IT/ILT : Sec. 5(2) shall not operate to exclude amount received outside India for computing income presumptively u/s 44BB
Tuesday, 7 April 2015
[DGFT Notification] : Export Policy of Onions- reduction in Minimum Export Price (MEP).
(To be Published in the Gazette of India Extraordinary Part-II, Section - 3, Sub-Section ii)
Government of India
Ministry of Commerce & Industry
Department of Commerce
Udyog Bhawan
Notification No. 2 /2015-2020
New Delhi, Dated: 7 April, 2015
Subject:- Export Policy of Onions- reduction in Minimum Export Price (MEP).
S.O. (E) In exercise of powers conferred by Section 5 of the Foreign Trade (Development & Regulation) Act, 1992 (No. 22 of 1992), as amended, read with Para 1.02 of the Foreign Trade Policy, 2015-2020, the Central Government hereby makes the following amendment, with immediate effect, in Notification No. 91 (RE- 2013)/2009-14 dated 21.08.2014 read with Notification No. 73 (RE- 2013)/2009-14 dated 12.03.2014 relating to export of onion.
2. The amended para 2 of Notification No. 91 (RE- 2013)/2009-14 dated 21.08.2014 will now read as:
“Export of onion for the item description at Serial Number 51 & 52 of Chapter 7 of Schedule 2 of ITC (HS) Classification of Export & Import Items shall be permitted subject to a Minimum Export Price (MEP) of US$ 250 per Metric Ton F.O.B. or as notified by DGFT from time-to-time”.
3. Effect of this notification:
Export of all varieties of onions as described above will be subject to a Minimum Export Price (MEP) of US$ 250 per MT (reduced from MEP of US$ 300 per MT earlier).
(Pravir Kumar)
Director General of Foreign Trade
E-mail: dgft[at]nic[dot]in
(Issued from File No. 01/91/180/922/AM08/PC-III/Export Cell)
Foreign currency futures are transactions of derivative market; they can't be termed as speculative
IT: Transaction of derivative market which included foreign currency and call option/put option could not be termed as speculative in nature
Imparting of education not to be deemed as business activity under Rajasthan VAT Act
CST & VAT : Rajasthan VAT - Where assessee, a deemed university/educational institution, was imparting education and it sold prospectus and it also purchased cement, etc. after payment of VAT and provided same to its own contractors for construction of hostel building, etc. and further it reduced value of material from contract amount, assessee was not carrying on business and was not required to get itself registered
Opposite party abused its dominance by imposing unfair pricing in market of freight transport servic
Competition Act: Where opposite party providing services of freight transport by trucks to various industrial units located within area of Kiratpur in Punjab through its members was dominant in relevant market, OP abused its dominant position by imposing unfair prices for transportation services
Sum received in foreign currency for rendering technical service abroad isn't taxable in India: ITAT
IT/ILT : Where assessee rendered services as senior drilling engineer at Nigeria to an Indian company, fees was received by assessee in foreign currency for rendering said services outside India could not be brought to tax in India
Excise Dept Move On Service Tax May Make Rail-Based Traffic Costlier
At a time when the Centre is trying to increase the share of rail-based traffic, an excise department move may end up shifting container traffic away from rail to roads.
The excise department wants to impose full service tax on containerised traffic without providing the 70 per cent abatement available to cargo moving on rail. This means, in effect, the service tax will be levied on 30 per cent of the tariff. Incidentally, road transporters also get about 70 per cent abatement on service tax.
The proposed move has irked the Railway Ministry and the container train operators, and could jeopardise the rail-based container segment, which includes operators such as the Container Corporation of India, Gateway Rail Freight Ltd, Hind Terminals, APL Logistics, DPW-backed Container Rail Road Services, ETA, Kribhco, Central Warehouse Corporation, and Vikram Logistics.
The Directorate-General of Central Excise Intelligence (DG-CEI) has used a technicality in the Finance Act 1994 -- Section 65 B (49) -- to say that container train operators offer a "support service" to the Railways, which attracts full service tax. It has issued a show-cause notice to the operators asking them to pay full service tax with effect from 2012.
Meanwhile, the Railways and container train operators are citing two clauses of the Finance Act 1994 – 65 (B) 25 and 66F – to prove that they move goods on the rail mode and support their view for attracting service tax with abatement.
The DG-CEI’s logic, if accepted, can jeopardise not just the container rail segment, but sectors such as cement, automobiles, petroleum products, mining and the dairy segment, which have invested in wagons to offer rail-based services, while some others have plans to invest in specially designed wagons.
Companies such as ACC, APL Vascor, Jindal Steel and Power Ltd, and Maruti Suzuki, have already made such investments.
The Railways had approved procurement of 45 rakes with an investment of over Rs 1,000 crore to 10 customers three years ago.
Also, in the passenger segment, coach investment has been made in some premium tourist trains, such as by IRCTC in Maharaja Express, the Rajasthan government in the Palace on Wheels, the Maharashtra government in its Deccan Odyssey, and the Karnataka government in the Golden Chariot.
The excise department’s move is likely to make railway services pricier and move customers away at a time when it is already losing share to the road segment.
Source:-thehindubusinessline.com
Ftp 2015-20: Pushing Exports And Imports In Sync
The much-awaited Foreign Trade Policy 2015-20 has been announced. It has targeted to double exports to $900 billion by 2019-20. The achievement of this target underscores the need to encourage both merchandise and services exports, as enshrined in the policy document.
Many would have termed the target as ambitious if the green shoots of global economic recovery were not in evidence. The US economy is growing, riding on the back of an impressive manufacturing growth, which is getting translated into more jobs. Europe, though still not out of the woods, is showing signs of recovery. Japan and China are coming out of slowdown blues, though the pace is sluggish. There are indications to believe that world trade will pick up in the next two years or so. Against this backdrop, the target set for doubling exports seems to be in sync with reality.
There are various policy changes that have been incorporated in the FTP document, such as simplification and amalgamation of incentives schemes, revamping of incentives schemes for services exports, focus on reduction of transaction cost, incentives to SEZs, eliminating bottlenecks for doing business, etc. Yet we should not lose sight of the challenges. Exports have contracted over the last three months. In February, contraction was a high 15%, mainly on account of persistent slowdown in some markets and volatility of the rupee against a basket of currencies. For a pragmatic FTP, it is important to have a stable exchange rate, which will insulate the trade from avoidable risks.
In order to give a boost to exports from SEZs, the government has extended benefits of both the reward schemes—Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) and Services Exports from India Scheme (SEIS)—to units located in SEZs. Trade facilitation and enhancing the ease of doing business are the other major focus areas in this new FTP. Besides, a move towards paperless working 24×7 is an encouraging development.
Another feature of this policy is the importance it has assigned to services sector exports. Services have become an important component of our export basket—at $145 billion, they are half the merchandise exports of $300 billion. There are some distinguishing features of service exports. One, high retention of foreign exchange since the outgo in terms of import content is either insignificant or nil. Two, exports from this sector benefit more people and that way they have an expanding stakeholder profile. Three, they promote skills which are tradable both in India and abroad, providing gainful employment to many.
Importantly, CII in partnership with the ministry of commerce and industry has pioneered a platform for promotion of services exports from the country. On April 23-25, CII along with the commerce ministry will organise the Global Exhibition on Services (GES) in Delhi, wherein representatives from 40 countries will participate. This business-to-business (B2B) event will showcase India’s services capabilities to foreign buyers and will provide a rewarding platform for forging partnerships and businesses to Indian partners. To be inaugurated by the PM, this meet will be attended by a large number of delegates from the US, the UK, Singapore, Spain, Australia, the UAE, and SAARC countries. The focus sectors at the GES are IT & telecom, tourism, healthcare, R&D, media & entertainment, education and logistics.
The FTP policy has also laid focus on tapping huge potential for exports in emerging sectors such as e-commerce, export of defence and pharmaceutical goods, etc, and extended incentives for export-oriented units (EOUs), electronic hardware technology parks (EHTPs) and software technology parks (STPs). A case in point is the huge electronics imports into the country. It is estimated that, by 2020, India will need for domestic use electronic goods worth $400 billion. Domestic production around that time, at the current rate, will be worth $100 billion, necessitating an import of $300 billion, which will be higher than India’s oil imports. To ward off such a situation, it is important to give a boost to electronics production in the country. State-of-the-art EHTP units should come up in various parts of the country, which should be functional and capable of meeting the domestic demand. India should also fast-track its capacity for chip manufacturing, the costly part that goes into most of the electronic goods which are largely imported from China, Taiwan, Korea, etc.
A growing economy should have a strong international trade segment consisting of imports and exports. At the same time, there should be a harmony between imports and exports. A nation that focuses only on exports holds the risk of getting its currency overvalued, thereby creating distortions in its economic structure. Conversely, excessive imports unmatched by export realisations will create current account deficit and instability. Both situations should be avoided. The commerce minister seems to have treaded a cautious line in creating a sync between the two.
Source:- financialexpress.com
Bankers Call For Anti-Dumping Duty On Steel Imports
Top bankers have asked the government to slap anti-dumping duty on imports of steel to salvage the iron and steel sector hit by dumping of steel by other countries, especially China.
State Bank of India chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya told finance ministry officials about the need for introducing anti-dumping duty on imports of steel and gave the example of the US where 35 per cent anti dumping has been imposed on steel imports.
SBI chairman’s proposal came after the finance ministry complained to top bankers that banks are not meeting the credit needs of stalled projects. “Stalled projects are not getting desired attention of banks. Financial services secretary (Hasmukh Adhia) expressed his concern over the issues and advised the banks to come forward to meet the credit requirement of stalled projects,” the ministry said in a note to bank chiefs.
The SBI chief said there is very little demand for credit for new projects. “Corporate demand for credit is not coming in,” she told the ministry officials in a meeting with bankers recently. Major sectors which are affected include iron and steel, sugar, mining and construction and the power sector. Steel and iron has been affected due to high rate of iron ore, bankers told the ministry.
Latest figures compiled by the Ministry of Finance in March 2015 indicate that 299 mega projects involving an outlay of Rs 18.13 lakh crore still remain stalled with the Project Management Group (PMG) in the cabinet secretariat.
A top banker, who attended the review meeting with ministry officials, said the sugar industry is facing high production cost vis-à-vis the price realisation. In order to solve the problems of sugar industry, bankers suggested that the percentage of ethanol use permitted in petroleum products may be increased from 10 per cent to 35 per cent.
“Power sector is facing fuel supply problems. Mining sector suffers involvement of state governments. Road construction suffers because of delayed clearance form National Highway Authority of India (NHAI). The problems of each sector need to be addressed separately,” they said as per a ministry note.
Reserve Bank data shows credit growth to industry halved to 6 per cent in February 2015, down from an increase of 13.2 per cent in February 2014.
Source:- indianexpress.com/
RBI tweaks norms on refinancing of rupee loans with foreign currency borrowings
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Govt. scraps new guidelines for power generation in SEZs
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SEBI invites comments on issues regarding 'Offer for sale' of shares
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Banks can further extend date of starting of stalled projects by two years in case of change in owne
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Prospective importers are interested parties; must be granted hearing prior to levy/non-levy of anti
Excise & Customs : For purposes of anti-dumping duty, 'interested party' refers to a party who is interested in investigation and ultimate outcome of it; therefore, prospective importer of goods is also an 'interested party' and must be granted hearing prior to levy/non-levy of anti-dumping duty
Payment made to transporter for providing buses on hire basis along with driver would attract TDS u/
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Evasion penalty has to be levied when invocation of extended period isn't challenged
Cenvat Credit : Where assessee had not challenged invocation of extended period for raising demand and same had become final, penalty under section 11AC was automatic and was leviable at quantum specified in said section
Payment made to Govt. notified agencies couldn't be deemed as direct payment to Govt.; sec. 40A(3) d
IT: Where assessee, engaged in distributing food grains and Kerosene under PDS scheme, made cash payments to agencies notified by Government, it could not be regarded as payment directly made to Government and, thus, disallowance made under section 40A (3) deserved to be confirmed
Pension Fund Authority notifies norms on 'Trustee Bank' for holding funds in name of 'National Pensi
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Pension Fund Authority notifies points of presence norms for National Pension System
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Interest paid on refundable deposits of tenants is allowable u/s 24 if deposits are used to repay ho
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General Free Allowance of individual family members can't be pooled together for imports by baggage
Customs : In case of imports by baggage, GFA is allowed to passenger if article in baggage is for his or his family's personal use; use of word 'family' does not mean that family members of passengers can be pooled together, as Explanation to Appendix A [rule 3 of Baggage Rules, 1998] bars any such pooling
Cash payments exceeding 20,000 made to fisherman to purchase fish won't invite sec. 40A(3) disallowa
IT: Where assessee had purchased fish from fisherman/headman of fisher, no disallowance under section 40A(3) would be made even if payment in cash exceeded prescribed limit
Payment made to Govt. notified agencies couldn't deemed as direct payment to Govt.; sec. 40A(3) disa
IT: Where assessee, engaged in distributing food grains and Kerosene under PDS scheme, made cash payments to agencies notified by Government, it could not be regarded as payment directly made to Government and, thus, disallowance made under section 40A (3) deserved to be confirmed
No revision by CIT treating exp. on creation of brand as capital exp. when AO examined this issue in
IT : Where view taken by Assessing Officer that brand building expenses incurred by assessee were revenue expenditure was possible view on facts, order of Assessing Officer could not be set aside in section 263 proceedings
No TDS disallowance for exp. paid during the year; Visakhapatnam ITAT follows principles of Merilyn
IT: No disallowance under section 40(a)(ia), when payments on which tax was required to be deducted were paid during relevant previous year and nothing remained payable on last day of previous year
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