No PIL against de-recognition of Exchanges if petitioner wasn't a shareholder of any Cos listed on s

CL: Where SEBI had proposed de-recognition of Regional Stock Exchanges / Non-Operational Stock Exchanges, petitioner not being a shareholder of any companies listed on such exchanges, had no locus standi to file PIL seeking a direction to SEBI to refrain from continuing with proposed de-recognition

No input credit if supplier had confirmed non-delivery of goods even when assessee had made payments

Cenvat Credit : Even if assessee had made payments by cheque, if supplier and transporter had specifically deposed that there was no actual delivery of inputs to assessee, credit taken by assessee is liable to be reversed with penalty and extended period of limitation is available for such fraud.

Profit on sale of shares deemed as capital gains as investment in shares was made along with regular

IT : In case of a share broker earning exempted income from investment in shares, 10 per cent of such exempted income was to be attributed towards expenditure for earning of such exempted income

Exp. on building CSR capacity including related admin overheads can't exceed 5% of total CSR Exp.- M

COMPANIES ACT, 2013/INDIAN ACTS & RULES : Companies (Corporate Social Responsibility Policy) Amendment Rules, 2014 – Amendment in Rule 4

Reassessment wasn’t based on change of opinion if dept. didn’t express any opinion on taxability dur

CST & VAT : Where Assessing Authority reopened assessment of assessee on ground that DVD and CVD players were wrongly taxed at rate of 8 per cent, since Assessing Authority did not express any opinion in assessment order with regard to taxability of above items, reassessment proceedings were not based on change of opinion

HC debars assessee from filing rectification request for second time when first request was rejecte

IT : When first rectification application was rejected by Tribunal, second rectification application on same issue is not maintainable at all

Submission could be made for first time before CCE(A) if assessee hadn’t replied to SCN and hadn’t a

Service Tax : Rule 5 of Central Excise (Appeals) Rules, 2001 debars placing of additional evidence for first time before Commissioner (Appeals); said rule does not apply in cases where no reply was filed and no hearing was attended before adjudicating authority

Exp. incurred at a place where manufacturing facilities were carried out were outside the ambit of s

IT: Expenses directly incurred in relation to manufacturing activities could not be disallowed under section 14A

Management fee paid to Danish firm for managing shipping companies wasn’t FTS under India-Denmark DT

IT/ILT: Freight income is taxable in hands of shipping companies for whom assessee was acting as representative to carry out obligation for filing of return of income as well as managing entire affairs

Prior to 1-12-2013, captive clearances were valued under Rule 4 if they had also been made to indepe

Excise & Customs : For period prior to 1-12-2013, if clearances have been made to independent buyers as well, then, clearances for captive consumption will be valued as per rule 4 (not rule 8) at transaction value to independent buyers

No winding up plea against Co. if matter as to whether disputed sum was a loan or share money was un

CL: Pending civil suit as to whether amount advanced by petitioner was loan or share application money, winding up petition was not maintainable

Indian agents promoting business of foreign Co. are exempt from ST on commission collected by them

Service tax : Services provided by an Indian commission agent to foreign principal by way of promotion of business of such foreign principal in India against commission in foreign exchange, amounts to export of service and not liable to tax

Govt. orders new penalty provisions under SEBI, SCRA and depository norms to be effective from Sept.

SEBI : Section 1 of The Securities Laws (Amendment) Act, 2014 – Enforcement of Act – Notified Date on which Sections 6 To 15, Sections 25 To 32 and Sections 41 To 47 of said Act Shall Income into Force

No reassessment to deny provision of exp. if all facts were available before AO during original asse

IT : Where all facts relating to amount taken to balance sheet as provision for project development and registration charges on sale of plot were available before Assessing Officer at time of framing of original assessment, reopening of assessment by successor Assessing Officer could not be sustianed

No denial of VCES declaration showing tax dues under sec. 73A even if earlier notice was issued unde

Service Tax : Declaration filed under Service Tax Voluntary Compliance Encouragement Scheme declaring 'tax dues' under section 73A cannot, prima facie, be rejected on ground that, for earlier/coinciding period, a notice/order was passed under section 73; this is so because earlier notice was under section 73 and not under section 73A

No penalty for setting off unabsorbed depreciation and losses against capital gains on wrong advice

IT: No penalty is to be levied under section 271(1)(c) for setting off brought forward loss and depreciation on wrong advice of counsel

Remission of sale-tax loan on prepayment of loan amount won’t be deemed as remission of liability un

IT : Where in terms of 'Madhya Pradesh Government Conversion of Amount of Deferred Tax into Loan Liability Scheme, 1989', sales-tax payable was converted into loan which was repaid on an early date, concession received on said pre-payment of loan did not amount to remission or cessation of liability so as to attract relevant provisions of Act

Economic Turnaround Where India Took The Lead

Almost all economic turnarounds in the recent past have primarily been exports-led. From China to India, a rising share of exports as a fraction of the gross domestic product (GDP) has been a key feature of every economic success story in recent decades.

But global trade data suggests Pakistan fares poorly compared to regional economies when it comes to the competitiveness of its exports in the international market.

The gap appears starker when the growth rate of Pakistan’s exports is compared with that of India.According to the World Trade Organization (WTO), Pakistan’s exports grew at an average rate of 7.7% per annum between 2003 and 2013. In contrast, the annual increase in the value of India’s exports during the same 10-year period remained 18.9%.

According to economist Atif Mian, the performance of India and Pakistan looked fairly similar until 1992. But data from 1992 onwards shows a great divergence between the two countries in terms of their exports’ competitiveness, he added.

“Since 1993, Indian and Bangladeshi exports per capita have grown 5.8 and 3.8 times higher than that of Pakistan, respectively. These are enormous differences in growth,” Mian told The Express Tribune in an interview.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has recently named Mian, professor of economics at Princeton University, among 25 economists under 45 ‘who are shaping the way we think about the global economy’.

“If Pakistan continues to fall behind at such a pace for another generation, my fear is that it might become a regional economic ghetto. The government needs to wake up,” he noted.

Many people argue that the widening difference in the exports per capita of India and Pakistan is a direct consequence of the economic liberalisation programme that India went through post-1992 under former finance minister Manmohan Singh.

But Mian believes this explanation is flawed. He says Pakistan had a more liberalised economy – and much earlier – than India. However, Pakistan’s exports per capita never saw that kind of a sudden increase, he adds.

In fact, Pakistan’s exports as a percentage of its GDP used to be higher than that of India. But the opposite is now true, with India’s exports as a fraction of its GDP far exceeding that of Pakistan.

Moreover, Pakistan’s exports as a fraction of the GDP tend to go down over time despite the fact that there has been a massive expansion in global trade in the last 20 years.

Mian believes boosting domestic productive capacity is the biggest challenge that Pakistan is facing today. Low exports mean the economy is struggling to produce products that are competitive in the global market, he says.

And the reason for Pakistan’s inability to compete in international trade is its lack of sound institutions, he says. “Just like individuals cannot grow and prosper without a good work ethic, countries cannot grow without good institutional foundations.

Source:- tribune.com.pk

Maneka Gandhi Expresses Concern Over India’S Beef Exports

Union Minister Maneka Gandhi on Sunday expressed concern about India being the world’s largest beef exporter and claimed that the money from illegal animal slaughter was used for perpetrating acts of terrorism.

“We are the largest beef exporters in the world and are also killing them for leather production. We are actually killing more animals than China, it is appalling!” the minister for women and child development said during a valedictory lecture at the India for Animals conference in Jaipur. Quoting a report submitted to Uttar Pradesh Police four years ago, Gandhi, who is also a noted animal rights activist and environmentalist, claimed that the money earned through illegal animal slaughtering was going into terrorism.

“It is going into terrorism, it is going into bomb making. It is going into killing us. Why we are allowing this? It is a trade of Indians. Do not blame a particular community for this,” she claimed. Gandhi said while members of one community sell its livestock, another slaughters it in their slaughter houses and asked people not to link animal slaughter to a particular religion or community.

India is illegally exporting beef to Bangladesh and that country claims of exporting about 160,000 tonnes of beef. “But as a matter of fact they (Bangladesh) do not own a single cow,” she said. The minister called on non-governmental organizations (NGOs), volunteers and civil society to join the ‘save animals movement´ and urged them to set up informer systems to sound an alarm to prevent such trade.

“Deer’s meat is available at many places in Rajasthan, even in Dhani (hutments)... I get such information while sitting in Delhi. Every animal organ... is illegally sold. Over 25,000 websites are full of the illegal sale of animal organs,” she said. On a report published during the previous United Progfressive Alliance (UPA) government’s regime stating that 80% of milk in the country was “adulterated,” Gandhi lamented, “we are drinking poison”.

She asked NGOs and volunteers working for the protection of animals to study the forest and wildlife Acts properly and try to inform the municipal authorities about any animal cruelty. Dissection of animals in school and college education has also stopped, she noted, adding the Medical Council of India is also considering this ban.

Cosmetic research and animal experimentation needs to be contained in the growing Indian culture, the Union minister said. Over 200 delegates participated in the two-day-long conference organised by the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations and its associates.

Source:- livemint.com

Manufacturing and trading segment of vehicles could be combined for TP analysis as both segments wer

IT/ILT : Where assessee was engaged in manufacturing and selling of vehicles, in view of fact that both segments were interlinked, a combined approach was to be adopted and since in terms of said approach profit margin earned by assessee was within premissible range of plus/minus five per cent of arithmatic mean margin earned by comparables, adjustment made to assessee's ALP was to be set aside

No denial of benefit of GTA abatement when input credit had been reversed alongwith interest

Service Tax : Where input service credit has been reversed with interest, benefit of abatement in respect of Goods Transport Agency's Services cannot be denied, as said reversal with interest would amount to non-taking of credit, thereby, satisfying conditions of abatement Notification

CCI orders investigation against 'ICAI' as it was creating entry barriers to outsiders providing CPE

Competition Law: Investigation is to be conducted against Institute of Chartered Accountants of India for abuse of its dominant position in creating entry barrier to outsiders in providing CPE seminars

Plastic Industry Working On Negative List To Curb Imports Under Fta

The plastic industry is working with the Government to prepare a negative list that would restrict duty-free imports from countries that have free trade agreement with India.

The initiative comes after the industry appraised Ananth Kumar, Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers, on the perils of large scale finished plastic products imports into the country.

Speaking to Business Line, Raju Desai, Chairman, PlastiVision India and past-President of All India Plastic Manufacturers Association, said this is the first time ever a Union Minister along with his secretaries met representatives of the industry to understand its grievances and directed it to submit a list of demand in 10 days.

It is a pity that India, which exports 2.5 million tonnes of polymers (a key raw material for making plastic products), is a major importer of finished products from other countries, he said.

Import duty revision

The industry wants the Government to double import duty on finished plastic products to 15 per cent. Unfortunately, the export duty on polymers and import duty on finished products are pegged at the same level of 7.5 per cent, he said.

To top it all, he said, plastic products are being dumped duty-free from countries such as Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia that have signed free trade agreement with India.

Upgradation fund

The industry has also sought technology upgradation fund of ?20,000 crore for five years.With an additional capacity of one million tonnes of polymers going on stream in next one year, the upgradation fund will help the industry focus on value added finished products.

“The fund would not only restrict export of energy-intensive polymers but also bring down import of finished plastic products,” said Desai.

Source:- thehindubusinessline.com

Ap Makes Red Sanders Sale Attractive To Foreign Buyers

The Andhra Pradesh government has introduced multiple safeguards in favour of the prospective buyers of red sanders wood while revising the auction schedule aimed at enhancing the foreign participation to get maximum returns.

As many as 140 overseas buyers, including 109 people from China, besides 275 Indian visitors had so far made a physical inspection of the red sanders lots located at various depots of the forest department in the state, according to forest department authorities.

“The response from overseas buyers exceeded all our expectations. During the 2008 sale, there were only handful of foreign buyers,” said PK Jha, additional principal chief conservator of forests, on Saturday while explaining the last minute changes related to the sale process of 4,160 tonnes of the wood in log form.

According to Jha, the government has decided to conduct the e-tendering-cum-e-auction process from October 10-17, instead of September 19-26 as the Chinese embassy had requested for a 15-day window at the end the road shows for the participation of Chinese nationals.

The government agencies will now take the full responsibility of delivering the red sanders consignment up to the loading point from any port along with police security to every successful bidder and will take all the statutory permissions on their behalf. The government will pay six per cent interest on the money paid towards the purchase of red sanders in case the sale process is not completed in three months.

The names of the bidders will only remain with MSTC Limited, which will conduct the sale process, while the state government will approve the successful bids within a week on receipt of the information from the central government’s trading agency. These safeguards were introduced to address some of the apprehensions expressed by the overseas buyers during their interactions with the government authorities, according to AV Joseph, chief principal conservator of forests.

The state forest officials are leaving for China on Monday to conduct road shows at Xian You and Beijing and then to Tokyo in Japan before returning to India. China is the biggest importer of red sanders. The authorities are expecting to get a price in the range of Rs 20-40 lakh per tonne depending on the grade.

The international agencies had given one time exemption to India for sale of this protected plant species, which is being used for medicinal and other purposes in China and other countries. Of this, AP was given a quota of over 8,000 tonne. The Director General Foreign Trade (DGFT) has allowed the state government to sell half of this quantity in the first phase.

Source:- business-standard.com

Australian Customs For Closer Ties With Indian Customs Agency

Australia and India have agreed to an annual cycle of joint working group to promote closer cooperation between the customs agencies of the two countries.

The joint working group mechanism will focus on sharing of technical expertise, people exchange and information exchange, the Chief Executive of Australian Customs and Border Protection, Mike Puzzello, said.

Plans are afoot to move from a transaction-by-transaction-based approach to information sharing to a more institutionalised arrangement, Puzzello told Business Line in an interview here.

Puzzello, who was in the apital for the inaugural meeting of the Joint Working Group, said both sides will work towards rapid dissemination of information if not real time information exchange.

Asked to comment on the current level of cooperation between the customs agencies of the two counties, he said it was good.

"It can be much better now that the Prime Ministers of both the countries have set very ambitious goals and targets to achieve."

Besides the bilateral talks with Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) Chairperson, JM Shanthi Sundharam, Puzzello also met Director General of Narcotics Control Board and Indian Coast Guard.

In his meetings with Indian counterparts, Puzzello discussed regional security issues not just in Indian ocean but across the broader Asia Pacific region.

"Australia and India should think as to how their bilateral partnership can be used to drive regional leadership."

While India was the past Chair of Indian Ocean Regional Association, Australia is the current Chair.

"One of the consistent discussion points was how do we work together across the Indian ocean region to faciltate legitimate trade and travel and work against smuglers, criminals and terrorists," Puzzello said.

Australia intends to investigate the Indian Authorised Economic Operators (AEO) programme put in place by customs authorities here.

This will help Australia in rolling out its Trusted, Tried Out Programme--equivalent of AEO--from, say July 1, 2016.

AEO programme is now the preferred model for customs collaboration around the world.

The biggest benefit is dramatic reduction in paperwork for companies and cutting down of red tape, Puzzello said.

He also said mutual recognition of each other's programme was also a distinct possibility in the coming years.

Source :- thehindubusinessline.com

Rupee Weakens Past 61.07 Per Dollar

The Indian rupee weakened past the 61 mark against the dollar in morning trade on Monday, tracking weak Asian currencies and ahead of Wholesale Price Index (WPI)-based inflation data for August.

The government will release WPI inflation data later in the day on Monday. Bloomberg expects WPI inflation will be 4.33% for August as compared with 5.19% in July.

The local unit opened at 60.93 per dollar and soon touched a intra-day low of 61.07—a level last seen on 14 August. At 9.41am, the home currency was trading at 61.03, down 0.60% from its previous close of 60.66. India’s benchmark index, Sensex, was trading at 26,853 points on BSE, down 0.8%.

Most of the Asian currencies were trading lower. The Indonesian rupiah was trading down 0.66%, Malaysian ringgit 0.38%, Philippines peso 0.24%, Singapore dollar 0.19%, South Korean won 0.15%, China offshore 0.08% and Thai baht 0.07%.

The yield on India’s 10-year benchmark bond was trading at 8.489%, compared with its Friday’s close of 8.503%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.

Since the beginning of this year, the rupee has gained 1.88%, while foreign institutional investors have bought $14.10 billion from local equity markets.The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 84.177, down 0.07% from the previous close of 84.240.

A US Federal Reserve paper released on 8 September showed investors underestimated the speed at which the Fed might raise interest rates. That raised concerns the US central bank could signal an earlier-than-expected rate hike at its next policy meeting on 16-17 September.

Any decision by the Fed to raise rates, which have been held near zero since December 2008, will have implications for India, as it could lead to capital outflows, weakening the rupee and inflating costs of imported commodities, Reuters reported.

On Friday, the government issued Index of Industrial Production (IIP) and Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based inflation data. IIP rose 0.5% in July as compared with 3.9% in the previous month, the slowest in four months. Data released by the statistics office showed CPI inflation slowed to 7.8% in August from nearly 7.96% in the previous month.

Source:- livemint.com

Commissioner (A) had to determine tax demand while setting aside order dropping demand proposed in S

Service Tax : Where Commissioner (Appeals) sets aside adjudication order dropping demand proposed in show-cause notice, Commissioner (Appeals) must also pass order determining demand payable by assessee.

No penalty for setting off unabsorbed depreciation and losses against capital gains on wrong advice

IT: No penalty is to be levied under section 271(1)(c) for setting off brought forward loss and depreciation on wrong advice of counsel

Interest couldn’t be demanded on belated payment of additional sales tax under Tamil Nadu Additional

CST & VAT : Where assessee paid additional sales tax, as provided under Tamil Nadu Additional Sales Tax Act, 1970, belatedly and thereupon Assessing Authority levied interest upon assessee under section 24(3) of Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959, interest could not be demanded, as there was no substantive provision in 1970 Act itself

Supreme Court allows revenue to withdraw SLP with a liberty to file review petition before High Cour

IT : Supreme Court could allow revenue to withdraw special leave petition filed before it with liberty to file review petition before High Court

Activity of joining rail sections at railway site would not be covered under ‘Business Auxiliary Ser

Service Tax : Activity of joining rail sections at railways site via thermite welding process does not amount to 'production of processing of goods', as it does not result in deliverable goods to railways, hence, it is not covered under Business Auxiliary Service

Corpus donations of private religious trust weren’t taxable; ITAT denies to interfere with order of

IT : Where Commissioner (Appeals) relying upon three decisions of different Benches of Tribunal, accepted assessee's claim that donation received from 'B' was towards corpus of trust, in view of fact that facts in cases relied upon were identical to facts involved in assessee's case, impugned order did not require any interference

Sum paid for importing service manuals which contained instructions for usage of equipment wasn't ro

IT/ILT : Where assessee, in course of business of importing and selling of visual and information technology equipments like projectors, LCD cables, projector lamps etc. within India, also imported manuals and software which contained operating and servicing instructions for use of those equipments, since said service manuals were not protected by any licence or copyright and they could be used by anybody who purchased them without any restriction on right to transfer or usage, it was a case of

While following its earlier order ITAT shall indicate issue dealt in it and date of previous judgmen

IT/ILT : Where any order passed by Tribunal in prior assessment years is followed for successive years in relation to same assessee, then, reference to order must be correctly denoted

Department couldn’t levy personal penalty on employees when penalty on Co. was already set aside

Excise & Customs : Where penalty levied on company has been set aside on ground that there is not even prima facie case of fraud, collusion, evasion, etc., personal penalty levied on manager/authorised signatory cannot be sustained

All parties to suit were to be referred to single Arbitral Tribunal if an arbitration agreement exis

Arbitration Act: Where all parties to suit were partners in three partnership firms and, in between them arbitration agreements existed, all parties were to be referred to a single Arbitral Tribunal

Builder undertaking development agreements through society was liable to ST under real estate Agent’

Service Tax : Where a builder : (a) forms society to buy land in its name and finances said purchase by extending loan to society; (b) sells building units in name of society thereby society collecting sale proceeds; and (c) recovers cost of construction and other charges, etc. from society; builder would be regarded as providing 'construction/real estate agent' services to society and liable to service tax

Exp. on non-compete fees is in nature of capital exp.; eligible for depreciation, rules HC

IT : Expenditure incurred for acquiring non-compete right is capital in nature entitled to depreciation under section 32(1)(ii)

High Court interprets words ‘substantially’; lays down 50% threshold for indirect transfer of capita

IT/ILT : There can be no recourse to Explanation 5 to enlarge scope of section 9(1) so as to bring to tax gains or income that may arise from transfer of an asset situated outside India, which does not derive bulk of its value from asset situated in India

No TDS liability of individual under sec. 194H if his turnover didn’t exceed sec. 44AB limit in prec

IT: Where assessee's turnover did not exceed prescribed amount in immediate preceding year, TDS provisions under section 194H was not applicable

Inland haulage charges are part of income from operation of ships; not taxable under India-Belgium D

IT/ILT: Inland Haulage Charges earned by assessee being part of income derived from operation of ships in international traffic are covered under article 8 of Double Tax Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) entered into between India and Belgium and consequently not taxable as business profits in India

Commission earned on meal/gift vouchers facilitating promotion of affiliate’s business was taxable a

Service Tax : Charges/Commission earned by provider of meal/gift vouchers from affiliates where meal/gifts can be received by public using such vouchers is towards promotion of business of affiliates and is liable to service tax under Business Auxiliary Services

SC: Bank manager couldn’t be charged with conspiracy who hadn’t honoured stolen cheque on customer’s

CL: Where one of stolen cheques of accountholder presented in bank was not honoured as per his only instructions, criminal complaint against branch manager for not honouring cheque

Dealer liable for penalty if supplier had admitted issuance of fake Cenvatable invoices without move

Excise & Customs : Where raw material supplier has admitted that he had issued Cenvatable invoices without actually supplying goods and assessee-dealer cannot prove certainly that goods received by him were actually duty-paid and were of said supplier, said facts are sufficient to prove 'fraud' and assessee-dealer is liable to penalty

Bank couldn’t be treated as an assessee-in-default merely due to some technical defects in Form 15G

IT: Where depositors had furnished declaration in prescribed manner requesting deductor not to deduct tax at source, deductor was under a statutory obligation not to deduct tax and in aforesaid circumstances, deductor could not be penalized for not deducting tax at source

GTA service provider isn’t liable for ST, irrespective of status of consignee when consignor is a co

Service Tax : If consignor of goods is a company/factory under Factories Act, then, as per Rule 2(1)(d)(v) of Service Tax Rules, 1994, irrespective of status of consignee, person liable to pay service tax is person liable to pay freight and, therefore, no service tax can be demanded from Goods Transport Agency

Interest paid to minors on their deposits with firm was to be clubbed under sec. 64 as it was capita

IT : Where amount credited in account of minor in partnership firm was to be treated as capital investment, interest paid on such account would be clubbed under section 64(1)(iii) with income of assessee

CLB constitutes Mumbai bench for 'Lok Adalat' to be held in Sept. and Oct. 2014

COMPANIES ACT, 1956 : Section 10E of The Companies Act, 1956, read with Regulation 4 of The Company Law Board Regulations, 1991 – Constitution of Board of Company Law Administration – Constitution of Mumbai Bench – Amendment In Order of Even Number, Dated 25-9-2013

Ministry frames guidelines for nomination of members of SEZ authority

SEZ : Guidelines for Nomination as Member of SEZ Authority

CLB brings all States of Southern India under the jurisdiction of Chennai Bench

COMPANIES ACT, 1956 : Section 10E of The Companies Act, 1956, read with Regulation 4 of The Company Law Board Regulations, 1991 – Constitution of Board of Company Law Administration – Revision in Work Distribution of Chennai Bench – Amendment In Order of Even Number, Dated 25-9-2013

Rectification wasn’t permissible if no mistake was pointed out in order of ITAT; review petition dis

IT : Where assessee had filed review petition against order of Tribunal and grounds raised therein were general in nature and further assessee could not point out any specific mistake in said order, petition was to be dismissed

Royalty on variants of product couldn't be disallowed if royalty on original products were considere

IT/ILT: Where TPO had accepted 'most appropriate method' followed by assessee and approved arm's length price of royalty rate determined by asseesee, with respect to payment of royalty of products, claim of assessee on payments of royalty on variants of products was to be allowed

Imparting training for medical transcription and to insurance agents with aid of technology is vocat

Service Tax : Technology based training for employment skill development and training courses for medical transcription, insurance agents etc. are vocational course and are exempt from service tax

HC gave relief to director as show cause notice alleging default was issued after one year of offenc

CL: Show-cause notice issued beyond period of one year of commission of offence was barred by limitation

Orders/notices sent by CESTAT registry deemed to be duly served if they weren’t retuned back

Excise & Customs : Where notices/orders sent by CESTAT Registry are not returned back, they are to be treated as served on assessee, especially when, subsequent communications at same address were duly received by assessee

Scrutiny assessment set aside by HC as it was made without issuing notice under section 143(2)

IT : Where no notice was issued under section 143(2) to assessee, assessment made under section 143(3) was to be set aside

Unjust enrichment would not apply to refund of ST paid under reverse charge when services weren’t ac

Service Tax : If assessee has paid service tax under reverse charge without actually receiving service from abroad, said services cannot be charged to service tax and amount thereof is liable to refunded without applying unjust enrichment, as burden of service tax has been borne by assessee

AO couldn’t treat agricultural income as income from other sources when assessee had filed due recor

IT: Where assessee, in support of his claim of earning agricultural income, produced relevant agricultural record and, moreover, income so earned had been returned and accepted by Department year after year, impugned order passed by Assessing Officer that income in question was taxable as 'income from other sources' was to be set aside

HC upholds reassessment as assessee failed to pay capital gains tax under domestic laws in view of I

IT/ILT: Where in terms of article 14 of Indo-UK DTAA, assessee was a resident of India and he had to pay capital gains in terms of domestic law of this country, if he did not pay same and merely gave a note along with returns, to which Assessing Officer had not applied his mind, reassessment was justified

Month means British calendar month and not '30 days' for purpose of filing an appeal before Commissi

Service Tax : For appeal before Commissioner (Appeals), time-limit for filing appeal has been expressed in 'months' whereunder 'month' would mean 'British Calendar Month' and cannot be construed '30 days'

Mere solvency of a Co. won’t be a valid ground to set aside sec. 434 notice requiring payment of deb

CL : Solvency of company would not constitute a stand alone ground for setting aside a notice under section 434(1)(a) meaning thereby that if a debt is undisputedly owing, then it has to be paid

SEBI's norms raising investment limit of anchor investor is applicable to issuers filing offer docs

SEBI : Amendments to SEBI (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2009 - Increasing The Investment Bucket for Anchor Investor and Regulations Concerning The Preferential Issue Norms

All directors other than promoters can't be deemed as willful defaulters; RBI's master circular is a

CL : Reserve Bank of India was within its powers to issue RBI Master Circular DBOD No.CID-BC 1/20.16.2003/2011-12, dated 2-7-2012 relating to wilful default and wilful defaulters -Master Circular does not suffer from vice of impermissible delegation of a legislative power. It confirms exactly to power granted - Master Circular has force of law and could be termed as a statutory circular

India Says Not Considering Immediate Gold Import Duty Cut

India is not considering an immediate cut in gold import duties, Trade Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Wednesday, extending a policy that has helped narrow the country's trade deficit but is believed to have led to an increase in smuggling.

India's trade and current account deficits have narrowed sharply since New Delhi raised the duty on gold imports to 10 percent from 2 percent through a series of steps last year, helping revive confidence in the country's economy.

But the duties have also fuelled a belief that smuggling has surged, causing some suspicions about distorted data and raising expectations the government will ease some of its restrictions.

"Yes, the current account deficit has come down. But immediately, there is no plan to reduce import duty," Trade Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told reporters.

"I cannot say whether gold smuggling has increased because of hike in import duty," she added in reply to a question.

India will maintain the import duty just as the country is about to enter the key festival period, which traditionally leads to a surge in demand for gold that are given out as gifts.

Although the move at first caused gold prices to rise, they have fallen this year due to a decline in global markets and a stronger rupee.

Source:- af.reuters.com

India Drops Plan To Impose Solar-Panel Duties On Foreign Firms

India's new government has decided not to slap anti-dumping duties on solar panel imports from the United States, China and other countries, reversing a policy of the previous administration, a minister said Wednesday.

Under the previous left-leaning Congress government, India announced it would impose duties on imported solar panels to shield domestic manufacturers who said their prices were being undercut by foreign rivals.

The order to impose the duties emerged from a government-ordered probe launched in 2011. But the decision needed to be validated by the finance ministry within a certain time period before it could be implemented.

"There was no notification [of the Congress government's order]. We allowed it to lapse," junior finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman told a news conference.

New right-wing Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who took office in late May as head of the Bharatiya Janata Party government, is a strong proponent of solar power and set up various projects when he served earlier as chief minister of the prosperous western state of Gujarat.

Blackouts in India are frequent and solving the country's energy shortage is seen as key to helping power industrial economic growth. In the last few years, India has been flipping the switch on a series of huge new solar energy projects.

Greater economies of scale, better technology and cheap foreign panels that turn sunshine into electricity have hammered down once sky-high solar generation costs to competitive levels.

To build solar plants, India has been importing equipment, mainly from China, but also from the United States and Taiwan. Indian companies have insisted that unless imports are curbed, the country will never develop an indigenous solar industry.

Since 2010, India has hiked installed solar power capacity from a meagre 17.8 megawatts to more than 2,600MW, official figures show, as part of the government's aim to make "the sun occupy center-stage" in the energy mix.

India has set a target of generating 20,000MW of grid-connected solar power and 2,000MW of off-grid generation, such as roof panels, by 2022.

Power Minister Piyush Goyal had said earlier that domestic solar equipment manufacturing capacity of 700MW-800MW was insufficient to meet the government's ambitious solar energy plans.

There was no immediate reaction available from Indian solar equipment manufacturers, many of which have been closing down in the face of foreign competition.

Source:- industryweek.com

Manufacturing Domestic Market Before Exports

The one challenge which is common right across all countries in the world, without exception, is the need to create more jobs. Even a country like Saudi Arabia, which has more than enough resources to take care of its citizens, wants to create jobs.

A job is clearly not just a means of livelihood but also a way of keeping the country's youth constructively engaged.

Further, the one common approach to creating more jobs globally, without exception, is to encourage manufacturing. India is, therefore, not unique in her approach to try and encourage manufacturing to create more jobs.

As every country wants to encourage manufacturing, the room to export is getting increasingly constrained. Countries are competing with each other, using varying toolsto attract investments.

Some like Brazil, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Angola are using the wealth from their natural resources and particularly oil & gas; some like Germany and Scandinavia are using their highly-skilled manpower, some like Singapore and Dubai are using efficient governance and some like China and India are using the demand of their large population.

But it is clear that every country needs some competitive advantage to attract investment in manufacturing.

The two levers that India has with her to attract manufacturing investment are the demand of the domestic market and the quantum of intellectual capital. India has thus far achieved only limited success in using either of these two levers to attract investment in manufacturing.

The first point that we need to accept is that manufacturing in India will succeed only on the basis of the domestic market, and exports can at best be supplementary.

Attempting to base a manufacturing strategy predominantly based on exports will take a long time to achieve because manufacturing in India has competitive disadvantages like high cost of power, high cost of capital, infrastructure bottlenecks and lack of core technology. We, therefore, have to first ensure that our domestic market is attractive in terms of scale, is profitable for manufacturers and is a place which is easy to do business in.

Exports will then follow. It is indeed ironic if on the one hand we position India as a large and attractive market but on the other make policies that essentially rely on promoting exports without addressing the challenges of the domestic market.

It is critical for India to be one homogenous market that provides scale. Uniform taxation, uniform standards, uniform regulation, uniform laws, free movement of goods and people are critical in making this happen. We currently have challenges in each of these areas which present India as a very fragmented market.

Secondly, our own strength in innovation to meet our domestic customer needs will have to precede manufacturing. When we talk about manufacturing in India, it is predominantly based on technology from the developed world. The developed world technology has been essentially designed to meet the requirements of those market, which we then try and tinker with to suit our own local needs. While we in India have done brilliantly in innovating on disruptive business models, we have done little innovation on new products meant for our specific needs.

The process to innovate new products has to begin by a good understanding of market needs and even more importantly, to then convert that understanding into a sharp definition of a product.

Once the product definition has been set , it is a relatively easier job to actually make that product. Converting a market need into a sharp product definition is a rare skill, which is a combination of market understanding, knowledge of technology and entrepreneurship.

It is evident that judgement plays a crucial part in innovation. It is expected that failures will be part of the game. If we are to encourage innovation, then we also need to embrace failures and even celebrate them. Our culture in India does not respect failures and, in fact, ridicules them. This will have to change if we want to get manufacturing going.One way of encouraging innovation and eliminating the "losses" due to failure is to value intellectual property.

Source:- economictimes.indiatimes.com

Service recipient can file refund claim if burden of tax is borne by it

Service Tax : Section 11B of Central Excise Act, 1944 (applicable to service tax) provides for a purchaser/service recipient presenting a claim for refund, provided he is able to establish that he has not passed on burden to another person; hence, refund claim by service recipient for refund of excess service tax borne by him, is valid

Gain arising from sale of inherited land after its conversion into smaller plots was taxable as busi

IT: Where assessee converted ancestral land into smaller plots and after providing road, parking space etc., sold same over a period of years, assessee's claim that he converted capital asset i.e. land into stock-in-trade and, thus, income arising from sale of land was taxable as business income was to be accepted

No input tax credit if VAT return didn’t contain details of input credit and particulars of register

CST & VAT: Where assessee in returns filed had not claimed any input tax credit and they did not contain particulars of registered dealers from whom purchases had been made and actual tax paid on such purchases, assessee was not entitled to input tax credit

Indian Cos. can issue shares to NRs under automatic route if they comply with FDI Sectoral cap and o

FEMA/ILT/INDIAN ACTS & RULES : FEM (Transfer or Issue of Security by A Person Resident Outside India) (Twelfth Amendment) Regulations, 2014 – Amendment in Schedule 1

VAT Rules amended by Rajasthan Govt.; mandating e-registration and initiating Composition Scheme for

CST & VAT/INDIAN ACTS & RULES : Rajasthan Value Added Tax (Amendment) Rules, 2014 – Amendment in Rules 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 31, 38 & Form VAT-45A; Substitution of Rules 9, 12, 15, 19A, 40, 71, 72, Form VAT-01, Form Vat-07A, VAT-08A, Form VAT-10, Form VAT-10A, Form VAT-11, Form VAT-40, Form VAT-40A, Form VAT-58 ; Omission of Rules 12A, 40A, 67, 67A, 67B, 68, 69, 69A, 70, Form VAT-01A, Form VAT-12, Form VAT-16, Form VAT-40, Form VAT-41A and Insertion of Rules 17A, 22A, 79A, Form VAT-06a, Fo

Income generated by Museum from ancillary activities couldn’t be deemed as business receipt; sec. 11

IT : Where assessee, was settled with object of establishing a museum portraying pictures, paintings, antique coins etc., its activities were to be regarded as falling under category of 'general public utility' within meaning of section 2(15)

All types of coachings/training are covered under Commercial trainings services irrespective of degr

Service Tax : Taxability under 'commercial training or coaching' services will arise irrespective of : (a) discipline or academic areas (b) nomenclature or description of institute or establishment, as a coaching or training centre or an educational institution; (c) whether institute or establishment is incorporated by or registered under any law; and (d) distinctions on basis of curriculum, course content, teaching methodology, course duration or otherwise

Erecting bus queue shelters by advertising Co. isn’t pre-operative exp. even if they aren’t yet read

IT: Where in pursuance of contract awarded by NDMC for construction of Bus Queue Shelters (BQS), assessee entered into manufacturing agreement with third party for manufacture and installation of BQS and also made advance payment, assessee's business could be said to commence in relevant year and, therefore, revenue authorities were not justified in rejecting assessee's claim for deduction of certain expenses taking a view that said expenses were in nature of pre-operative expenses as business w

Now 'Telangana' State covered under the jurisdiction of Development Commissioner of Vishakapatnam SE

SEZ/INDIAN ACTS & RULES : Special Economic Zones (Amendment) Rules, 2014 – Amendment in Annexure III

Foreign Co. had to file return in response to sec. 148 notice even if issue of existence of PE was i

IT/ILT: Even where existence of PE of petitioner non-resident company was in dispute, if petitioner had not filed return in response to notice issued under section 148, it did not act strictly in accordance with law

Waiver of loan couldn’t be held as remission under sec. 41(1) if loan amount was never claimed as de

IT: Where principal amount of loan being never been claimed by assessee as its expenditure, its waiver would not amount to income of assessee

Supreme Court allows appellant to produce authorization for complaint filed on dishonor of cheque

Negotiable Instrument: Failure to produce authorisation to file complaint under section 138 could not be ground for dismissal of complaint

Fabricated items supplied to mega-power projects were classifiable as part of such project; eligible

Excise & Customs : Fabricated items falling under Chapter Heading 73.08 of Excise Tariff, supplied to mega power projects are prima facie 'parts' of said projects falling under Heading 98.01 and are eligible for exemption

HC asks for afresh proceeding as ITAT simply allowed exp. in year of payment of TDS without consider

IT : Where without interpreting law, Tribunal, simply based on concession given by counsel, proceeded to opine that expenditure could be claimed in year of payment of TDS, matter was to be remanded

Services provided by common effluent treatment plant are exempt from service tax

Service Tax : Services provided by Club or Association in relation to common facilities set up for treatment and recycling effluent and solid waste, with financial assistance from Central & State Government, are exempt

No adjustment of excess payment of ST without intimation when amount of adjustment exceeded one lakh

Service Tax : Where assessee had made adjustment of excess service tax paid exceeding limit Rs. 1 lakh and further, no intimation was actually served on Department within 15 days' time, benefit of adjustment could not be allowed to assessee; but, penalties were waived in view of bona fide belief

Deputation of persons for exchange of Forex between licensed money changers isn’t in violation of FE

FERA : In case of exchange of foreign currency between two licenced full fledged money changers through persons deputed by them is not violative of FERA or Memorandum of FLM

No withholding taxes from freight paid to foreign shipping Co. or to its agent which was assessed un

IT/ILT: Where assessee claims that tax is not required to be deducted at source as payment of freight has been made to foreign shipping company, in such a case, assessee has to show that shipping companies to whom payments have been made are not only non-residents but also that they have been assessed under section 172

Steel Min Asks Finmin To Roll Back Duty Of Coking Coal Imports

The Steel and Mines Ministry has sought rollback of 2.5 per cent duty on coking coal imports, imposed in the last Budget, to unburden domestic steel makers.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in Budget 2014-15 had imposed 2.5 per cent duty on coking coal imports, which the steel industry had said could lead to an increase in cost of steel production by Rs. 200 a tonne.

“We have written to the Finance Ministry urging to bring down the import duty to nil. However, we are yet to hear from the Finance Ministry,” a senior steel ministry official said.

“Coking coal is an essential raw material for the making of steel and our steel makers do not get them adequately from domestic sources. Hence, they have to import them from abroad. We believe the cost of raw material should always be lower,” he said.

Reacting to the Budget proposal, domestic steel makers had said that in view of the current shortage of domestic coal for both steel and power sector, increase in basic customs duty on coking coal “requires to be reconsidered”.

Indian steel makers mostly used imported coking coal for use in the blast furnace and the annual volume goes up beyond 35 million tonnes. This is due to subdued and stagnant supply from state-run Coal India Ltd.Production of one tonne of steel requires 0.8 tonnes of coking coal.

Source:- thehindu.com

India Says Not Considering Immediate Gold Import Duty Cut

The government is not considering an immediate gold import duty cut, Trade Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told reporters on Wednesday.

New Delhi had raised the import duty on the yellow metal last year to 10 percent to limit overseas purchases by the second-biggest bullion consumer and help trim its bloated current account deficit.However, a dramatic improvement in the deficit had raised market expectations of a duty cut.

Source:- in.reuters.com

High Agri Imports Under Govt Lens

Faced with a burgeoning trade deficit due to rising import, the ministry of commerce has identified nine agricultural commodities of which annual import constitutes more than $100 million each for action in this regard.

The commerce ministry initiative is following a directive from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).It has written to the respective sector councils and associations, seeking ways to reduce such imports. The nine commodities are vegetable oils, pulses, fresh fruits, cashew, sugar, alcoholic beverages, processed items, cocoa products and sesame seeds.

One such letter, addressed to the chairman of the Agricultural & Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Apeda) and industry bodies such as the Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA) and Indian Oilseeds Produce and Export Promotion Council, reads: "There is a directive from the Prime Minister's Office on institutionalising import appraisal and reducing import dependence. Department of commerce is required to prepare a policy paper containing strategy, goal, road map and outcome for reducing (such) unwarranted dependence. It has been decided that import items of a value more than $100 mn may be analysed in the first instance."

Edible oil leads the agri commodities' import basket with a 60 per cent share. Pulses (15 per cent), fresh fruits (10 per cent), cashew (six per cent) and sugar (three per cent) also contribute.

India's annual consumption of edible oil is estimated at 19.5 mn tonnes, of which around 60 per cent is met through import, largely from Indonesia and Malaysia. The dependence on imported pulses is 18 per cent of the total 20 mt of annual consumption. The import bill for edible oil was $7,250 mn in 2013-14 ($9,851 mn in 2012-13). Pulses worth $1,828 mn was imported in 2013-14, compared with $2,450 mn the previous year.

“To check import of vegetable oils, we should increase domestic production of oilseeds. At 1,000-1,100 kg per hectare (ha), oilseeds production is half of the global average. Since India’s strength lies in soybean and cotton seed, their production should be increased at least by 50 per cent in the next five years,” said Vijay Data, president of SEA.

It also recommends introduction of genetically modified oilseeds for cultivation.India is also a major importer of fresh fruits and juices to the tune of $1,273 mn (in 2013-14, versus $1,138 mn the previous year).

“The only way to contain import is to increase domestic production. Apart from focus on increasing productivity, we need to concentrate on reducing post-harvest loss and to increase cold storage capacity. Attempts made in the last two Plan periods have resulted in an increase in pulses production by three mt to 17 mt (yearly) now. That efforts need to be continued to make India self reliant in pulses in the next five-six years,” said Santosh Sarangi, chairman of Apeda.

For this, we needs to invest immensely on research and development. According to Bimal Kothari, vice-president of India Pulses and Grains Association, our average yeild of pulses is one of the lowest in the world.Abinash Verma, director-general of India Sugar Mills Association, wants import duties raised to stop a supply glut.

Source:- business-standard.com

Rupee Weakens To Near One-Month Low On Fed Worries

The rupee weakened to its lowest in nearly a month on Wednesday tracking falls in emerging markets due to worries the U.S. Federal Reserve would raise interest rates earlier than expected, although exporters' dollar sales capped broader falls.

Emerging markets tracked falls in Wall Street and a rise in U.S. bond yields after a San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank paper released on Monday showed investors underestimated the speed at which the Fed might raise interest rates.

That raised concerns the U.S. central bank could signal an earlier-than-expected rate hike at its next policy meeting on Sept. 16-17.

The partially convertible rupee traded at 60.8850/8950 per dollar, its weakest level since Aug. 14, at 12:50 p.m. The rupee had ended trade on Tuesday at 60.60/61.Traders expect the rupee to hold in a 60.70 to 61.00 to a dollar range in the rest of the session.

Source:- businesstoday.intoday.in

Service of notice even at wrong address deemed as valid service if it was received and acknowledged

Service Tax : If notices, orders, etc. addressed at wrong Plot No. are ultimately received and acknowledged by assessee, same are to be treated as validly served for purposes of section 37C of the Central Excise Act, 1944.

Advance to a screenplay writer for sale of rights of his film to be taxed in year in which he perfor

IT : Where assessee, a screenplay writer, received certain amount as advance for sale of negative rights of his film which was to be adjusted subsequently on signing formal agreement with purchaser, amount so received was to be considered as income of assessee in year in which he performed his part of work and not during relevant assessment year even if assessee was following cash system of accounting

Input tax credit of purchases made from first registered dealer and resold to another registered dea

CST & VAT : Where assessee, a registered dealer, in connection with its business had purchased plant and machinery from another registered dealer and subsequently it had resold said assets (entire undertaking) to a third registered dealer, assessee was entitled to input tax credit on purchases of assets

Income from leasing of equipment wasn’t income from house property if earlier it was taxed as busine

IT : Once department had assessed income from hiring of office equipments along with property as business income in preceding assessment year, then without anything being brought on record to deviate from said finding, revenue could not assess such hire charges as income from property

Municipalities are liable to ST on bus fee or advertisement revenue collected by them

Service Tax : Since amounts collected by municipality in name of bus fee or advertisements, etc. do not go in Government Treasury, but go to funds of Municipality, prima facie, they cannot be regarded as statutory activity and are not eligible for benefit of Circular No. 89/7/2006-ST dated 18-12-2006

Revised audit report filed after completion of assessment should be considered by CIT to allow sec.

IT: Even if revised audit report for purpose of claiming deduction under section 80-IB is filed after date of passing of assessment order, same should be taken into cognizance for examining allowability of deduction

Govt. notifies comprehensive DTAA with Bhutan

IT/ILT : Section 90 of the Income-Tax Act, 1961 - Double Taxation Agreement - Agreement for Avoidance of Double Taxation and Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with Foreign Countries - Bhutan

Tribunal’s decision was rectifiable if it was based on presumed facts, says CESTAT

Excise & Customs : Where Tribunal, based on no records or findings, presumed erroneous facts which led to erroneous decision, then, since these facts are apparent on record, it should be rectified.

Comparables with high turnover, abnormal profits and high capital infrastructure to be excluded for

IT/ILT: Where TPO made certain addition to assessee's ALP in respect of providing customer support services to its AE, in view of fact that one of comparables selected by TPO was improper as it was earning abnormal profits on account of its huge turnover and high capital infrastructure, impugned addition was to be set aside

Extended period was not invokable if assessee had duly disclosed all details in ST-3 returns

Service Tax : Where demand is based on ST-3 returns i.e., all details were disclosed in periodical returns by assessee and figures indicated were not wrong, charge of suppression cannot be invoked and extended period cannot be invocable

‘Capital’ includes borrowed capital to compute limit on investment by trust in institute where trust

IT: Word 'capital' as appearing in section 13(4) includes not only share capital but even borrowed capital and, therefore, where investment made by assessee-trust in another institute in which trustees were directors, did not exceed 5 per cent of total capital of said Institute, assessee's claim for exemption of income could not be denied on account of violation of provisions of section 13(4)

Interior work of existing buildings isn't 'completion and finishing services'; eligible for abatemen

Service-tax : Completion and finishing services necessarily relate to new building or a civil structure; activities of repair, alteration, renovation or restoration of existing building cannot be classified as 'completion and finishing services' and benefit of abatement under Notification No. 1/2006-S.T. cannot be denied thereon