Monday 22 June 2015

'Dessault Aviation' gets tax exemption on royalty or FTS arising from retrofitting of Indian defence

IT/ILT : Section 10(6c) of the Income-Tax Act, 1961 - Income Arising to Foreign Company by Way of Royalty or Fees for Technical Services - Notified Company – Dassault Aviation S.A., Paris

Limitation period to determine validity of an addendum to be counted from date of original notice

Excise & Customs : Where original notice merely sought levy of penalty, an addendum to said notice, to seek recovery of duty on same set of facts, cannot amount to issuance of fresh notice and therefore, said addendum cannot be set aside as barred by limitation

Mistake apparent from records if ITAT didn’t adjudicate on grounds of appeal properly

IT: Tribunal, while disallowing assessee's claim of scientific research expenditure under section 35(1), had not gone into applicability of section 35(3), such mistake was to be rectified

Payment of duty on exempted goods would be deemed as reversal of credit attributable to such goods

Cenvat Credit : By using credit for payment of duty on exempted goods, assessee is deemed to have reversed credit, thus making entire situation as revenue neutral; hence, demand cannot ask assessee to again reverse credit

Failure of directors to provide books for investigation doesn't prove them guilty of misfeasance

CL : Where in consequence to voluntary winding up of company its erstwhile directors could not produce books of account before Chartered Accountant, that by itself could not be taken to prove them guilty under section 543 as there was no evidence of company having done any business between period that they become directors

Provisions of sec. 292BB don't have retrospective effect

IT : Where notice under section 143(2) was served beyond 12 months from end of month in which block return was filed by assessee, subsequent scrutiny proceedings would be null and void

Govt Working On Export Strategy For Agri Products

Concerned over declining exports, the Commerce Ministry is preparing a strategy paper to boost overseas shipments of agricultural products, particularly the value-added goods, reports media.

Exports of six key agricultural products, including tea, spices and tobacco, have registered negative growth in 2014-15, mainly due to declining competitiveness of Indian products in the international market in terms of prices and variety of goods.

"We are working on an agri export strategy. There is a need to boost exports of processed products and value-added goods in agri sector. The country is not able to exploit the sector's potential," a senior Commerce Ministry official said.

The official said that so far Indian exporters are putting focus on export of processed and value-added goods in the agriculture sector and due to this they are not able to tap more and more markets.

"We are trying to get more markets for our agri exports. The whole aim is to get into the second line of agri exports that is processed goods, branding and packaging," the official added.

Contraction in exports of agri commodities was one of the reasons for decline in the country's total exports in 2014-15.

During 2014-15, exports of tea, spices and tobacco declined by about 16 percent, 1 percent and 5.2 percent, respectively, according to the Commerce Ministry data.

Other products which have reported negative growth Include cereals (27.33 percent), oil meals (52.73 percent), fruits and vegetables (8.85 percent).

India's exports dipped deeper into the negative zone, recording a decline of 21 percent in March, the biggest fall in last six years, pulling down total shipments for 2014-15 to USD 310.5 billion, missing the USD 340 billion target.

In May 2015, India's merchandise shipments dipped by 20.19 percent in May to USD 22.34 billion.

During the last four financial years, India's exports are hovering at around USD 300 billion.

Source:- smetimes.in



India Launches Credit Package For Vietnam Textile Park

The Indian Government has officially kicked off the preferential credit package of $300 million to promote India-Vietnam garment cooperation, the Vietnamese media has reported. India will invest in building an industrial park specialising in garment and textile material production near Ho Chi Min City.

The credit package will help Indian businesses develop factories in Vietnam, and promote Vietnamese businesses concerned to expand cooperation with Indian partners.

It will support Vietnam’s garment and textile businesses to develop material sources and implement weaving and dyeing projects.

Truong Van Cam, representative from the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (Vitas) said the Vietnam Export Import Commercial Joint-Stock Bank (Vietnam Eximbank) was selected to disburse the credit package.

The credit package also aims to fully tap opportunities after the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement which is expected to be signed in the near future.

Source:fibre2fashion.com



Fieo To Organize Seminar To Help Msmes Have Clear Understanding About International Trade

Federation of India Export Organizations (FIEO) is organizing a seminar help the entrepreneurs, especially MSME’s to have a clear understanding about the international trade and various initiatives being taken by the government to promote exports.
 
The seminar, to be focusing on energising entrepreneurs for International Trade in association with Exim Bank of India, will be held in Noida on Tuesday. The MSMEs will get to know in detail about the current export business scenario.
 
Sudhir Garg, Principal Secretary, MSME, Government of Utter Pradesh will be the Chief Guest.  Meanwhile, N Shanker, Executive Director, Exim Bank and Amiya Chandra, Jt. DGFT (CLA) will give special address during the session. Besides, senior officers from Customs, Export Promotion Bureau of UP, IDBI etc will also address the exporters.

Source:knnindia.co.in



Transmission assembly arising in course of manufacture of tractors is a marketable commodity liable

Central Excise : 'Transmission Assembly' arising in course of manufacture of exempted tractors is an intermediate product, which is known in market as a separate commodity; therefore, same is a marketable product and liable to duty

Commission paid to NR agent for procuring export orders couldn't be held as 'FTS'

IT/ILT: 'Export Sales Commission' payments to non-resident agents for procuring export orders are not assessable to tax in India

Higher Import Duty To Ease Pressure On Domestic Steel Prices: Moody's

Higher import duty on flat and long steel products will help in reducing pressure on domestic prices which have been going down due to cheap imports from countries like China, ratings agency Moody's said today.

"The import duties will ease some of the downward pressure on domestic steel prices from cheaper Chinese steel imports. Indian steel prices have dropped 27 per cent over the past 12 months owing to a 70 per cent increase in cheaper imports, one third of which came from China," it said.

Last week in a much needed relief for domestic producers, the government increased the basic customs duty (BCD) on certain long and flat steel products by 2.5 per cent.

Import duty on flat steel products has been increased to 10 per cent from 7.5 per cent, whereas that on long steel products has been raised to 7.5 per cent from 5 per cent.

The ratings agency said that higher import duties on carbon steel products are credit positive for Tata Steel (Ba1 stable) and JSW Steel (Ba1 stable) as they will support Indian steel prices and contribute to steel producers' profitability.

"As of the quarter ended March 31, 2015, cheaper imports led to a 6 per cent decline in realised per tonne prices at Tata Steel, versus a year earlier, and a 10 per cent decline at JSW Steel during the same period," it added.

Although Indian steel demand is poised to outpace other emerging markets, competition from imported steel is likely to remain strong, keeping some pressure on Indian steel prices, Moody's said.

Global industry body World Steel Association expects steel demand in India to grow by 6.2 per cent in 2015 and 7.3 per cent in 2016, compared with a decline in all other large emerging countries except Turkey, it added.

Moody's expects lower Indian steel prices will likely help in reducing the cost of manufacturing and infrastructure building, which are two important pillars of the government's pro-growth agenda.

Country's steel imports rose 71 per cent to 9.3 MT in 2014-15, data from the government showed, with most of the increase due to shipments from China (around 3 MT), it said. However, last week another ratings agency Fitch projected a different scenario for the domestic steel industry.

Fitch Ratings said it does not expect Indian government's increase in customs duties on steel imports to alleviate much of the pressure on steel producers, which have been challenged by cheap imports and weak domestic demand.

The higher customs duty is likely to result in only a marginal increase (between Rs 500-1,100 per tonne) in the landed costs of imported steel products, which in the short term will help close the gap between domestic output and cheaper imports, it had said.

Source: profit.ndtv.com



Rupee Trades Higher At 63.54 Against Us Dollar

The rupee on Monday strengthened for the fourth consecutive session, even as the local stock market rose for the seventh consecutive session.
 
At 1.55pm, the local currency was trading at 63.54, up 0.04% from its previous close of 63.56. It opened at 63.49 and touched a high of 63.46, a last level seen on 15 May 2015.
 
Investors were encouraged by signs of a compromise in Greece’s debt talks with its creditors. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will meet the heads of the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund on Monday ahead of a summit of euro zone leaders later in the day aimed at reaching a deal over debt talks, Reuters reported.
 
The stock market benchmark Sensex was trading higher for the seventh consecutive session. Since 11 June, it has gained over 1,358 points or 5.04%. At 1.55pm, the Sensex was trading at 27,730.94 points, up 1.52% or 414.77 points.
 
The yield on India’s 10-year benchmark bond was trading at 7.726% compared with its Friday’s close of 7.713%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.
 
Since the beginning of this year, the rupee has lost 0.78%, while foreign institutional investors have bought $6.26 billion from local equity market and $6.32 billion from the bond market.
 
The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 94.277, up 0.2% from its previous close of 94.085.
 
Source:livemint.com


Prior to 10-10-07, deemed addition of handling charges was at 1% of CIF if actual charges were unasc

Customs : Deemed addition in respect of 'loading, unloading and handling charges' under rule 9(2)(b) of Customs Valuation Rules, 1988 at 1 per cent of CIF, even where actual charges are available, is ultra vires section 14; hence, said deemed addition at 1 per cent of CIF would apply only if actual charges are not ascertainable

AO couldn't levy penalty for furnishing 'inaccurate' particulars by invoking Explanation 1 to sectio

IT: Where Assessing Officer levied penalty on assessee for furnishing inaccurate particulars of income by invoking Explanation 1 to section 271(1)(c), same could not be sustained as Explanation 1 is applicable in respect of particulars which have been concealed and not for furnishing inaccurate particulars of income

Tax paid on cement used for constructing staff quarter's couldn't be set off under Bombay Sales Tax

CST & VAT : Maharashtra VAT - Where assessee, a manufacturer, had purchased cement, which was used for construction of staff quarters, and had also purchased scientific equipments and other materials, which were used for research and development of existing product and a new product, assessee was not entitled to set-off under rule 41D of tax paid on purchases of above goods

Jurisdictional CCIT can himself take decision of not filing appeal in HC even if station was having

IT : Section 143, read with section 142 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 - Assessment - Scope of enquiry in cases selected for scrutiny - Further steps towards a non-adversarial tax regime