Wednesday, 14 January 2015
Date of allotment of land would be its date of acquisition and not the date of sale deed to compute
Cost of production of abandoned TV serial was allowable as business exp. to its producer
Capital gain accrues on relinquishment of rights in land to developer to get constructed area
ITAT couldn't examine order of AO if assessee appealed against the revisional order passed by CIT
Delay caused due to perusal of remedy before wrong forum wasn't condonable when appellant didn't act
Sums paid on electrical fittings and wooden work of house are personal effects
Excess duty paid on exported goods using Cenvat credit would be allowed in form of re-credit and not
Misleading ads by developer on quality of services to be provided in housing project was unfair trad
No TDS on interest paid by Indian branch to its foreign head-office as it wasn't taxable on grounds
Amendment to SEBI's Act barring filing of appeal before HC against order of SAT doesn't have retro-e
India Eyes Wheat Exports, But Cheap European Supplies Pose Challenge
A rally in global wheat prices and a looming tax on Russian exports have set the stage for a resumption in India's overseas sales, although cheaper European supplies could provide stiff competition to the South Asian nation.
Exports by the world's No.2 wheat producer after a six-month gap could cap benchmark wheat prices which soared 20 percent in the past quarter on worries over Russian supplies.
"India is in a unique position to make the best out of the export curbs put in place by Russia which was exporting wheat similar in quality to Indian wheat," said a trader with a leading global trading company in New Delhi.
Russia, a key wheat exporter, plans to introduce a duty of at least 35 euros ($41) per tonne on shipments from February to curb a rise in domestic prices.
India could sell around 2 million tonnes of wheat between February and July to Asian buyers as Russian supply dries up, traders and officials said. While this is small versus a global trade of around 160 million tonnes, it is important for Southeast Asian millers looking for prompt shipments.
"Importers such as Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia and Bangladesh will be taking Indian wheat because of the freight advantage over European cargoes," a Singapore-based trader said. Southeast Asian buyers pay a freight rate of $12-$15 a tonne to get wheat from India and up to $30 to get grain from Ukraine.
There has been talk among traders that India could start issuing tenders to sell wheat from reserves from February. Government stocks were at 25.1 million tonnes as of Jan. 1, more than three times the target.
"The government hasn't taken any decision on tenders yet but there are discussions going on between trading companies and the Food Corporation of India on export prospects and prices," an official at a state-run trading company said. India is set to procure wheat from farmers at about $230 per tonne this season, 3.7 percent higher than last year.
In the export market, Indian wheat was offered by private traders at $270 per tonne free on board, while French wheat was sold at $248.94-250.25 recently. Australian standard wheat is at $270 and Ukraine milling wheat is available for $265.
But Indian wheat is still "attractive for buyers in Asia because they buy in smaller parcels and shipping time is shorter", a second Singapore trader said. "There is a strong possibility of a couple of million tonnes coming from India."
Source:in.reuters.com
Penalty can be levied under Tamil Nadu Sales Tax Act only after issuing notice to assessee
Member's share in AOP would be exempt from tax even when AOP was claiming relief under sec. 80-IB
India's Dec Palm Oil Imports Rise, Trend May Continue
Indian palm oil imports rose 5 per cent to 836,447 tonnes in December from a month earlier because of tight supplies of local soy oil plus the decision by big producers to allow duty-free exports of palm oil, which made overseas purchases cheaper.
The world's biggest edible oil importer is likely to make higher overseas purchases in January, too, after Malaysia decided to leave its palm oil exports duty-free until the end of February, industry officials said.
"Due to falling crude oil prices, biodiesel demand is quite weak for palm oil. That's why producers are trying to sell as much as they can to India," said BV Mehta, executive director of the Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA), a Mumbai-based trade body, Crude oil fell more than 1 per cent on Wednesday after touching its lowest in nearly six years on Tuesday.
"Farmers are holding back their soybean crop due to lower prices. It has been affecting soybean crushing and availability of soyoil in the country," said a Mumbai-based dealer. Soybean is the main summer-sown oilseed in India and its prices have fallen due to sluggish export demand for soymeal.
India's total vegetable oil imports in December fell 4.2 per cent from a month earlier to 1,139,586 tonnes as purchases of sunflower and soyoil dropped, data released by the SEA showed.
India mainly buys palm oil from Southeast Asia, with small quantities of soyoil from Latin America and sunflower from Ukraine. Edible oil stocks in India rose to a record 2 million tonnes on January 1 as lower prices prompted refiners to import more than the local requirement, Mehta said.
Source:economictimes.indiatimes.com
Perusal of appeal on same issue of prior years to be deemed as reasonable ground for delaying appeal
Capital gain arose on sale of shares if money was invested in shares for holding them for longer per
HC allows withdrawal of revised return filed in pursuance of a wrong legal advice
Ppmai Urges Govt Not To Further Hike Import Duty On Stainless Steel
Process Plant & Machinery Association of India (PPMAI) has written to Director General of Safeguard Duties not to impose any further duty on import of Cold Rolled Flat Products of Stainless Steel of 400 series in larger interest of the capital goods industry and the prevailing economic situation in the country.
"Such an action of initiation of Safeguard duty proceeding by Director General of Safeguards over the Last year budget increase of 7.5 percent from 5 percent on imports of stainless steel coils and sheets plus advantage gained by the domestic stainless steel producer through devaluation of rupee by over 40 percent in last couple of years will affect the downstream industry in the country," Secretary, PPMAI, V. P. Ramachandran said in a press statement on Tuesday.
"There are already anti dumping duties applicable on a host of stainless steel imports from practically all countries on the behest of local single private sector producer. Currently most of the stainless steel imports are from Japan and Korea who basically supply these grades for their car units set up in India where the material standards call for the imports from these countries only. Moreover these countries as well as Malaysia enjoy special rate of import duty as a result of FTA with them. Due to FTA, the petitioner also gains access to these countries to export from India," said Ramachandran.
He said, "The imports from China do not seem so alarming as per the data available in the country. The imports from Europe are of high quality but very low in volumes and at a much higher price than the local producers because the industry needs such high quality product imports which are not available from the domestic stainless steel producer."
"Indian stainless steel industry has a limited range of products and their quality of products and commercial dealings are inconsistent and not world class. We do have Salem Steel Plant , though not there as petitioner, and they too have extremely limited range of products. Therefore imports shall happen and can not be stopped. Therefore the initiation of safeguard duty is actually based on incorrect data from petitioner which does not justify this initiation at all," added Ramachandran.
"We do have confidence in the new government that it will take care of all end user industries including SMEs and not support any action which leads to creating any undue advantage for the petitioner to suit their individual business interests.We therefore appeal to DG to reject this proposal of the petitioner for imposing safeguard duty," he added.
Source:smetimes.in
Govt To Soon Ease Exporters' Hassles
The government has planned various measures to ease things for exporters on transaction costs and processes.
Commerce Secretary Rajeev Kher chaired a meeting on Tuesday in this regard, attended by officials from the departments of industrial policy and promotion, revenue, telecom, roads, railways, shipping and foreign trade, among others.
The aim is an efficient trade facilitation mechanism, in line with global standards for seamless movement of goods within states, commerce department officials told Business Standard.
The government has already undertaken several measures on digitisation of various processes for exporters, said an officer from the Directorate General of Foreign Trade.
It is planning a two-pronged strategy for exporters by rolling out procedural simplification and online inter-ministerial consultation. Firstly, exporters can soon file their applications onsite with the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT).
Second, the government plans to make the office of DGFT as ‘paperless’ as possible. Once this takes effect, the office will issue authorisations to exporters in online format.
The plan is also to integrate all fiscal incentives meant for exporters under one procedure.
The second task force on transaction costs in exports, constituted in April 2013, gave its report in July last year. It made recommendations for simplification of procedures and on electronic data interface (EDI).
Minister for commerce and industry Nirmala Sitharaman had recently stated the government was evolving a strategy in terms of specific operational problems for export or import processes.
Last year India also signed an agreement under the World Trade Organization on trade facilitation. As a result, the government has to establish world-class standards in simplifying of customs norms.
Source:business-standard.com
Rupee Trades Marginally Lower At 62.18 Per Dollar
The rupee was trading marginally lower against the US dollar on consistent demand for the US currency from companies and state-owned banks.
At 2.50pm, the rupee was trading at 62.18 a dollar, down 0.06% from its previous close of 62.15 and down from its opening level of 62.11 per dollar.
“A couple of large companies and state-owned banks have been on the buying side today because there is a feeling in the market that 62 per dollar is a good level to buy at,” said a dealer with a private bank. India’s benchmark equity index, S&P BSE Sensex, was trading at 27,347.96 points, down 0.28%.
Wholesale price inflation (WPI) for December recorded a 0.10% rise from a year ago, up from an unchanged level in November and lower than expectations of a 0.40% rise which has increased expectations of a interest rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
The yield on India’s 10-year benchmark bond stood at 7.77% unchanged from Tuesday’s close. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.
Since the beginning of the 2015, the rupee has strengthen 1.38% against the dollar, second best performer in Asian currencies market after Japanese Yen, while foreign institutional investors have sold $352.5 million from local equity markets and bought $692.4 million from the debt market.
The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 92.05, down 0.28% from its previous close of 92.31.
Source:livemint.com