Service Tax: Computer hardware/software training entailing employment or self-employment amounts to 'vocational training' in terms of Notification No. 24/2004-S.T. and is eligible for exemption during 10-9-2004 to 15-6-2005
Sunday 15 June 2014
DTA entitled to section 10B benefit as it complies with all conditions and subsequently gets approva
IT: An undertaking set up as DTA unit and deriving profit from export of articles or things or computer software manufactured or produced by it, which was subsequently converted into a EOU, shall be eligible for deduction under section 10B, on getting approval as 100 per cent export oriented undertaking
Generation of brass alloys and metal wires from metal scrap to be deemed as manufacture for sec. 10B
IT : Where assessee imported metal scrap and after segregating such scrap, produced various articles including graded brass metal, metal vires, etc., entire process came within meaning of 'manufacture or produce'
Government May Hike Incentives For Textile Sector To Boost Export: Report
The government is expected to increase incentives for the labour-intensive textiles industry in the forthcoming Budget to boost sector's exports and manufacturing.
As a part of support to the textiles sector, the government may enhance allocation for the Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (TUFS) in the Budget, sources said.
TUFS, launched in 1999, facilitates modernisation and upgradation of textiles industry by providing credit at reduced rates to entrepreneurs both in the organised and the unorganised sector.
The government had approved the continuation of TUFS for the 12th Plan period (2012-17) with a budgetary allocation of Rs. 11,900 crore.
Sources said that the government is also expected to streamline the procedure for timely disbursement of the fund.
In its pre-Budget consultation with the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, industry has asked for increasing the fund allocation under the scheme to ensure that it operates without any problems during the entire 12th Five Year Plan period.
"We would also request that annual allocation for the scheme may be kept at the maximum possible level in order to ensure prompt disbursement of TUFS assistance to the industry," Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) has said.
CITI has also asked for reduction in excise duty from 12 per cent to 8 per cent to encourage production and consumption of man-made fibres in large quantities.
The sector accounts for about 14 per cent of total industrial production, 12 per cent of exports and 4 per cent of GDP of the country.
The size of the industry is over $90 billion at present including nearly $40 billion in exports. It employs about 45 million workers.
The textiles industry requires constant modernisation of plants and machinery to remain competitive in global markets against rivals like China, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is expected to present Budget for 2014-15 in the second week of July.
Source:- profit.ndtv.com
India Services Exports In April Tad Lower At $13.63 Bn
India's services exports in the first month of 2014-15 stood at $13.63 billion, marginally lower than $14.32 billion in March 2014, as per RBI data.
The Reserve Bank's data on International Trade in Services showed that services import in April 2014 stood at $8.06 billion, also lower than previous month. It was at $8.49 billion in March.
India's services export in previous fiscal stood at 167.01 billion while services imports in FY'14 were at $ 88.19 billion.
The services sector contributes about 60 per cent to country's gross domestic product. The RBI releases the provisional aggregate monthly data on India's international trade in services with a lag of 45 days.
Monthly data on services are provisional and undergoes revision when the Balance of Payments (BoP) data are released on a quarterly basis.
Source:- http://ift.tt/R2yevO
India To Set Up Two Renewable Energy Firms
Plans are underway to form a pair of state-owned joint ventures (JVs) that will oversee the construction of renewable energy projects, contributing to India’s energy security and reducing reliance on conventional sources of fuel such as coal.
The oil and renewable energy ministries are working on the proposal, which sees them setting up one JV to oversee large-scale, grid-integrated projects and the other for off-grid projects, according to documents reviewed by Mint.
These new public sector units (PSUs) will, in turn, be JVs between state-owned oil sector firms such as Indian Oil Corp. Ltd (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd, Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd, Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd (ONGC), Oil India Ltd and Solar Energy Corp. of India and the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency. While one of the JVs will be led by ONGC, IOC will lead the other.
The initial funding for the new firms will come from the JV partners that will implement the projects. The money they put in such projects will be considered part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) contributions. Under India’s new companies law, corporate entities are supposed to spend a certain percentage of their profit on CSR, essentially charitable activity.
A government official confirmed the plan.
“The project report for the joint venture companies has been prepared by Engineers India Ltd. Even some projects have been identified for development by the new firms. A background note on the same has been prepared,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
Spokespersons for IOC and Bharat Petroleum also confirmed the proposal.
Queries emailed to the spokespersons for the ministries of petroleum and new and renewable energy, Hindustan Petroleum, ONGC, Oil India, Solar Energy Corp. and India Renwable Energy remained unanswered.
India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change recommends that the country generate 10% of its power production from solar, wind, hydropower and other renewable sources by 2015, and 15% by 2020.
India has a power generation capacity of 245,394 megawatts (MW), of which only 13%, or 31,692MW, is contributed by renewable sources.
“The ministry of new and renewable energy resources has the technical expertise. Also, the oil sector, public sector units have large funds available under their corporate social responsibility programmes. This will be ploughed towards the new firms,” said the government official quoted above.
The Bharatiya Janata Party that swept to power in the April-May general election under the leadership of Narendra Modi has stressed the need for reinforcing energy security.
The Modi-led government’s energy security plans include harnessing renewable sources such as solar energy, biomass and wind power along with coal, gas, hydropower and nuclear power to bring about an “energy revolution” in the country.
India, which is dependent on imports to meet its energy demand, has an energy import bill of around $150 billion. This is expected to reach $300 billion by 2030, requiring a $3.6 trillion payout by 2030.
“My government will come out with a comprehensive National Energy Policy and focus on development of energy-related infrastructure, human resource and technology,” President Pranab Mukherjee told Parliament on 9 June. “The aim of the government will be to substantially augment electricity generation capacity through judicious mix of conventional and non-conventional sources.”
Developing renewable energy will also help reduce dependence on coal, which is in short supply domestically, requiring imports of the mineral to fuel most of India’s power plants.
India is also exploring options to make it compulsory for conventional power project developers to build renewable capacity at the same location, a move that can provide an impetus to ecofriendly electricity. There is a need to integrate conventional and renewable power generation as India’s overdependence on coal needs to be reversed.
Source:- livemint.com
Supply Subsidised Electricity To Mihan Investors: Government To Madc
Supply subsidised electricity to Mihan investors: Government to MADCMUMBAI: Multi-modal International Cargo Hub and Airport at Nagpur (Mihan) project is likely to get a new boost as the government has asked Maharashtra Airport Development Company to supply electricity to the investors at subsidised rates.
Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Friday asked the development company to purchase electricity from the exchanges or enter into short-term agreements with power producers for supplying electricity to the investors who have set up their businesses at Mihan.
"We have been notified as a distribution licensee for MADC SEZ area by the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) in December last year.
"As per the CM's direction, we will buy power from various sources and supply at subsidised rates to ensure projects are not stalled," MADC Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Tanaji Satre told PTI here.
Chavan has said the electricity supplied by MADC will be almost 30-35 per cent cheaper compared to that supplied by state discom Mahavitaran.
The move comes after certain investors stalled operations due to higher electricity costs.
Investors include Air India. Air India is setting up an maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) at Mihan.
In November 2007, MADC and Abhijeet Group signed an agreement, wherein the two were to form a joint venture to set up a power plant for supplying power solely to the industries located inside Mihan at rate of Rs 2.97 per unit.
Mahavitaran, however, has been offlate supplying power to these units at over Rs 10 per unit.
Source:- economictimes.indiatimes.com
Export Leap Linked To Governance.
The new foreign trade policy (2014-19), to be announced after the budget, is expected to emphasise governance issues in the form of a co-ordinated strategy among different central government departments as well as states.
Within this overarching structure, the policy will focus on incentives to boost services export and value-added products, besides making inroads into newer markets.
A senior commerce ministry official said the foreign trade policy (FTP) would emphasise the manufacturing of value-added diversified products and exploring newer markets such as the Commonwealth of Independent States, east and West Asia and Latin America.
“Manufacturing at high levels of value and raising the scale of operations will be vital if the gains from mass production and riding on to the global and regional value chains have to be realised,” the official said.
The current regime considers exports a necessary ingredient of economic policy and that the export strategy will have to be embedded in the governance structures.
Officials said most of the ministries and government departments needed to be made aware of the fact that production was important not only for the domestic market but also for exports.
The officials also emphasised the need to involve states in meeting the objectives of the foreign trade policy, particularly in the elimination of transaction costs. The goal of the policy should be to “mainstream” the states. If necessary, they needed to be incentivised on the basis of their contribution to exports.
The FTP proposals are being firmed up by the commerce ministry in consultation with the exporters and will be discussed with the finance ministry soon.
All export and import-related activities are governed by the policy. It mainly aims at enhancing the country’s exports and use trade expansion as an effective instrument of economic growth and employment generation. The earlier policy ended on March 31.
To ensure that all service exporters benefit from the “served from India scheme”, the commerce ministry is looking at allowing import duty exemption scrips (given as incentive under the scheme) to be sold in the market or used to pay service tax, the officials said. This will benefit service exporters who do not import any inputs that prevent them from using the scrips.
Under the “served from India scheme”, exporters are entitled to import duty exemption scrips worth 10 per cent of the exported value. Only exporters with a minimum foreign exchange earning of Rs 10 lakh can avail themselves of the facility.
According to Ajay Sahai, director-general of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations, the scheme will be more effective if the scrips can be used to pay service tax or can be traded.
“At present, only the hotel industry is using the scrips as it imports liquor and vehicles. For most others, the scheme is not of much use,” Sahai said.
The commerce ministry also wants the existing focus product scheme — which gives sops to specific labour-intensive products — to cover fewer items, while increasing the amount.
Global trade is expected to increase 4.7 per cent this year against a 2.1 per cent growth in 2013 and an average 2.2 per cent in the past two years, according to an estimate released by the World Trade Organization.
Though the projected growth is still below the 20-year average growth rate of 5.3 per cent, it does indicate near-term development in global demand, which is crucial to exports. India missed its goods export target of $325 billion for 2013-14, with shipments during the year rising nearly 4 per cent to $312 billion.
Source:- telegraphindia.com
Amendment to Rule 14 of CCR is retrospective; no interest and penalty if credit was reversed before
Cenvat Credit : Amendment in rule 14 of CENVAT Credit Rules, 2004 substituting word "and" for word "or" is clarificatory and retrospective; therefore, no interest and penalty can be levied if credit is merely taken and not utilized and is reversed before utilization
Non-compliance of insider trading norms would attract penalty even after compliance of takeover code
SEBI : Where on sale of shares of company in excess of 2 per cent of total shareholding appellant made disclosure under Takeover Regulations but failed to make disclosure to company within prescribed time under PIT Regulations, penalty was to be imposed upon appellant for violation of PIT Regulations
ITAT partially deleted TP adjustment after considering certain discounting factors adopted by assess
IT/ILT : Where in course of transfer pricing proceedings, assessee determined ALP by reducing gross margin ratio on cost of production after loading discounting factors such as technology transfer, project management cost etc., in view of fact that some of those factors were relevant, partial relief was to be granted to assessee by accepting factors pointed out at a specified percentage in return of income
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