Mere non-filling of bill number and date in Form ST-18A won't invite penalty

CST & VAT : Mere not filling in invoice number and date in Form ST-18A will not fall in category of 'material particulars' for levy of penalty

HC dismisses appeal against composite order as none of the assessees had minimum tax effect

IT : Where revenue filed composite appeals dealing with different assessees for different periods but in none of cases tax effect was higher than stipulated minimum threshold level, none of appeals would be maintainable

Mere non-filling of bill number and date in From ST-18A won't invite penalty

CST & VAT : Mere not filling in invoice number and date in Form ST-18A will not fall in category of 'material particulars' for levy of penalty

Assessment couldn't be reopened on basis of investigation report as it would amount to change of opi

IT : Where Assessing Officer completed original assessment of assessee for assessment year 2005-06 under section 143(3) on 24-12-2007 and subsequently he issued on assessee a notice for reassessment on basis of investigation report dated 13-3-2006 received from investigation wing, since reasons to believe did not state that investigation report was not with Assessing Officer when he completed original assessment, attempt to reopen assessment was result of a change of opinion

HC allowed wastage claimed by assessee as no doubt was casted on entries in stock register maintaine

IT : Where assessee was engaged in manufacture of pins and steel bars and in assessment year 1990-91 it claimed wastage at 2.7 per cent and Tribunal allowed wastage at 2 per cent, when even slightest doubt had not been expressed with regard to genuineness of entries in stock register as also in other books of account of assessee, Tribunal was not correct in allowing wastage at 2 per cent instead of 2.7 per cent

Acknowledgment of resignation put in by director makes mandatory filing of Form 32 by Co. with ROC

CL: Where director had already tendered his resignation which was accepted by company and no notice of Board meeting was given to him thereafter nor any salary was paid, Form 32 should have been filed with RoC declaring his resignation

Cenvat Credit Rules levying penalties in terms of sec. 11AC of Excise Act are valid and intra-vires

Cenvat Credit : Rule 15(2) of CENVAT Credit Rules, 2004 and 13(2) of CENVAT Credit Rules, 2002 providing for penalty in terms of section 11AC (in case of fraud, collusion, etc.) is valid and within rule-making power of Central Government

Acknowledgment of resignation put in by director makes mandatory filing of From 32 by Co. with ROC

CL: Where director had already tendered his resignation which was accepted by company and no notice of Board meeting was given to him thereafter nor any salary was paid, Form 32 should have been filed with RoC declaring his resignation

CIT(A) couldn't cast TDS burden on foreign co. on purchase of Indian shares unless payment was taxab

IT/ILT : Where assessee, a French company, purchased shares of an Indian company from NRIs, Assessing Officer without ascertaining as to whether amount so paid was chargeable to tax in India, could not conclude that assessee was liable to deduct tax at source while making said payments

Over 14,000 Mw Hydro Power Capacity Is Under Execution: Central Electricity

Over 14,000 MW of hydro power capacity is under execution in the country and would be commissioned in the next four years, according to the Central Electricity Authority (CEA).

As many as 40 projects are under various stages of implementation in the country which will be commissioned by 2018, the CEA data showed. The projects are being developed by the central and state governments and also by the private sector. The central government is constructing projects with over 7,500 MW capacity which include five projects of NHPC and three of NTPC.

Country's largest hydro power producer NHPC is setting up 330 MW Kishanganga (Jammu & Kashmir), 800 MW Parbati II and 520 MW Parbati III (Himachal Pradesh), 160 MW Teesta Lower (Sikkim) and 2,000 MW Subansiri (Arunachal Pradesh).

Another state-owned firm NTPC, which is primarily engaged in thermal power generation, has also diversified into hydel generation and is executing three - 800 MW Koldam (Himachal Pradesh), 520 MW Tapovan Vishnugad (Uttarakhand), 171 MW Lata Tapovan (Uttarakhand) projects. NEEPCO ( North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Limited) is also building three hydel projects 600 MW Kameng and 110 MW Pare in Arunachal Pradesh and 60 MW Tuirial in Mizoram.

Over 2,000 MW hydel capacity is being added by the state power generation companies with Himachal Pradesh contributing a lion's share of 956 MW. Six hydel plants in the state are in various stages of execution and will be commissioned by 2018.

Private sector projects will contribute over 4,500 MW capacity from hydro power projects in the next four years. As many as 18 hydel plants are being constructed by private players such as GMR, GVK, Lanco etc. At present, hydro power contributes over 17 per cent or 39,788 MW to the country's total installed capacity of 2,28,722 MW.

Source:- economictimes.indiatimes.com

Flour Producers Want Alleged Dumping Practices Probed

Domestic wheat flour producers have demanded that the Indonesian Anti-Dumping Committee (KADI) probe alleged dumping practices by foreign players in the local market.



The Indonesian Flour Mills Association (Aptindo) filed a petition demanding a probe after realizing that the volume of cheap

imported wheat flour on the local market had increased over the past three years.



The price difference between locally milled and imported flour can reach up to 40 percent, according to the business group’s estimate.



“The significant price margin has resulted in losses in the domestic industry, with some companies seeing declining profit,” Aptindo chairman Fransiscus Welirang told reporters after a meeting with Industry Minister MS Hidayat on Monday.



Once the anti-dumping committee agrees to follow up on the petition, an investigation could affect three countries, namely India, Turkey and Sri Lanka. These countries represent 85.9 percent of wheat flour imports, which reached 205,447 tons last year.



The move could lead to the imposition of temporary anti-dumping duties on imported flour should preliminary evidence of dumping practices be found.



In a recent move, the Trade Ministry announced it would set an import quota on wheat flour totaling 441,141 tons for early May to December.



The quota, which is a safeguard measure against the influx of imported wheat flour, was recommended by the Indonesian Trade Safeguard Committee (KPPI) following a thorough investigation into the case.



Based on KPPI findings, an influx of wheat flour imports has caused considerable damage to local producers represented by four companies — PT Panganmas, PT Lumbung Nasional, PT Golden Grand Mill and PT Berkat Indah Gemilang.



Fransiscus, however, said the impact of the safeguard measure would not be significant enough to help some newly established companies that were struggling with tighter competition resulting from surging imports.



“The quota is still too high and will have a negative impact on new mills,” he explained.



Indonesia saw its consumption of wheat flour, a basic ingredient in noodles and cookies, rise 3 percent to 5.3 million tons last year from 2012.



The needs were mostly met by 29 mills nationwide with total production capacity of 9.7 million tons each year. The remainder was imported.



This year, the country expects sizeable new investments in the construction of five flour mills. The planned mills will be owned by PT Cerestar (located in Medan, North Sumatra, and Gresik, East Java), PT Bungasari (Cilegon, West Java), PT Mayora (Cilegon) and PT Wilmar (Gresik).



In response to the petition, the Industry Ministry’s director general for agriculture-based industry, Panggah Susanto, said an investigation would be necessary to assess the real condition in the market.



He added that unfair imports could hamper the domestic industry in achieving its full potential as it had lost its competitive edge.



“Utilization of the overall production capacity is 60 percent. We could push up this rate to a higher level with a more conducive business environment,” he added.

Source:- thejakartapost.com

When adjudication for misclassification is pending, provisional release must be with reasonable cond

Excise & Customs: When adjudication as to charges of misclassification, misdeclaration and under-valuation is still pending, assessee's claim for provisional release of goods must be considered along with a reasonable condition

Update 1-India 2013/14 Sugar Export Deals Total 1.4 Mln T, May Miss Target

April 15 (Reuters) - India has sealed deals to export 1.4 million tonnes of sugar so far in the season that began in October but is likely to miss its target of selling 2 million tonnes on the world market, an industry body chief said on Tuesday.

Export deals have ground to a halt of late because of a sharp rise in local prices, after a long spell of free-fall, and unattractive global rates.

"In my view, our exports will be somewhere around 1.8 million tonnes, lower than our expectation of at least 2 million tonnes for this year. There have been no export deals in the last 15 days," Abinash Verma, director general of the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), told Reuters.

Mills have exported 800,000 tonnes of raws and 650,000 tonnes of whites since October.

India, the world's biggest sugar producer after Brazil, is bracing for another surplus output this season, the fourth straight year of production exceeding demand.

Higher output in the past few years led to a slump in prices that dropped below the cost of production, prompting mills to request the government to give incentives to boost exports and trim bulging stocks at home.

In February the government agreed to give 3,300 rupees ($54.79) a tonne subsidy for raw sugar production meant for exports.

India traditionally produces white sugar but a global glut made shipments of whites difficult. Instead, a rise in sugar refining capacity in Asia and Africa gave Indian mills an opportunity to export raws.

"The decision to give the incentive came too late and I do not see any large-scale export deals taking place now since we are in April," said Verma.

Although the sugar season runs from October to September, cane crushing begins to taper off by April. As a result, mills sign the bulk of their export deals before April by when overseas sales start winding down.

"Our prices were continuously falling for the last 14-16 months. The fall got more pronounced in the past 6 months but things are now slightly better," said Verma.

PRICES PICKING UP

Local sugar prices hit a 14-1/2 month high on April 4, thanks to the summer season when demand for ice creams and soft drinks picks up. The election campaign has also propped up prices.

"With prices finally looking attractive here in India, I believe any major export deal will happen only if global prices jump to 18.5 cents per pound," Verma said.

On Monday, benchmark prices in New York slipped to their weakest since late February due to renewed concerns on oversupply from Brail and Thailand.

Reuters analyst Wang Tao believes prices in New York could fall to 16.30 cents per lb, as it has broken below support of 16.68 cents.

Allaying fears that forecasts of the El Nino weather pattern could cut cane acreage, Verma said cane area is likely to remain at the previous year's level because the crop is largely grown on irrigated areas.

But yield could be hit if monsoon rains turn patchy, failing to replenish reservoirs.

India, also the world's biggest sugar consumer, is poised to produce 23.8 million tonnes of the sweetener in the 2013/14 season, lower than 25.1 million tonnes in the previous year but higher than annual demand of about 23 million tonnes.

On Oct. 1, 2013 when the current season began, the country had 8 million tonnes of carryover stocks from the previous season. ($1 = 60.23 rupees).

Source:- in.reuters.com

New Foreign Trade Policy To Focus On Services Exports, Branding Of Products

Faced with subdued export performance, the new foreign trade policy (FTP) is expected to focus on wide range of issues including services sector shipments, standards and branding of products.

The five-year foreign trade policy (2009-14) ended on March 31. The policy for the period 2014-19 is expected to be announced by the new government in June.

India's exports in the last three years have been hovering around $300 billion and now there is a need to boost it further and enhance its contribution in the world trade, an official said.

"The new FTP would focus on enhancing services exports, standards and branding of products to promote exports of specific products in specific geographies. The policy may review the current schemes which are not in compliance with the WTO norms," the official told PTI.

According to international rules, India cannot provide export subsidies to a sector if outbound shipments from that particular segment crosses 3.5 per cent share in the global market.

Citing example of textiles, an industry source said the sector is reported to have crossed the 3.5 per cent share in the global market on certain point of time and now India would not be able to provide export subsidies to the sector.

The exercise to formulate the policy is already on and the Director General of Foreign Trade is consulting all stakeholders for this.

All exports- and imports-related activities are governed by the FTP. It mainly aims at enhancing the country's exports and use trade expansion as an effective instrument of economic growth and employment generation.

Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) Director General & CEO Ajay Sahai said that the Commerce Ministry has been suggested to focus more on export of services and hi-tech products in the new policy.

"The FTP should look beyond the conventional method of exports. It should focus on areas like high-tech items, branding of products in the global market and new strategy for marketing," Sahai added.

Commerce Secretary Rajeev Kher recently said till now the role of FTP was essentially to identify some instruments to promote exports but now we are trying to contextualised the policy instruments and that is very important.

India's exports in 2013-14 fall short of the $325 billion target and managed to reach $312.35 billion. The country's exports stood at $300.4 billion in 2012-13 and $307 billion in 2011-12.

The services sector contributes about 55 per cent to the country's gross domestic product. During April-October period, services exports were worth $113.28 billion.

Kher also said that there was a need to create an environment where India start talking about services exports as an element of priority. India's share in global trade is about 2 per cent.

Source:- businesstoday.intoday.in

India Likely To Ease Gold Import Duties As Cad Narrows To $138.59 Billion

As trade deficit shortens, India feels no bad to ease its gold import duties. According to government report, the import of gold and silver plunged 40% to $33.46 billion in 2013-14 whereas it was $55.79 billion in 2012-13. It is said that a spiky cut in gold and silver imports has narrowed the trade gap to $138.59 billion from $190.33 billion.

According to Bimal Jalan, former governor with India's central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), India’s current account deficit (CAD) is cozy enough to lessen the gold import duties. He said that though the current situation is comfortable, demand issues and exchange rate issues may pose threat to the current low CAD situation. The investment should be encouraged in real assets not in gold, he added.

He stated that the precious metal imports had decreased from $7.7 billion in May 2013, to $1.4 billion in January this year. However, the monthly run rate of gold imports has remained above $5 billion since January 2012.

The former governor mentioned that specified the current low price of gold, if imports of gold bound by 20% to 25% in the future, it would not affect India's CAD. Though the government tries to switch investment to other assets, it cannot avoid the public demand for more gold.

According to Sanjay Budhia, chairman of the Confederation of Indian Industry, India has lost its export target of $325 billion for this fiscal, as currently it stands at $312 billion. The real cause behind the deceleration in exports were the control over the gold imports, coupled with its direct impact on the jewellery export, exchange rate volatility and a steep hike in global oil prices. The monetary atmosphere in the US and Euro Zone is not very favorable for exports, he added.

As per the report from the Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council, the gold jewellery exports from April 2013 to February 2014 slipped 45.6% to $6.35 billion. However, the exports of gold jewellery rose 1.04% in February for the first time in fiscal 2013-14.

Source:- metal.com

Indian Auto Component Makers Facing Heat From Cheaper Imports

Business standard reported that the rising share of imports from South Asian countries, especially China, in the auto-component after market has started to worry local component manufacturers.

Industry insiders said that in certain segments like small bearings, the Chinese components have managed to garner a market share of about 40%, while the overall share in the component aftermarket is around 20%.

A recent Crisil report highlights that the imports are mainly coming from China, South Korea, Thailand and Taiwan.

It said that "Asian auto-component makers have increased their share of Indian spoils, while those from Europe have clocked a decline, imports from Asian countries, especially China, have been rising for the simple reason they make it cheaper. The extent of cost competitiveness ranges from 20% for low-value parts (plastic components, springs and fasteners) to about 50% for critical ones such as pistons and other engine components."

As per Crisil, the reasons behind China's success in exporting parts to India are, greater scale, lower capex costs and better availability of raw materials. "Scale is substantially greater. In the case of certain components, the capacity of some Chinese players is more than 10 times the average of Indian manufacturers. Capex costs are lower because of local availability of tools/dies/equipment and relatively lower levels of automation. Industry sources said that Chinese companies set up facilities to make some engine components at less than a third of what it costs in India. While Indian auto-component makers import several grades of steel and aluminium,for Chinese companies, their local availability improves cost efficiencies."

Some of the Rajkot-based component makers pointed out that Chinese components are indeed capturing a sizeable chunk of the local replacement parts market.

Mr Vinnie Mehta executive director of Automotive Component Manufacturers Association said that while imports from countries like Germany, Japan and Korea happen as several of the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) who have parent companies in these countries do import components from these nations. Mr Mehta said that "However, there is no Chinese OEM present in the Indian market. Even then, the imports from the country is on the rise, and currently constitutes nearly 20% of our net component imports. It indeed is a cause of concern.”

Mr Mehta said that with wage rates in China going up and its economy slowing down, Indian component makers should seize the opportunity and enter the Chinese market. He said that "There would be significant entry barriers. However, several of the Chinese OEMs have joint ventures with global companies that have a presence in India. Indian component makers can explore their relationships with these companies to make an entry into the Chinese market. However, as there is a huge mandate by the Chinese government to focus on localisation, Indian companies might have to set up base in China to capture the market."

Source:- steelguru.com

India's Vegetable Oil Imports Decline 6% In March

The country's vegetable oil imports fell by 6% to 8.35 lakh tonnes in March due to a continuous fall in shipments of palm oil, industry body SEA said today.

Vegetable oil imports stood at 8.89 lakh tonnes in the same month of the previous year, it said in a statement.

India meets about 60% of its annual vegetable oil demand of 17-18 million tonnes via imports. Palm oils make up 80% of the country's total vegetable oil imports.

"Indian refiners prefer to import crude soft oils over crude palm oil (CPO), which reflected in pattern of import in last few months," Solvent Extractors Association (SEA) said.

Palm oil imports have fallen by 23% to 5.45 lakh tonnes in March this year from 7.08 lakh tonnes in the year-ago period.

Among palm oils, crude palm oil (CPO) shipments declined by 24% to 4.24 lakh tonnes from 5.58 lakh tonnes.

Interestingly, import of refined crude variant (RBD palmolein) which remained higher in last few months owing to lower prices as compared to CPO, fell marginally to 1.12 lakh tonnes in March this year, from 1.37 lakh tonnes in the same month last year.

According to SEA, import of non-edible oils fell sharply to 2,499 tonnes in March this year, as compared to 38,509 tonnes in the year-ago period.

As on April 1, edible oils stock at various ports is estimated at 6.30 lakh tonnes, of which CPO was 4.9 lakh tonnes. About 7.1 lakh tonnes of edible oil is in the pipeline.

Total stock of vegetable oils both at ports and in the pipelines has reduced to 12 lakh tonnes from 12.45 lakh tonnes in the year-ago period.

During the November-March period of 2013-14 marketing year, total palm oil imports have fallen to 22.73 lakh tonnes, as against 31.20 lakh tonnes in the same period of previous year, the SEA data showed.

Source:- business-standard.com

Rupee Falls In Intraday Trade On Wpi Data

The Indian rupee fell in intraday trade on Tuesday after data showed wholesale price-based inflation accelerated to a three-month high.

At 1.17pm, the Indian rupee was trading at 60.32, down 0.22% from its previous close. The local currency had opened at 60.30, against its Friday’s close of 60.18. Before the inflation data, rupee had strengthened to 60.23 a dollar.

Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation rose to 5.7% in March. The median estimate in a Bloomberg poll of 42 analysts was for the WPI index to come in at 5.3%.

India’s benchmark index, the Sensex, was trading at 22,453.13 points on BSE, down 0.86%.

Most of the Asian currencies were trading lower with South Korea down 0.18%, Thai Baht down 0.1%, Philippines Peso down 0.09%.

Since the beginning of this year, the rupee has gained 2.45%, while foreign institutional investors have bought $4.83 billion in local equity markets.

The yield on India’s 10-year benchmark bond was trading at 9.002%, compared with its Friday’s close of 8.945%.

The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major global currencies, was trading at 79.824, up 0.12% from the previous close of 79.729.

Another inflation gauge, the consumer price based Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation data will be released at 5.30pm on Tuesday. A Bloomberg poll expects the CPI to be at 8.25% for March as against 8.1% in February.

Source:- livemint.com

Sec. 80G approval denied to a society working for upliftment of Sikh community explicitly

IT: Approval under section 80G could not be given to a society which was working only for upliftment of a particular community and barred an outsider from becoming its member

Public prosecutors or panel lawyers cannot represent accused for offence punishable under Service-ta

Service Tax : In case of an offence punishable under service tax law, only criminal courts are competent to try such offence and Public Prosecutor, Additional/Assistant Public Prosecutors and Panel Lawyers cannot represent accused

Excess warehousing charges invoiced to customer not taxable if it was disputed and pending before ci

IT: Enhanced warehousing charges raised by assessee could not be added to income of assessee where such increase had been resisted by filing civil suit

Co. stepping into shoes of another co. can take legal recourse against an unlawful possession of acq

CL : Complainant company having been stepped into shoes of other company by virtue of scheme of arrangement sanctioned by respective Courts, was well within its right to file complaint alleging wrongful withholding of property of said other company

Advance received for allotment of commercial space in an unapproved project held as deemed dividend

IT: Where assessee claimed a certain sum from companies as advance against allotment of some commercial space in a project but no approved plan of said project was produced, conduct of assessee clearly established concealment of facts and filing of inaccurate particulars and penalty was leviable upon assessee

Exemption would be available to a trust even in respect of anonymous donations used for charitable p

IT : Any voluntary contribution received by a Charitable or religious trust shall be deemed to be income derived from property held under Trust to extent said contributions are used for charitable purposes even though assessee fails to disclose names and addresses of donors

HC stayed recovery proceedings as assessee filed writ during pendency of appeal before appellate aut

CST & VAT: Where assessee against assessment order filed appeal before appellate authority belatedly along with application for condonation of delay and stay petition and in meanwhile also filed writ petition, during pendency of appeal recovery of tax due deserved to be stayed subject to remitting 50 per cent of amount demanded

Addition on basis of loose sheets found during search upheld as assessee failed to contradict same

IT: Where assessee has not adduced any rebuttal evidence to show that entries made in diary/loose sheets recovered during search are not income in hands of assessee, addition is to be upheld

Transfer order to ensure coordinated investigation was valid if opportunity wasn't denied to assesse

IT : Where case was transferred for centralized and coordinated investigation and there was no denial of reasonable opportunity to assessee, transfer order could not be set aside