58% fines from India were range bound. The price of Chinese HRC showed little movement yesterday. Chinese coking coal held its value yesterday.
The US HRC futures contract 3-month price continues hovering around $629.00 per short ton for the fifth day in a row. The US HRC futures contract spot price remained essentially flat at $672.00 per short ton.
Source:- agmetalminer.com
Issues well-settled in favour of assessee can't be reopened subsequently on same grounds
IT : Where question as to deduction under section 80-IB(10) was squarely covered in favour of assessee for preceding assessment years, Assessing Officer could not reopen assessment on merit on same ground in succeeding assessment year
India Export Incentives Restored For Cotton Yarn
The temporary restoration of the Incremental Exports Incentivisation Scheme (IEIS) for Indian cotton yarn exporters will make local spinning more viable in 2014, an industry spokesman has said.
Under the IEIS, exporters earn credit amounting to 2% of the duty on annualised increases in exports over qualifying periods and for particular markets, and may either use this to import industry-related goods for themselves or sell the credit to another yarn manufacturer.
The industry believes central government's decision to withdraw the incentive in September last year was intended to discourage cotton yarn exports in favour of higher value-added finished textiles.Cotton yarn prices in the local market have been affected by the earlier decision.
"The prices of cotton yarn are not increasing in tandem with the rise in cotton prices in India," DK Nair, secretary-general of the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry, told just-style.
India's Directorate General of Foreign Trade has now restored the benefit from for the period from September 2013 to 31 March 2014.
"Since this year's exports of cotton yarn are going to be higher than the previous year, this will be beneficial to the exporters," Nair said.
With so little time remaining, the move may have only limited impact on Indian cotton yarn prices - but will help exporters "to cut their losses or improve profits," Nair added.
Source:- just-style.com
India Miscellaneous Chemical Products Exports Rise To Us$ 265.21 M In December- 2013 - Infodriveindia.Com
This finding is based on India Miscellaneous Chemical products export data of InfodriveIndia.com and is based on export shipping bills filed at Indian customs by exporters from India through December- 2013 at more than 170+ ports in India like JNPT, Bombay Air and Sea , Chennai Air & Sea , Delhi IGI Air, Delhi Tughlakhabad ICD, Delhi Patparganj, Kolkata Air and Sea, Bangalore Air and many more. InfodriveIndia.com India Miscellaneous Chemical products Export database is considered to be the most comprehensive, up-to-date and authentic information on India's foreign trade of Miscellaneous Chemical products.
According to Pradeep, Chief Research Associate of InfodriveIndia.com, compared to November 2013, a increase of USD 265.21 M in December- 2013 has been noticed. He further gives a analysis and break up of major product categories , major countries and major Indian ports under Miscellaneous Chemical products as follows :
A. Exports of Insecticides, Rodenticides, Fungicides, Herbicides, Anti-Sprouting products and Plant-Growth Regulators, Disinfectants and similar products has grew month on month basis by 28.3%.
Total value of exports in December- 2013 was 173.71 M, compared to November 2013 , there is a increase of 38.32 M in December- 2013, growth rate in percentage terms is 28.3%, the major destination countries were United States, Brazil, Germany, Belgium and France and major Indian ports were JNPT, Goa Sea, Vizag Sea, Madras Sea and Delhi TKD ICD.
B. Exports of Industrial Monocarboxylic Fatty Acids and Acid Oils from Refining has grew month on month basis by 47.55%.
Total value of exports in December- 2013 was 24.21 M, compared to November 2013 , there is a increase of 7.8 M in December- 2013, growth rate in percentage terms is 47.55%, the major destination countries were United States, Germany, Saudi arabia, China and Iran and major Indian ports were JNPT, Bombay Sea, Mundra, Thar Dry Port ICD/Ahmedabad Gujarat ICD and Ankleshwar.
C. Exports of Prepared Binders for Foundry Moulds or Cores Chemical products and Preparations of the Chemical has grew month on month basis by 29.02%.
Total value of exports in December- 2013 was 16.31 M, compared to November 2013 , there is a increase of 3.67 M in December- 2013, growth rate in percentage terms is 29.02%, the major destination countries were United States, United arab Emirates, Turkey, Germany and Indonesia and major Indian ports were JNPT, Mundra, Madras Sea, Calcutta Sea and Bombay Air.D. Exports of Reaction Initiators, Reaction Accelerators and Catalytic Preparations has grew month on month basis by 12.62%.
Total value of exports in December- 2013 was 11.56 M, compared to November 2013 , there is a increase of 1.3 M in December- 2013, growth rate in percentage terms is 12.62%, the major destination countries were United Kingdom, United States, Malaysia, Saudi arabia and Indonesia and major Indian ports were JNPT, Kanpur ICD, Cochin Sea, Madras Sea and Bombay Air.
Pradeep says that the above information is on major product categories, and users requiring detailed analysis and reports on their specific products can contact Sales team at InfodriveIndia.com with detailed description of their product, brand names and its uses.According to Pradeep, usually InfodriveIndia.com team delivers most of the projects within 3 working days.
InfodriveIndia.com analysis and research is done from export statistics from Indian customs which is based on export shipping bills filed at various ports, InfodriveIndia reporters collect this data from every Indian port, and InfodriveIndia database yields the most timely, accurate, comprehensive information available on trade through India Ports. Recently after a long and persistent lobbying with Indian Govt, InfodriveIndia.com has been able to release export import data almost on realtime basis, bringing the backlog time to just 3 days, compared to Govt sources which are around 6 months old. Another unique feature of InfodriveIndia.com database is unparalleled coverage of 110 ports in India.
InfodriveIndia.com is 16 year old market leader and primary source of India Export data in India. The India Import Export data bank, which is at the core of InfodriveIndia.com trade information services is unique and has been categorized by Harmonized system in over 25,000 product codes. InfodriveIndia researchers provide expert data analysis and interpretation tools, Charts, Pivot reports in MS Excel and detailed item wise records to support decision-marking for International Trade, understanding India export market, competitive intelligence and brand protection.
World's top market research companies, Export promotion councils, trade associations, domestic and foreign governments, and over 16,000 corporates from more than 65 countries rely on InfodriveIndia.com for meaningful export import trade intelligence to guide their International business strategies.
Source:-indiaprwire.com
Must Review Norms On Gold Import
Union commerce minister Anand Sharma said he was in favour of a review of the country's gold import regulations, and added that he would discuss the matter with finance minister P Chidambaram shortly.
While the finance minister has said that a review of the subject wouldn't be possible before the budget, Sharma said, "We will revisit this matter and see how to have a balance."
The All India Gems and Jewellery Trade Federation had earlier written to UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi demanding a reduction in import duty on gold to 2% from 10%. The industry body had also demanded relaxation of RBI's 80:20 rule on gold imports, wherein merchants have to re-export 20% of each gold consignment before placing orders for a fresh shipment.
This 80:20 rule resulted in lower bullion imports, which subsequently helped in lowering the country's ballooning current account deficit. Last week, Sonia Gandhi had requested the commerce ministry to look into the request of the gems and jewellery industry stakeholders.
"We have by and large gone with the revenue department and the RBI on the matter. We are equally keen to ensure that we remain strong and competitive in the gems and jewellery sector," Sharma said on the sidelines of the CII Partnership Summit 2014 in Bangalore.
Sharma also said the government was thinking of opening up the construction sector to FDI to re-energize economic activity in this sector, which is a large employer. "We are also looking at FDI in the railway sector," said Sharma. He said that in the last four years India had received FDI worth $176 billion.
Over 1,000 delegates from 45 countries are participating in the Confederation of Indian Industry's Partnership Summit 2014, being held in Bangalore from January 27 to 29. The summit will highlight investment opportunities in India and offer ideas for how a new class of consumers can become a new engine for growth. The theme of the event is 'Emerging global value chains: building partnerships'.
Source;- timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Pharmexcil To Hold Meeting With Gs1 India To Discuss Bar-Code Implementation For Mono Cartons
Aimed at dispelling the doubts and apprehensions of the industry over the bar-code implementation for mono cartons, the Pharmexcil is organising an interactive meeting with GS1 India to discuss the issue in detail. The meeting is scheduled to be held on February 6, 2014 at Orchid Hotel, in Mumbai.
Earlier the Director General of Foreign Trade (DFGT) under government of India had notified the mono cartons containing strips, vials, bottles as primary level packaging vide through a public Notice no 31 (RE-2013)/2009-2014, dated October 17, 2013. With regard to this, many companies have raised doubts and apprehensions over the issue and are seeking clarifications on the container to be considered as mono carton.
In view of this, the central government has directed GS1 India to review the status of mono carton for implementation of bar code system and asked it to discuss the issue with the industry stake holders and submit a report on the same.
“This meeting is mainly aimed at dispelling the doubts and apprehensions of the industry over the bar-coding implementation for mono cartons. Many of them wants to have clear view as to what kind of containers constitute mono cartons to be considered under primary packaging,” informed Raghuveer Kini, executive director, Pharmexcil.
Earlier last year in January, the DGFT had made it mandatory to have 2D bar coding for the secondary level of packaging. This is part of the DGFT's plan to have track and trace mechanisms at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels of packaging for all export products. The new regulations are aimed at safeguarding India's pharma exports from drug counterfeiters.
The major reason for implementing bar-coding is because India's pharma supply chain has been breached by the drug counterfeiter in the past. For example, in November 2011, counterfeit anti-malarial drugs with a 'Made in India' labels but actually originating from China, were seized by Nigerian port authorities. The loss of reputation resulting from this incident and other similar incidents resulted in the DGFT opting for track and traceability systems like bar-codes in the hope that counterfeiters would find it more difficult to infiltrate the pharma supply chain.
Even though the industry appreciates the rationale behind the DGFT's stance, over the past year, they have asked for and got extensions of the deadlines as smaller players were finding it difficult to arrange finances to put in place the 2D technology required for the secondary level of packaging.
In view of recent doubts among the industry players over the mono cartons for implementation of bar-coding, Pharmexcil is seeking industry members to participate in the meeting and get the necessary clarifications on implementation of trace and track system and also present their opinion on the status of mono carton.
Source:- pharmabiz.com
Rupee Closes At 62.52 Against Dollar
The rupee rose sharply against the dollar on Tuesday after foreign banks started selling the US currency following the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) third quarter monetary policy announcement.
The RBI on Tuesday hiked its key lending rate by a quarter of a percentage point, continuing its fight against inflation in Asia’s third-largest economy. RBI hiked the repo rate, at which it lends short-term funds to banks, to 8%. The apex bank retained the cash reserve ratio (CRR), or the amount of deposits banks needs to park with the central bank and on which they earn no interest, at 4%.
RBI governor Raghuram Rajan’s statement that the central bank is far from accepting Urjit Patel committee but is only looking at the suggestions, indicated that the central bank has not yet embraced an inflation targeting mandate, foreign exchange dealers said. Rajan also said the monetary policy could be more “accommodative” if inflation eases in the coming months.
“RBI’s statement that even in the face of a growth slowdown, it increased the rate to stem out inflation is a very strong and excellent external image to have,” said Arvind Sampath, head of treasury at Fullerton India Credit Co. Ltd.
“Some of the statements by the RBI governor assured the market that the policy rates could soften going forward and that the approach is very flexible. This is good for the market,” said a currency dealer of a foreign bank who did not want to be named.
Rajan’s statement suggesting that long-term debt investors remain committed to India if the RBI can bring down inflation to assuage these foreign investors was also seen as a positive for market sentiment, said currency dealers.
The domestic currency closed at 62.515 per dollar, up 0.94% from the previous close of 63.10. The unit had opened at 63.18 per dollar and strengthened as much as 62.505 per dollar.The yield on India’s 10-year benchmark bond ended at 8.751% as compared with its previous close of 8.768%.
Source:- livemint.com
TPO can't count upon multiple year's data of comparables under TNMM if their current year's data is
IT/ILT : TPO cannot determine arms length price under TNM method by relying upon multiple year data where current year data of comparable companies are available on public domain
Insurance of capital goods and inventories are eligible for input service credit
Cenvat Credit : Insurance services in relation to insurance cover of plant and machinery (viz. capital goods) and inventories are eligible for input service credit
No abuse of dominant position if party fails to provide evidences to show anti-competitive practices
Competition Act : Where there was no evidence to show that opposite party or other glass manufacturers were using their market power to eliminate processors from market, no case of contravention of provisions of section 4 was made out against OP
In The House, A Little Quid Pro Coal?
Coal is down but not out thanks in part to a pro-coal rider passed in the omnibus spending bill [pdf]. Are we looking at pro-export policy or just a little mutual back-scratching.The Bluegrass State’s coal industry has been singing the blues of late, but they’ve been handed a small victory courtesy of Representative Hal Rogers (R-KY), who, surprise, surprise, has the coal industry to thank for filling his election coffers.
When it comes King Coal in the United States, Wyoming and West Virginia are at the top, responsible for 39 and 12 percent of total coal production, respectively. But at nine percent, Kentucky is right behind.
And it’s not just about production. In 2012, a whopping 92 percent of Kentucky’s net electricity generation came from coal-fired power plants.*
Little surprise, then, that the majority of Kentucky’s congressional delegation is staunchly pro-coal (see here and here) — some might even say that the coal industry has them in its back pocket hoping to find a bit of largess in the form of spare change. And that is where our tale begins.
As has been documented in TheGreenGrok, King Coal’s seat on the throne of the U.S. energy kingdom has been a bit wobbly of late. U.S. coal production has been declining; in Kentucky production over the first three quarters of 2013 was down by 13 percent [pdf] relative to 2012. While coal consumption increased a bit in 2013, the net trend has been decidedly negative since 2011 [pdf]. And then there are the jobs — mines in 2012 employed fewer workers than in 2011, and Kentucky lost more mining jobs than any other state — shedding 2,283 employees [pdf] .
Many of those who would like to see coal maintain its kingly position blame Obama and his so-called “war on coal” for this turn of events. While it’s certainly true that his administration’s promulgation of standards on mercury emissions is not helping the coal industry — and the proposed regulations on carbon dioxide emissions from new power plants won’t cause coal’s profits to rise either — most experts agree that the real reason for King Coal’s fall is economic: the unexpected glut of natural gas from fracking has lowered its price making it competitive with coal.
And, to be fair, it should be pointed out that if the regulations being promulgated by the Obama administration are a war on something, that something is more accurately characterized as pollution, not coal.
Unfortunately for the king, coal happens to be the dirtiest of the fossil fuels, and is almost by necessity going to be placed at a disadvantage when the environment and people’s health are priorities. Given the stalemate in Congress, Obama’s only recourse to protect the environment, save lives, and slow climate change is to promulgate the regulations that the coal industry finds anathema. As they say: “It ain’t personal.”
A sign of coal’s decline can be seen in what’s been going on at the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA).Time was, four out of every five watts of electricity generated by TVA came from burning coal. Today it’s less than half.
And in November, to add insult to injury, TVA announced it was shuttering eight plants, six in Alabama and two in Kentucky — much to the chagrin of the Kentucky congressional delegation, including Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who wrote a note of protest [pdf] warning of job losses.
But TVA President Bill Johnson wouldn’t budge, explaining his decision like so: “our objective is to make the best decision for the entire region, and that’s what we did.”
But it hasn’t been all bad news for coal; while U.S. production and consumption have slipped, U.S. exports are on the rise. And quite spectacularly so: between 2009 and 2012, exports doubled.** Part of that increase reflects growing markets for mostly metallurgical coal in China, South Korea, and India, but by far the largest share is shipped to Europe.
In January 2010, Obama committed the United States to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent relative to 2005 by 2020 in the Copenhagen Accord. And it’s a bit surprising but we’re not all that far off from meeting that goal despite the lack of any significant national climate legislation. Unfortunately the same cannot be said of global emissions. And the United States may be reversing its trend too — emissions ticked upward in 2013.
Last October the Treasury Department issued new guidelines that seemed to reflect a concern about growing greenhouse gas emissions from other countries. These guidelines will limit U.S. bankrolling of the building of new coal-fired power plants abroad. Projects in all but the poorest countries must use carbon capture and storage to get U.S. funding under these guidelines — that is, they must meet the same greenhouse gas emissions standards that apply to domestic plants.
Rogers was most definitely not happy. Noting that “coal exports are just about the only bright light in the coal business these days,” he predicted that the new guidelines “obviously would curtail a lot of coal exports.” That may be obvious to Rogers, but to me, that seems a bit of a stretch. For one, just because the United States doesn’t finance a new power plant doesn’t mean the plant, when it is operational, won’t buy its coal from the United States. Secondly, most U.S. coal exports are metallurgical and are not used in power plants anyway.
Still, Rogers decided, true to his cause, to do something about those nasty export-killing guidelines. That something turned out to be placing a rider on the congressional omnibus spending bill [pdf], the tried and true method for legislators to get their special interest legislation through Congress under the radar. (See here, here and here.) The bill passed on January 16, and as TheHill.com reports:
“Rogers made sure the bill contains several crucial pro-coal riders that help out one of Kentucky’s primary industries. The bill stops administration plans to curtail Export-Import Bank and Overseas Private Investment Corporation financial help for coal plants overseas.”
So, chalk one up for King Coal, no doubt Rogers’ rider will mean a considerable chunk of extra change in coal’s coffers. But you can also chalk one up for Rogers and his coffers. Coal interests have given him quite a bit of money over the years, and Rogers’ latest exploit should keep the contributions flowing.
Source:- energyblog.nationalgeographic.com
Tractor-trailer is 'goods carriage' and not tractor for service-tax purposes
Service Tax : Though 'tractor-trailer' cannot carry any goods as such but, since it is adapted for carrying goods as counter-weight when trailer is carried, it became a 'goods carriage' for taxation purposes; more so, as it was registered under RTO as 'goods carriage' and taxation authorities cannot go behind registration certificate
Provision for AMC charges equivalent to actual payment in next year was an allowable expenditure
IT : Where assessee made payment to maintenance agency at end of year on basis of actual consumption of electricity, provision made was to be allowed under section 37
Co's inability to arrange funds due to losses would tantamount to commercial insolvency; HC orders i
CL : Where in response to notice issued by petitioner-company to respondent to repay amount of inter-corporate loan, respondent-company admitted its liability to pay loan, however, it was unable to arrange for funds due to incurring of huge losses, a case of commercial insolvency of respondent-company was made out and, thus, petition seeking its winding up was to be allowed
ITAT deletes concealment penalty on disclosure by assessee about his past income and payment of taxe
IT : Where assessee admits undisclosed income for earlier years which had ended prior to date of search under section 132(4) and also specifies manner in which such income had been derived, and thereafter pays tax on that undisclosed income with interest, such undisclosed income would get immunized from levy of penalty
Share application money received by a co. can't be taxed as deemed dividend if it isn't a registered
IT : Where assessee-company received share application money from another company, in view of fact that assessee was not a registered shareholder of said company, amount in question could not be taxed as deemed dividend in its hands
Goods in transit being inter-State sales to be accompanied by prescribed form; non-compliance attrac
CST & VAT : Whether goods are put in movement under local sales, imports, exports or inter-State transactions, they are goods in movement, therefore, they have to be supported by requisite declaration under Rajasthan Sales Tax Act, failing which penalty is leviable
Payment made to repossess property from tenant is capital in nature; eligible for depreciation
IT: Where relevant lease agreements, bills for purchase of assets, inspection reports, insurance papers, etc., were produced, sale and lease back transactions could not be treated as sham so as to deny depreciation thereon
Assessee to file separate appeal against assessment order even if it was incidental to writ decided
IT: Where primarily assessee had challenged vires of section 143(1)(a), which had been affirmed, challenge to assessment order being only incidental, assessee should avail its alternative remedy of filing appeal
Cricket Association not to loose its registration merely on receipt of its share in broadcasting rig
IT : Where assessee cricket board arranged international matches and received share in broadcasting right and advertisement sales from its apex body BCCI, under section 12AA(3) Commissioner could not cancel its registration by invoking first proviso to section 2(15)
Appeal lies to HC for every order passed by Tribunal 'in appeal' and not against its revisional orde
CST & VAT : An appeal lies to High Court from every order "passed in appeal" by Tribunal and not against order "passed in revision"; therefore, order passed in revision by Gujarat VAT Tribunal were held non-appealable before High Court with liberty to approach by way of writs under Constitution
SC: Respondent couldn't be prosecuted for cheque dishonour if petitioner rejected its offer to clear
Negotiable Instruments Act : If offer of respondent to pay amount of cheque which had been dishonoured along with interest was not acceptable to complainant, it was complainant's choice but that would not allow it to prosecute respondent in pursuance to complaint which it had lodged for dishonour of cheque
PANs are issued without de-facto verification, these can’t solely divulge real identity of individua
IT : PANs are issued without de-facto verification, these can't solely divulge real identity of individual: Delhi HC
Mumbai ITAT advocates for disallowance under sec. 14A even if no exempt income is actually earned
IT : Where income, whether it is actually earned or not, is not includible in total income corresponding expenditure has to be disallowed
A person publishing a false brochure aiding importer to evade duty is abettor in smuggling: HC slaps
Excise & Customs : Where an indenter had published a false brochure to enable importer in evading duty by misdeclaration of goods, such indenter was abettor of act of smuggling and was liable to penalty under section 112 equal to that levied on principal offender
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