IT : Where assessee trust's object was to pay pension to employees of GCDA or their dependents from corpus created out of contributions made by said employees itself, such an object could not be an object of general public utility, hence, registration under section 12AA could not be granted
Thursday 12 March 2015
Goods rightly seized from unregistered godown as assessee failed to produce any records during surve
CST & VAT: U.P. VAT - Where Assistant Commissioner conducted a survey at godown of assessee and having found that godown was not registered with department and assessee had not produced any records before him seized stock of goods, seizure of goods was justified and assessee was directed to deposit certain amount for release of goods
Deptt. had to refund sum retained by it as it failed to decide on objections of assessee within stip
CST & VAT: Where assessee's objection was not decided in stipulated 8 months and ultimately matter was remanded by Supreme Court, amount retained by department was to be refunded to assessee
No reassessment after 4 years without obtaining sanction of CIT original assessment was made under s
IT : Where original assessment was made under section 143(3), issuance of notice under section 148 after four years from end of relevant assessment year without sanction of Commissioner was invalid
Set Com may dismiss settlement application on false statement being made by assessee before Set Com
Excise & Customs : Where an application was allowed to be proceeded with by Settlement Commission on a false statement by assessee that section 123 was not applicable and later department informed that section 123 was invoked, dismissal of said application by Settlement Commission was valid
Prior to 26-5-2010, credit couldn't be denied on that inputs which used in exempted goods exported u
Excise & Customs : In case of export under bond of exempted goods prior to 26-5-2010, credit of inputs used therein cannot be denied and said credit can be used to pay duty on any other products as well
Evasion penalty waived off on plea of ignorance even though extended period wasn't challenged by ass
Service tax : Where assessee claimed that he was not aware of liability to pay service tax under reverse charge and had belief that service tax is to be paid by service provider, Tribunal waived evasion penalty on ground of said 'ignorance' despite fact that department had invoked extended period, which was not challenged
Presence of other suppliers in relevant market of switch software in India rules out dominance of op
Competition Act : Where there were other suppliers such as ECS, BPC, FIS, Euronet and YCS in relevant market of EFT Switch/switch software in India apart from ACI , dominance of ACI was not established and, therefore, issue of abuse of dominant position did not arise
Sum advanced to subsidiary out of borrowed sums due to commercial expediency won't attract disallowa
IT : Disallowance should not be made under section 36(1)(iii), if loans had been advanced by assessee due to commercial expediency to sister concerns
Import Duty On Rubber Likely To Be Raised To 25 Percent: Sitharaman
Government plans to hike import duty on rubber to 25 per cent while a slew of other steps are under way to protect the interest of rubber growers, hit hard by declining prices, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said today.
A methodology was also being evolved to monitor the usage of imported rubber to push domestic demand while an expert committee was examining the concerned issues in-depth, she said in Rajya Sabha in response to a calling attention motion on the plight of rubber farmers.
A proposal to enhance "the existing import duty on dry forms of natural rubber from the existing 20 per cent or Rs 30 per kg to bound-level duty of 25 per cent, has been forwarded with my recommendation to the Ministry of Finance and is under consideration," Sitharaman said.
These measures, she said, would regulate imports and "may have a salutary effect on domestic prices", as she promised enhanced subsidy of Rs 35,000 per hectare, up from existing Rs 25,000, to the growers by the Rubber Board.
"The concern among rubber growers caused by the downward movement in domestic prices of rubber has been noted. ... The government has reduced the period of utilisation under advanced licensing scheme for import of rubber from 18 months to six months," Sitharaman said.
While motivating the rubber consumers to exhaust stocks and push up demand, the government was also working to evolve methods to monitor usage of rubber imported under advance license to ensure that existing stocks are consumed, she said.
Sitharaman said the fall in rubber prices to Rs 118 in November last from Rs 176 in 2012-13 was due to "slump in international consumption" and the resultant decline in global prices. This was aggravated by a relatively low growth in domestic demand for specific forms of natural rubber.
To boost the segment, she said, the government intended to expand production as a long-term strategy and was promoting plantation development programmes in non-traditional regions like the North East.
"Currently, rubber is produced in 7.57 lakh hectares in the country", she said adding, "During the 12th Plan, an area of 36,300 hectares is proposed to be covered under fresh rubber plantation for which an outlay of Rs 726.99 crore has been provided."
Source:- economictimes.indiatimes.com
Indian Coal Imports To Touch 265 Million Tonnes In Fy'17
Mr Piyush Goyal, Coal Minister, said that a slew of steps like removal of regulatory hurdles are underway to enhance India's coal output in a bid to curb rising imports that may touch 265 million tonnes in 2016-17.
Mr Goyal said that "In the 12th Plan projections, the gap between demand and domestic supply in 2016-17 is estimated to be in the range of 185-265 million tonne."
He said that imports touched 168.4 million tonnes in 2013-14 from 28.9 million tonnes in 2005-06.He added that "In order to minimise import deficiency, the focus of the government is on facilitating environment and forest clearances expeditiously, pursuing with state government for assistance in land acquisition and coordinated efforts with railway for movement of coal."
Source;-steelguru.com
Compulsory Registration Rule Relaxed For Groundnut Exports
The Union Commerce ministry has abolished the compulsory registration rule for groundnut shelling units to export to countries outside the European Union (EU).The move, industry sources say, may increase groundnut shipments from India.
Till now, exporters had to buy groundnut from shelling units registered with the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) while shelling units had to get themselves registered through Indian Oilseed and Produce Export Promotion Council (IOPEPC). This rule was made applicable in 2013.
However, many shelling units from Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh had opposed this rule and were engaged in several discussions with Commerce ministry and APEDA pressing for its removal.
“We met Union Commerce minister, commerce secretary and APEDA chairman few times and informed them that compulsory registration is not necessary and export is going good without it. Thankfully, the officials agreed and removed the rule,” said Mukund Shah, president, Gujarat Oilseeds Processors Association (GOPA).
GOPA has been against compulsory registration since the beginning.Shah said, “Many shelling units are doing business seasonally and for them, registration process is costly. Moreover, because of this rule, many illegal transactions were being undertaken to match export requirements.”
As per the department of commerce letter to APEDA and IOPEPC, exporters would be allowed to purchase from unregistered shelling units or open market for exporting to countries outside the EU. Raw material, however, has to be mandatorily processed from APEDA grading, shelling-cum-grading and processing units.
According to the letter, if any unit wants to get registered, they need not go to IOPEPC and can get directly registered with APEDA.Kishore Tanna, chairman, IOPEPC said, "The rule was created to ensure quality but many players were not ready to register themselves. Number of registered shelling units is very low and looking at the demand of shelling units seeking removal of compulsory registration, IOPEPC held discussions with the concerned authority."
About 250 shelling units out of 4,000 are presently registered with IOPEPC.“Rise in export depends on production and demand but new rules will definitely benefit small shelling units in India,” said Vikram Duvani, managing director of Junagadh-based Rachana Seeds.India exported about 512,000 tonne of groundnut in 2013-14 and in the current financial year, shipments are estimated to touch 700,000 tonne.
Shah said, "Due to compulsory registration, exporters purchase only from registered units but now the market is open and this is expected to boost groundnut exports from India. But, it is too early to predict about rise in exports as it depends on the demand and supply scenario.”
Source:- business-standard.com
Weak Brazilian Real Thwarts India's Efforts To Boost Sugar Exports
A sharp drop in the Brazilian real has thwarted India's efforts to step up raw sugar exports despite New Delhi's decision to give an incentive to boost shipments, industry officials said.
Lower exports from India, the world's biggest sugar producer behind Brazil, could help to revive benchmark New York prices that touched a six-week low on Wednesday.
The Brazilian real has dragged down global sugar prices but the Indian rupee has not fallen by the same proportion to boost Indian exports, Yatin Wadhwana, managing director of Sucden India, told Reuters on the sidelines of the India Sugar Forum conference.
On Wednesday the Brazilian real fell to a 10-year low against the dollar.The lower real raises returns for Brazilian exporters because sugar is priced in dollars, but the currency's weakness and lower global sugar prices have dented Indian export plans.
"When subsidy was announced (by India) there was a lot of optimism, but the subsequent fall in the real has made exports difficult," said a Mumbai-based dealer with a global trading firm.
After months of wavering, India decided in February to give mills a subsidy of Rs 4,000 ($64) a tonne for exports of up to 1.4 million tonnes in an effort to reduce stockpiles after five years of surplus output.
Indian mills have been contracted to export an extra 20,000 tonnes of sugar, a number of dealers said.Though mills sealed deals to export 50,000 tonnes of sugar since the subsidy was agreed, dealers expect the annual figure to be less than 500,000 tonnes.
Indian raw sugar prices have fallen to $330-$340 a tonne from $465 a few weeks ago.As a result, very few mills are producing raw sugar, the Mumbai-based dealer said.
So far Iran, India's biggest buyer last year with purchases accounting for almost half of the country's total raw sugar exports of more than 1 million tonnes, has not placed an order.
Source:- economictimes.indiatimes.com
Bullion Giant Rsbl Files Rs 500 Cr Defamation Suit Against Dgft Officer
Two months after the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) imposed a penalty on Riddhi Siddhi Bullion Limited (RSBL), the city-based bullion trader has filed a defamation suit against the agency’s officer and sought damages of Rs 500 crore.
Kavita Gupta, Additional Director General, Foreign Trade, Mumbai, had imposed a penalty of Rs 100 crore on RSBL and cancelled its nominated agency certificate (NAC), a document needed for direct imports of gold, for “violation” of RBI norms.
“RSBL has filed a defamation suit against Gupta in the Bombay High Court,” the trading firm’s spokesperson said.
According to DGFT, in FY14 RSBL imported 550 kg of gold and as per the RBI circular, this entire quantity should have been exported back. The norm had been introduced to curb the gold imports.
However, it shipped only 350 kg while remaining 200 kg were supplied to the domestic market, DGFT said.
The show-cause notice stated that RSBL’s request for renewal of NAC for FY15 could not be considered as it had not complied with the conditions.RSBL claimed that it had no prior information about the new norms of RBI.
Source:- freepressjournal.in
Pressure On Rupee Continues On Dollar Strength; Here's Why Rbi Will Not Let It Depreciate
The Indian currency continued to weaken against the US dollar for the third straight day in a row on Wednesday. Analysts see intense volatility in the currency markets in the near term, but assure investors that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will not let it depreciate beyond a point.
The rupee is likely to inch closer to 63 per dollar in the near term as the US Federal Reserve is expected to maintain its view on interest rates, but RBI may not let it weaken beyond 64/USD, say experts.
"In case the rupee falls sharply below 63, expect the Reserve Bank of India to intervene and curb volatility. The rupee looks unlikely to go below the 64 level," said Manisha Gupta, Commodities & Currency Editor, ET Now.
The rupee fell by six paise to a fresh two-month low of 62.82 in early trade. Forex dealers attributed the fall in the rupee to the dollar's strength against other global currencies, as well as sustained capital outflows, but a higher opening in the domestic stock market capped the rupee's fall, reports PTI.
But from a long-term perspective, analysts see the rupee appreciating against the US dollar and other currencies as economic fundamentals remain intact.
"The rupee at this point in time looks to be slightly getting weakened against the dollar, but if you compare the rupee vis-a-vis non-dollar currencies, it has appreciated a lot," says BP Singh, ED & CIO Equities, Pramerica MF.
"One data which came out on Tuesday was very interesting, which highlighted that in the month of January, the RBI ended up purchasing dollar to the extent which is equivalent to what it did last time in January 2008 - they purchased close to $12 billion plus of dollars," he adds.
A careful analysis indicates that the pressure on the rupee to appreciate is very high, though the central bank is keen to ensure that the rupee does not appreciate at this point in time.
Singh says if we take a medium to long-term view, the currency is likely to appreciate from here, and that obviously will have some amount of impact on the export oriented companies or those who are sensitive to the currency going forward.
The rupee was at 60.85 levels against the US dollar exactly a year ago. But against currencies like euro it has appreciated sharply to the current levels of 67.44/euro from 84.45 a year ago, said media reports.
"In the immediate run, I do not see it (rupee) going much lower. It can go much lower only if this turns into a major global trauma. Well, nobody knows that. So chances are, while the RBI on one hand did not want to get much stronger than let us say 61.50, clearly they do not want to get too volatile and go below 63.50 in my view," says Jamal Mecklai of Mecklai Financial Services.
"So, the RBI will be intervening right now. And I do not think that the rupee is going to collapse. We have to really wait and see what is happening," he adds.
Forex dealers are of the view that we do need a much more competitive exchange rate, because the growth and employment are to be optimised. We need a much more competitive economy that no other economy in the world has grown at 9%-10% per annum consistently without a globally competitive manufacturing sector and booming exports.
"The exchange rate would depends on the central bank and how seriously it takes the issue of the exchange rate in relation to growth and what the Prime Minister wants, Make in India and Finance Minister is saying we need 9-10% growth for an indefinite future and so on and so forth, so that is sort of one side of it," says AV Rajwade, Director, A.V. Rajwade and Co. Pvt. Ltd.
"I am bearish on rupee and in my view the fair value would be of the order of 70," he adds.
The dollar index is gaining strength against a basket of currencies, including the rupee. However, experts feel that the rupee is likely to appreciate against a basket of currencies rather than depreciate in the long run. Here's why:
Rashesh Shah, Chairman & CEO, Edelweiss Group.
It is actually very hard to say whether the rupee has actually weakened or not, because the rupee has appreciated significantly and we have seen the implications in a few of the IT results and of the cross currency as well.
The rupee is weakening vis-a-vis the dollar, but is strengthening vis-a-vis the euro, vis-a-vis the yen, and quite a few other major currencies. Compared to all other emerging markets, the rupee is still a lot stronger.
I do not think we should look at only the rupee-dollar as an indicator of the rupee strength. We should look at a composite basket, and on that count we think the rupee has actually strengthened a little bit in the last year.
And, as long as the US dollar keeps on strengthening, the headline rupee-dollar rate will keep on showing some weakness as you go forward.
Source:- economictimes.indiatimes.com
Mere pendency of 'sickness tag' before BIFR doesn't entitle full waiver of pre-deposit to assessee
Excise & Customs : Merely because assessee claims to be a sick unit and its case is pending before BIFR, but, where assessee/industry has not been declared sick, full waiver of pre-deposit cannot be granted
AO can ask details by issuing Sec. 142(1) notice at reassessment stage even on issues which were pen
IT : In response to notice issued under section 142(1), in course of reassessment, assessee could not raise objection that those issues being subject matter of appeal against order passed under section 143(3), Assessing Officer could not enquire into same in reassessment proceedings
RBI unveils revised norms on sale of NPAs to securitization/reconstruction companies
BANKING/SARFAESI : Guidelines on Sale of Financial Assets to Securitisation Company (SC)/reconstruction Company (RC) and Related Issues
Banks to ensure that service provider maintains high standards of care in performing services outsou
BANKING : Guidelines on Managing Risks and Code of Conduct in Outsourcing of Financial Services by Banks
Assessee couldn't challenge validity of auction proceedings after transferring his interest in prope
IT : Where in respect of tax arrears due from assessee, TRO made a proclamation for auction of land belonging to assessee, in view of fact that assessee had already sold her interest over property to a third person, she could not file appeal before Chief Commissioner challenging validity of auction proceedings
ICSI plans to place ceiling of five Cos for which Secretarial audit report can be issued by practici
COMPANIES ACT, 2013 : Guidelines for Issuing Secretarial Audit Report, Signing and Certification of Annual Return by Practising Company Secretaries
In computing sec. 80-IA relief losses of eligible business not to be reduced if it was set-off from
IT : Where assessee's company's losses had already been set off against income of business enterprise, assessee would be eligible for deduction claimed under section 80-IA
Short-payment of duty was recoverable even if it was paid on basis of any approval or assessment by
Excise & Customs : Bus/truck body built on chassis supplied by customers are classifiable under Heading 8707 of Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985
HC admitted winding-up plea against respondent-co. as it failed to pay debt even after acknowledging
CL: Where respondent was a beneficiary of goods sold and delivered for value and debt, which was acknowledged and liability having been accepted, a clear case of inability to pay debt having been established by petitioner, winding up petition was to be admitted
Employment of more engineers won't show Co. as technical service provider for transfer pricing purpo
IT/ILT : Where TPO made addition to assessee's ALP taking it as a technical service provider, mere fact that out of total staff of 69 employees there were 37 engineers, was not enough to conclude that assessee rendered technical services
Govt. notifies ‘Uttar Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission’ for the purpose of exemption under
IT : Section 10(46) of the Income-Tax Act, 1961 - Exemptions - Statutory Body/authority/board/commission - Notified Body or Authority - Uttar Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission
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