Service Tax : State/Metropolitan Roadways are not 'person engaged in business of renting of cabs', as business undertaken by it is to provide bus/transport facility to citizens of city/State and not a rent-a-cab scheme operation; hence, it is not liable to service tax even if buses are rented out to private parties on per Km. basis
Monday, 19 January 2015
Sum received on transfer of right to use technical know-how of drug was business receipts and not ca
IT/ILT : Where assessee, engaged in business of manufacture of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API), formed a joint venture company with a South African company, in terms of which assessee sold its technical know how relating to four Anti Petro Viral (ARV) products to joint venture company, in view of fact that assessee merely imparted its special knowledge and experience in field of manufacturing, marketing, selling and distribution of ARVs whereas property in knowhow remained with assessee
Exemption granted to promote border trade couldn't misused to make duty free imports for other parts
Excise & Customs : Where exemption was granted to 'border trade' viz. 'exchange of commodities' (barter) by residents along with border of Tibet, said exemption could not be misused to make bulk-imports duty-free for other parts of India
AO couldn't re-compute book profits by disallowing depreciation claim when books were certified by a
IT : Where assessee-company failed to produce any material on record that interest income earned by it on FDRs was by way of temporary deposit of surplus money or it was in nature of advances received by it from intended purchasers, said income could not to be treated as business income
Sum paid for acquiring satellite rights of a film is excluded from definition of 'royalty'
IT : Sum paid for acquiring satellite rights of a film is excluded from definition of 'royalty'
Steel Min Seeks Revision Of Import Duty On Steel Products
The Steel Ministry has written to the Finance Ministry seeking an immediate revision of import duty on steel products.
According to sources, the steel ministry has sought a revision of import duty on long products and HR coils saying it is necessary to raise import duty rates to safeguard TMT/rebar industry.
The ministry wants import duty on non-alloy long products to be raised to 10 percent; HR/CR coil duty to be raised to 10 percent from current 7.5 percent and duty on stainless steel products to be hiked to 10 percent.
The ministry has said that excess steel capacity in China & other countries is leading to dumping in India. Furthermore, the rouble- Russia’s currency depreciation has also caused dumping in India.
The steel ministry has urged the Finance Ministry to revise the duties without waiting for the Budget announcement as there is a dire need to restrain the surge of imports in India.
Source:- moneycontrol.com
Conversion of stock-in-trade into investment without any intention to do trading in shares was genui
IT: Where conversion of stock-in-trade of shares into investment was accepted and gains on sale of shares held for more than 12 months was accepted as LTCG; STCG for shares held for less than 12 months could not be denied
No denial of sec. 54EC benefit if asset was deemed as short-term asset merely due to deeming fiction
IT: Since Bifurcation of land and building into separate part for purpose of computation of capital gain is permissible, assessee would be entitled for exemption under section 54EC
Disclosure of additional amount before SetCom won't make declaration in block assessment as faulty
IT : Where there was no material with revenue to justify that additional amount declared by assessee was not full and true for purpose of Settlement, demand of further amount could not be accepted
Hero Motocorp Tops Scooter Exports From India In 2014
During 2014, exports of Hero MotoCorp have far exceeded that of Honda Motorcycle & Scooter at 84,690 units, reporting more than five times increase over 15,776 units exported in 2013.
In under five years of going their separate ways, Hero MotoCorp has overtaken Honda two wheelers as the largest Indian scooter exporter. Honda, which banks on their top selling Activa brand, saw an 85% increase in scooter exports during the past year. Honda exported 79,184 units during 2014 as against 42,717 units exported in 2013.
Hero Motocorp swooshes past Honda two wheelers Hero MotoCorp has two scooter models which include Pleasure 100cc scooter targeting the women buyers. Maestro 110cc is aimed at male buyers. Hero MotoCorp is slated to launch Dash 110cc and Date 125cc soon. Honda two wheelers also sells Aviator 110cc and Dio.
Over the past few years, Hero MotoCorp has expanded its reach far and wide into markets of South America and South East Asia. New assembly plants are announced for Colombia and Bangladesh while the company also intends to set up plants in both Argentina and Brazil. From early 2016, Hero MotoCorp also plans to commence sales in markets such as Europe and US.
In India, Hero MotoCorp, the world’s largest two wheeler makers by volume, sees increased sales both in cities and in smaller towns. The company sold a record 66,45,787 units of two wheelers during January to December 2014, an increase of 8 percent as against 61,83,849 two wheelers sold during the same period in the previous year.
Overall, Honda registered 25 percent sales growth, way over domestic industry growth of 12 percent having sold over 28.24 lakh two wheelers in 8 months, contributing 50 percent to domestic 2-wheeler industry sales increase.
Source:- rushlane.com
Government May Challenge World Trade Organization’S Order To Lift Ban On Us Poultry Imports
Competitively priced American frozen chicken legs may take longer to hit the Indian market as the government is set to challenge the World Trade Organization's October order asking it to lift a ban on poultry imports from the US.
Simultaneously, the government is brainstorming with stakeholders on ways to protect the growing domestic poultry industry from the inflow of US chicken legs, which are cheaper by about Rs 100 per kg. India banned US poultry imports on account of avian influenza in 2007, a decision the WTO called 'unscientific' in its judgment.
"We are ready with our argument and will be filing an appeal in a day or two to the appellate body. We are expecting an improvement in the dispute settlement panel decision, which will help us in future," a government official said. "We are committed to protect the industry with huge employment potential and are looking at various measures to that effect. We have had a meeting with the poultry industry and breeders."
India is the fourth-largest producer of chicken in the world, after the US, China and Brazil, with an annual production of 3.5-4 million tonnes.
Last week, China banned the import of US poultry and eggs after the detection of an avian flu strain in the Pacific Northwest. More than 20 countries, including members of the EU, South Korea and South Africa, have imposed curbs on poultry from certain US states or the entire country.
With US consumers preferring chicken breasts, the less-favoured chicken legs are frozen for export to other markets at highly competitive prices. "As Russia has also banned American poultry, they are really eyeing the Indian market to sell chicken legs frozen for the last four-five years at may be Rs 40-50 a kg compared to Rs 160 -170 a kg price prevailing in India," said another official privy to the matter.
The department of commerce called a meeting that was attended by representatives of the All India Poultry Breeders' Association and others to suggest ways to protect the domestic industry and assess the grounds on which other countries have banned US poultry. But as per WTO rules, national treatment must be accorded, which means the domestic industry must be subjected to the same rules as the foreign seller.
Given that the US will export chicken legs that are four to five years old, India could restrict imports to products that are not more than six months old, said a poultry expert. "For this, FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India) can come out with standards," he said. According to experts, India could also look at options such as anti-dumping duties to curb imports and use the argument that the chicken are fed with genetically modified food.
"US chicken is given genetically modified feed, which is not allowed in India. They are also injected with a lot of hormones," said an expert who asked not to be identified.The EU banned US chicken on account of chlorine treatment. An anti-dumping case could be possible but difficult."
If India files an anti-dumping case, it will have to allow US chicken for a year to assess the dumping margin or else dumping analysis can be done by apprehending the price at which US sells to different markets, which will be difficult," said the expert.
Source:- thehindubusinessline.com
Rupee Opens Marginally Lower At 61.78 Per Dollar
The Indian rupee on Tuesday weakened marginally against the dollar, tracking losses in the Asian currencies market.
At 9.07am, the rupee was trading at 61.78 per dollar, down 0.11%. The local currency opened at 61.79 per dollar, compared with its previous close of 61.71.
India’s benchmark equity index, BSE Sensex was trading at 28,326.94 points, up 0.23%.
Most of the Asian currencies were trading lower. The South Korean won was down 0.7%, Malaysian ringgit 0.61%, Japanese yen 0.52%, Thai baht 0.36%, Singapore dollar 0.31%, Philippine peso 0.24%, Indonesian rupiah 0.19% and Taiwan dollar 0.16%.
The yield on India’s 10-year benchmark bond stood at 7.723% compared with its Friday’s close of 7.724%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.Since the beginning of this year, the rupee has strengthened 2.05% against the dollar, while foreign institutional investors have bought $155.7 million during the period from local equity markets and bought $2,016.5 million from debt markets.
The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 92.813, up 0.32% from its previous close of 92.52.The Indian economy will expand 6.3% in fiscal year through March 2016 and 6.5% in fiscal year 2017, the International Monetary Fund projected in its world economic outlook.
Source:- livemint.com
Detention of petitioner's husband on declaration of emergency was to be revoked upon cessation of em
COFEPOSA : Where detention order was made against petitioner's husband after proclamation of emergency, detention order got itself revoked by operation of law upon cessation of emergency due to section 12A(1)
Tribunal had no discretion to restore appeal if it was dismissed on non-compliance with pre-deposit
Service Tax : When order of pre-deposit has not been complied with, Tribunal cannot entertain appeal or allow restoration of appeal
ITAT followed its earlier order for remanding case to AO for determining ALP of AC equipments sold t
IT/ILT : Following order passed by co-ordinate Bench of Tribunal relating to earlier year, issue relating to determination of ALP of sub-assembly components of air conditioning equipment sold to AE was to be remanded back for disposal afresh
Government Has No Intention To Privatise Either Railways Or Coal India
The Union Finance Ministeri Arun Jaitley assured the representatives of various Trade Unions that the Government has no intention to privatise either railways or Coal India. He said that focus of his Government is to create more jobs and employment opportunities beside safeguarding the existing jobs and give better environment for ease of living for the common man.
The Finance Minister said that’s why we need more money for investment in infrastructure sector in order to create more job opportunities for our youth. He said that our approaches may be different but goal is same.The Finance Minister Jaitley was making the Opening Remarks during his Pre Budget Consultative Meeting with the representatives of Trade Union Groups here today. He said that the Government wants to create better social security system for the labour force working both in organized and unorganized sector.
The Finance Minister Jaitley said that more than 63 percentage of population in our country is in age group of 15-59 years which is defined as India’s “demographic dividend”. The challenge for the country now is in planning and acting towards converting its ‘potential’ into enhanced opportunities of growth by dovetailing the quality of manpower through skill development etc. The Finance Minister mentioned that according to an Indian Labour Report (2007), 300 million youth would enter the labour force by 2025. The main issue to address today is not just providing employment but of increasing the employability of labour force in India. He said that skill deficit among the labour force has been recognized as a major factor that drives a large number towards low income levels and perpetrates inequality. Consequently, the Finance Minister said that the thrust on skill development as well as on ‘Make in India’ are Government’s endeavors to improve employability and generate employment avenues.
The Finance Minister Arun Jaitley informed the trade union representatives that a cause for concern is that the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of employment decelerated during 2004-05 to 2011-12 to 0.5 per cent, as compared to the 2.8 per cent growth during 1999-2000 to 2004-05. Highlighting the major initiatives of his Government in labour sector, the Finance Minister said that the Apprentice Act 1961 was amended on 18.12.2014 to make it more responsive to industry and youth. He said that the Government is also working affirmatively to bring a single uniform law for MSME sector to ensure their operational efficiency and improve productivity while ensuring job creation at a large scale. The Finance Minister further said that a unified Labour Portal Scheme called ‘Shram Suvidha Portal’ has been launched to for timely redressal of grievances and to create a conducive environment for industrial development. Its main features are : (1) Unique Labour Identification Number (LIN) allotted to around six lakhs units facilitating online registration. (2) Filing of self-certified, simplified single online return instead of 16 separate returns by industries. (3) Transparent Labour Inspection Scheme via computerized system as per risk based criteria and uploading of Inspection Reports within 72 hours by labour inspectors. He said that many States like Rajasthan have also introduced major reforms in three labour legislations viz. the Industrial Disputes Act, the Factories Act and the Contract Labour Act.
The meeting was attended among others by Jayant Sinha, Minister of State for Finance, Shaktikanta Dass, Revenue Secretary, Ratan P. Watal, Secretary (Expenditure), Dr Hasmukh Aadhia, Secretary (DFS), Ms. Ardhana Johri, Secretary (Disinvestment), Secretary, Labour, Dr. Arvind Subramanian, Chief Economic Adviser, Ms. Anita Kapur, Chairperson, CBDT and Kaushal Srivastava, Chairman, CBEC. Among the representatives of Trade Union Groups attended the meeting included Vrijesh Upadhyay (BMS), B.Surendran (BMS), S.Q.Zama (INTUC), K.K.Tiwari, (INTUC), D.L.Sachdev (AITUC), S.D.Tyagi (HMS), Surendra Lal (HMS), Tapan Sen (CITU), R.K.Sharma (AIUTUC), S.P.Tiwary (TUCC), Jyotiben Macwan (SEWA), Smt. Manali Shah (SEWA), Santosh Roy (AICCTU), M.Shanmugam (LPF), Deepak Jaiswal (NFITU), kant Lachake (NFITU), Ms Panudda Boonpala (ILO) and Ashok Ghosh (UTUC).
Various suggestions were made by representatives of representatives of Trade Union Groups. Major suggestions include more allocation for social security schemes for workers, same wages for contract labour as being paid to regular worker for the same job on the principle of ‘same pay for same work’, regularization of Contract Labour after certain time, to ensure strict compliance of labour laws by MNCs, prior consultation with trade unions before initiating any amendment of any laws affecting directly or indirectly the interests of labour force, and increase in minimum wages based on the decision of the Raptakos Judgement of the Hon’ble Supreme Court .
Other suggestions include to keep prices of food items and other essential items under check, increase in purchasing power of common man, make living easies for them, revival of viable sick industries, post budget interaction with representatives of trade unions, expansion of MGNREGA to all the districts and increase in number of working days to 200, more allocation of funds in budget for social sector including health and education sector and 10% cut in defence expenditure, no privatization of coal, railways and insurance sectors, PF Act be amended to cover every employee/worker under EPF Act, and role of labour market institutions be strengthened among others.
Other suggestions include raise in Corporate tax, impose tax on SEZ and FDIsand use this for enhanced social security expenditures, convergence of all medical schemes and benefits into one scheme for the benefit of unorganized sector workers, support price for tea, rubber, cardamom and other agriculture products , budgetary support for traditional industries like jute, textiles, handloom, silk and carpet, establish universal PDS, and special package to retrieve the closed and abandoned plantations etc. among others.
Source:- indiainfoline.com
MCA prescribes form for notifying the address at which books of account of Co. may be kept
Companies (Accounts) Amendment Rules, 2015 - Amendment in Rule 6 and Insertion of Rule 2A and form AOC-5
SC: Metropolitan Roadways wasn't rent-a-cab operator; not liable to ST on buses provided by it to pr
Service Tax : Metropolitan Roadways is not 'person engaged in business of renting of cabs', as its business is to provide bus/transport facility to citizens of city; hence, it is not liable to service tax even if buses are rented out to factories/industries/private parties, etc. on per Km. basis
Employee's contribution is deductible even if paid after due date of fund but before due date of fil
IT: Section 43B applicable to both employees' and employer's contributions
Indian Rupee Trims Initial Gains Vs Dollar, Still Up 17 Paise
The Indian rupee trimmed its initial gains against the American currency, but was still quoted higher by 17 paise to 61.70 per dollar on selling of greenback by banks and exporters in view of strong foreign capital inflows into equity market.
The rupee resumed higher at 61.60 per dollar as against the last weekend’s level of 61.87 per dollar at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) Market and firmed up further to 61.58 per dollar on initial selling of dollars.
However, it trimmed its initial gains and was quoted at 61.70 per dollar at 1100 hrs on some demand from banks on the back of higher dollar in the overseas market.
It hovered in the range of 61.58-61.73 per dollar during the morning trade.
In New York, the euro fell to another 11-year low against the dollar on last Friday, a day after the Swiss National Bank’s surprise decision to eliminate its exchange-rate cap removed a source of support for the shared currency.
Source:- financialexpress.com
Time spent between personal hearing and passing of adjudication order is immaterial for condonation
Service Tax : Delay has to be explained from date of actual service on assessee and there is no necessity to go into issue as to whether party should pursue matter before adjudicating authority as to when he is going to pass order
HC upheld disallowance of interest as borrowed funds were not used for business purposes
IT : Assessee could not be allowed deduction of interest paid on borrowed funds when such funds were lying idle and never used for business purpose
HC affirmed VAT penalty as goods-in-transit weren't accompanied by docs prescribed under law
CST & VAT : Karnataka VAT - Where assessee, a transporter, was transporting goods on 10-1-2005 in a vehicle and same were not supported by documents prescribed under section 28A(2), penalty was liable to be imposed under section 28A(4) at double tax payable on total value of goods
No writ against assessment order passed on directions of DRP as such order was appealable to ITAT
IT/ILT: Assessment order passed under section 144C(13) pursuant to directions issued by DRP under section 144C(5) was directly appealable to Tribunal in terms of section 253(1)(d) and, in such a case, assessee could not invoke writ jurisdiction of High Court
Place of issuance notice of cheque dishonouring won't confer jurisdiction upon Court to take cogniza
Negotiable Instruments Act: Courts at Gurgaon did not possess territorial jurisdiction to entertain proceedings under section 138 for dishonour of cheque drawn at Bangalore solely because legal notice of demand was sent from Gurgaon
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