Time-limit to apply for excise duty refund doesn't apply to rebate claims under Rule 18 of Excise

Excise & Customs : Rule 18 of Central Excise Rules, 2002 is to be construed independently and same, by itself, does not stipulate a period of limitation; hence, time-limit of section 11B of Central Excise Act, 1944 cannot apply to rebate claims under said rule 18

If tax on accounted sales of assessee is already paid by its sister concern, benefit thereof to be e

IT : Where assessee explained difference between stock found during survey and that found in books of account by stating that sale of certain finished goods by its sister concern was wrongly shown to be its sale but revenue authorities found that such sale was unaccounted sale made by assessee to its sister concern, addition was made to assessee's income

Remission of trading liability can’t be treated as part of business income for computing sec. 10A re

IT : While computing amount of relief under section 10B, freight and telecommunication charges were to be excluded from both export turnover as well as total turnover

Rate of interest to be charged for delay payment of duty depends on notifications issued from time t

Excise & Customs : Payment of interest is automatic irrespective of reason for delay in payment of duty and rate of interest to be charged depends upon notification issued from time to time

Effluent couldn't be regarded as goods; its transportation through pipeline not liable to service ta

Service Tax : Movable property in general trade parlance is considered as a property in goods which can fetch certain price; hence, effluent waste, which is not being purchased by any person, cannot be regarded as 'goods' and transport thereof through pipeline cannot be charged to service tax

HC denied exemption to hospital superficially working with philanthropic objects but in reality work

IT: Existence of an institution ostensibly for philanthropic purpose and in reality for profit, would not qualify that institution for deduction under provisions of section 10(23C)(via)

Govt. notifies ‘Dosti Corporation (Pinnacle), Mumbai’ for the purposes of deduction u/s 80-IA

IT : Section 80-IA, Sub-Clause (iii) of Sub-Section (4) of The Income-Tax Act, 1961 - Deductions - Profits and Gains from Industrial Undertakings, or Enterprises Engaged in Infrastructure Development, etc. - Notified Undertaking – Dosti Corporation (PINNACLE), Mumbai

Cos with related party transactions of upto 15% of revenue can be selected as comparables

IT/ILT : While determining ALP of international transactions entered into by assessee with its AE on basis of TNMM, companies having related party transactions upto 15 per cent of total revenue can be included

Dept. can invoke extended period of limitation provided assessee's action constitutes suppression of

Service Tax : Where adjudication order does not specify acts/omissions constituting 'suppression', mere bald statement that 'suppression with an intent to evade service tax was well-established' amounts to a 'non-speaking order' and, therefore, consequent invocation of extended period of limitation is bad

Loss arising on intra-day trading in shares wasn’t speculative if such transactions were in nature o

IT : Before disallowing assessee's claim of loss on account of intraday trading in shares as speculative loss, a clear finding was to be given as to whether intraday purchases and sales made were jobbing transactions

HC admits winding-up plea for part of the amount as exact amount of unpaid liability wasn’t clear

CL: Where defense raised by respondent-company against winding up proceedings initiated against it by appellant-company on its inability to pay transportation charges were not clear and appellant also could not support its claim being strictly as per approved rate, petition was admitted for part amount

Orissa VAT Audit assessment isn't possible after completion of assessment of escaped turnover

CST & VAT: Orissa VAT - Audit assessment under section 42 cannot be made after completion of assessment of escaped turnover under section 43 for self same tax period(s)

Sum Received in lieu of relinquishment of right to sue 'Coca-Cola' was capital receipt: ITAT

IT : Relinquishment of right to sue is neither a capital asset nor taxable under section 28 and receipt of any sum against relinquishment is a capital receipt

Now SCs/RCs can fix resolution period of BIFR approved restructuring proposals similar to other secu

NBFCs : Resolution Period for BIFR/CDR/JIf Cases

SEBI issues master circular for Depositories

SEBI : Master Circular for Depositories

Cenvat credit could be used to pay service tax under reverse charge on GTA service prior to 01-03-20

Service Tax : Prior to 1-3-2008, Cenvat Credit may be used to pay service tax payable under reverse charge on Goods Transport Agency's Services

Sec. 69 additions deleted as purchase of land was funded by advance sum received from buyers of anot

IT : Where assessee was an intermediary engaged in developing land owned by others and selling them in plots to buyers, no addition could be made on ground that assessee made investment in purchasing lands

AO gets flak from High Court for initiating proceedings for assessee-in-default after 9 years

IT : Initiation of proceedings under section 201 against assessee after 9 years from end of relevant financial year was time barred

Excise exemption available to Indian manufactures has to be extended to CVD payable by importers, ru

Excise & Customs : Rate of CVD would be only that which an Indian manufacturer would pay under Excise Act; hence, where cars manufactured in India are eligible for excise exemption in India in hands of 'manufacturer', said exemption would extend to CVD on imported cars payable by 'importer' and cannot be denied to 'importer' merely because 'excise exemption notification' uses word 'manufacturer'

SC admits. SLP to decide if satisfaction against other than searched person can be recorded even aft

IT : SLP granted against order of High Court where it was held that Assessing Officer is bound to record satisfaction within meaning of section 158BD within two year time period stipulated in section 158BE(1)

FM’s Statement in Rajya Sabha on issue of MAT on FIIs; Committee constituted to give recommendations

IT/ILT : Section 115JA of the Income-Tax Act, 1961 – Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) – Text of Statement Made by Finance Minister in Rajya Sabha on 7-5-2015 Relating to Mat on FIIs

CBDT's instruction for filing appeal would also apply to pending appeals; ITAT considers National Li

IT: Monetary limits for filing revenues appeals as per the latest instructions u/s 268A shall apply not only to prospective appeals but also to pending appeals. Monetary limits for filing revenues appeals as per the latest instructions shall apply to pending appeals unless the exception indicated in the instructions exists at the time of hearing the appeal.

Principle of unjust enrichment applies to duty paid on captive goods if their cost is included in fi

Excise & Customs : Capital goods used for pollution control must be regarded as used in manufacture, hence, refund of excess duty paid on such capital goods is hit by doctrine of unjust enrichment; to rule out said doctrine, assessee must demonstrate that, in costing of final product, cost of capital goods was not taken into consideration

Profit arising from sale of scrap resulting out of manufacturing process would be eligible for sec.

IT-I: Interest income earned from fixed deposits made out of profits and gains of undertaking would not be treated as income derived from business of industrial undertaking for purpose of granting relief under section 80-IC

Cabinet approves revised India-Korea DTAA; includes LOB clause, rationalizes tax rates on dividend,

IT/ILT : Section 90 of the Income-Tax Act, 1961 – Double Taxation Agreement – Revised Agreement between India and Republic of Korea for Avoidance of Double Taxation and Prevention of Fiscal Evasion of Taxes on Income

Complaint filed for defective goods within 3 years of expiry of guarantee period wasn’t barred by li

MRTP: Suit in respect of supply of defective hammer could be filed within three years of expiry of guarantee period and, therefore, compensation application filed in respect of that hammer just after two years of expiry of guarantee period would not be barred by limitation

Even use of other brand's name on invoices rather than on goods would lead to denial of SSI exemptio

Excise & Customs : It is not necessary that brand/trade name/mark must be affixed on goods; marketing/selling under brand name of other person by using other's brand on invoices, also disentitles an assessee from claiming SSI-exemption

Co. providing software support services isn’t comparable with an entity engaged in software developm

IT/ILT : A company engaged in software licence and related services cannot be compared to software development service provider

Compliant filed for defective goods within 3 years of expiry of guarantee period wasn’t barred by li

MRTP: Suit in respect of supply of defective hammer could be filed within three years of expiry of guarantee period and, therefore, compensation application filed in respect of that hammer just after two years of expiry of guarantee period would not be barred by limitation

Value of factory portion let out to subsidiary Co. for carrying out job work for assessee was includ

IT: Where assessee let out a portion of factory building to subsidiary company for carrying out job work on its behalf, said portion could not be said to be used by assessee for its own purpose of manufacturing in terms of section 40(3)(vi) of Finance Act, 1983, and, thus, value of said portion was to be included in assessee's net wealth

CLB isn't conferred with jurisdiction under Cos Act to adjudicate upon validity of allotment of shar

CL: Section 111A only deals with transfer and transmission of share cases and, therefore, CLB does not have jurisdiction under section 111A to decide validity of allotment of shares

Cash seized during search can be adjusted against advance tax liability

IT : Cash seized during search might be adjusted against advance tax liability and, thus, assessee would not be liable to pay interest under section 234B

Sponge Iron Units Upbeat About Demand Revival

With imports of ferrous scrap coming to a standstill, demand for sponge iron is expected to revive in the coming weeks once existing stocks are exhausted.

In its new foreign trade policy, effective April 1, the government has made mandatory videography of loading of scrap containers in the originating country, which importers believe is impossible. So the entire quantity of around 10 million tonnes of steel scrap import is likely to get affected.

“The steel industry uses scrap as a blend to manufacture steel. But sponge iron can be used in place of scrap. This means demand of sponge iron will rise,” said Nitin Johri, Chief Financial Officer of Bhushan Steel.

India’s sponge iron production is estimated at 18 million tonnes annually. But weak demand from domestic steel mills has hit the profitability of sponge iron producers. After falling to the level of Rs 20,000 a tonne early this year, sponge iron is currently quoting at Rs 21,100 a tonne.

“Sponge iron prices remained subdued for the last couple of years due to weak demand from steel mills. Now, with reports of scrap scarcity, sponge iron demand and thereby price will pick up,” said Anand Choudhary, Chhattisgarh Sponge Iron Manufacturers’ Association.

Industry sources estimate sponge iron sales to have grown by 24.3% in 2014-15 due to the stellar performance by large steelmakers. Sponge iron is mainly used to produce long steel which is used in construction. Steel production is expected to grow 6.2% in 2015-16 as against a 4.3% rise in production during April 2014-February 2015.

The government has announced a number of infrastructure projects, which are expected to drive demand for steel. Owing to this, production of sponge iron is also likely to grow by 6.4% in 2015-16.

The prices of iron ore and non-coking coal, which are used to produce sponge iron, have fallen sharply since 2013. Iron ore prices have fallen from $152 per tonne in 2013 to $50 per tonne currently. Although domestic prices were considerably higher compared to international rates, they have witnessed a sharp fall in the second half of 2014-15. Domestic producers of iron ore are also reducing prices to compete with cheaper imports. Therefore, raw material expenses are expected to go up by 11.9%, a tad slower than sales.

Operating profits of the sponge iron industry are estimated to have grown drastically during 2014-15. Operating margin of the industry is likely to have almost doubled to 11.1%. During 2015-16, however, operating margins of the industry is likely to remain flat.

At the net level, the industry is estimated to have turned around in 2014-15 by reporting a net profit equivalent to 2.1% of total income as against a loss equivalent to 3% of total income reported in 2013-14. The net profit margin of the industry is likely to expand by 25 basis points to 2.4% in 2015-16.

Source:business-standard.com
 

Manmade Yarn And Fabric Industry Likely To See Growth Rate Of 5 To 7Pc In This Year

The manmade yarn and fabric industry likely to see growth rate from five to seven percent in 2015-16, with stability in crude oil prices. However, as Indian synthetic yarn and fabric performance has not been one of the best internationally, the domestic market will see the larger growth.

In 2015-16, demand recovery for manmade filament, fibre, yarn and fabric is likely to be backed by an increase in off take by apparel manufacturers, as per CMIE report. The apparel segment consumes a little more than half of the total synthetic fibre produced by the industry.

Manufacturers of home textiles and technical textiles are also expected to increase the usage of synthetic fibres during the year. Also, with crude oil prices expected to remain stable, PTA and mono-ethylene glycol prices are likely to come down, too, leading to a decline in polyester prices by 8 to 12 percent this year.

Domestic and international prices of both the polyester raw materials had plunged in the latter half of 2014-15, led by a steep decline in crude oil prices. So, polyester prices had corrected sharply during the period.

In 2014-15, demand for most manmade filament & fibre due to a decline in prices of cotton yarn was low. Also in July 2014 the levy of anti-dumping duty on import of purified terephthalic acid (PTA), a major input, further hit domestic production of polyester filament yarn.

Sanjay Jain, managing director of TT Ltd and vice-president, Federation of Hosiery Manufacturers Association of India said that unlike the seasonality for cotton, synthetic textile products can be produced through the year. Also, there is expected to be more consumer demand for woven and non-woven synthetic textiles, and the industry anticipates equal growth in the synthetic yarn and fabric market in both segments .

According to O P Lohia, chairman, Indo Rama Synthetics (India) Ltd, with markets like Brazil, Turkey and Egypt under pressure for several reasons, demand for polyester yarn and fabric will be under pressure this year. Also, under the government's new import/export policy, while there is a push for polyester exports, almost all forms of exemptions have been removed, making polyester exports uncompetitive.

Exports could play spoilsport this year. But if the economy does well, this could go up to double digit growth. But the domestic market is anticipated to see normal growth.

Jyotiprasad Chiripal, director at Chiripal Group said that this year with crude oil prices likely to remain stable at $60-50 a barrel, market demand for polyester expected to see rise by 5 to 7 percent. Chiripal Group has a polyester yarn manufacturing capacity of 200 tonnes a day.

Source:yarnsandfibers.com

Iol Chemicals Receives Approval For Metformin In Europe

IOL Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Ltd (IOLCP), one of India’s leading active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturers, has received CEP certification (Certificates of Suitability) for its product metformin hydrochloride from European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines & Healthcare (EDQM) authorities, Council of Europe, France. Metformin hydrochloride is an API used in pharmaceutical products for treating people with type 2 diabetes.
 
The certificate, which is valid for a period of five years from the date of issue (ie April 17, 2015), will enable IOLCP to sell metformin hydrochloride in Europe resulting into increase in higher value added export turnover and margin.
 
“The company has already holding valid CEP certification (Certificates of Suitability) for its products ibuprofen & lamotrigine from European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines & Healthcare (EDQM) authorities, Council of Europe, France and selling these products in Europe,” said IOLCP in a press release.
 
IOL Chemicals, a major player in the organic chemicals space, has wide presence across various therapeutic categories like, pain management, anti-diabetic, anti-hypertensive, anti-convulsants, etc.

Source:business-standard.com
 

Oilmeal Exports Lose Momentum, Down 35% In April

Oilmeal exports fell 35 per cent to 1.62 lakh tonnes in April due to a significant decline in soyabean meal shipments, industry body SEA today said.  The country had shipped 2.48 lakh tonnes of oilmeal, used as animal feed, in the year-ago period.

"In spite of five per cent reward rate under the new Exim Policy and rupee depreciation, the export of soybean meal is at a historical low at just 18,017 tonnes in April," Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA) said in a statement.

Soyabean crushing is very much reduced due to continuous disparity in prices. The prices are high due to heavy speculation in the commodity futures market vis-a-vis lower realisation for meal and oil, affecting overall domestic availability, it said.

Also, the domestic demand for oilmeal has come down, adding to the woes of the industry. "Capacity utilisation is at the lowest and many plants are closed down due to disparity in crushing," SEA added.

According to the SEA data, soyabean exports fell to 18,017 tonnes in April this year as against 89,883 tones in the same month last year while the shipment of rapeseed meal declined to 69,398 tonnes from 1,25,872 tonnes in the review period. Similarly, the shipment of rice bran extraction has dropped to 4,000 tonnes from 12,180 tonnes.

However, the export of castorseed meal went up to 70,641 tonnes in April this year as against 20,378 tonnes in the year ago while the shipment of groundnut extraction rose to 350 tonnes from 132 tonnes in the said period.

A maximum of 1.19 lakh tonnes of oilmeal was exported to South Korea, followed by Thailand (10,500 tonnes), Egypt (9,050 tonnes) and Taiwan (6,411 tonnes) in April. India exports oilmeal to countries such as South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan, Indonesia, Iran and European nations.

Source:business-standard.com

No Duty Free Import Scheme For Raw Sugar Now

In a recent development, government has removed a duty free import scheme for raw sugar, with an aim to cut down on supplies from overseas and help the cash-starved sugar industry in the country.

“Import of “raw sugar” under Duty Free Import Authorisation (DFIA) scheme is withdrawn with immediate effect,” Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has notified earlier this week.

Under the scheme, refiners were allowed to import raw sugar, which had to be processed and then exported.

The government had also recently hiked the import duty on sugar to 40 per cent from 25 per cent and scrapped the excise duty on ethanol made from molasses.

Source:knnindia.co.in

Global Food Import Bill May Fall To Five-Year Low In 2015: Fao

The world’s food import bill may reach a five-year low in 2015, driven by a decline in international prices, low freight rates and a strong dollar, the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said on Thursday.

 

Global cereal production is likely to decline by 1.5% from last year’s record output but the impact will be “cushioned by exceptionally high levels of existing stocks”, according to forecasts in the Food Outlook report released by FAO.

 

FAO forecasts global cereal production in 2015 at 2.5 billion tonnes, lower than last year, but nearly 5% higher than the average of past five years.

 

The driving factor behind the lower food import bill is the slump in commodity prices due to large supplies, FAO said.

FAO’s Food Price Index slid further in April by 1.2% from March, reaching 171 points, its lowest level since June 2010 and 19.2% lower than a year ago.

 

Except for meat, prices of all other commodities tracked by the index, including cereals, sugar, dairy and oils, declined further during the past month.

 

“Several years of solid harvests and stockpiling mean most basic food commodities are in surplus. As a result, the projected drop in cereals output is not expected to impact availability of food for consumption,” the UN body said in a statement.

 

Sugar production is expected to increase only slightly, it added, driven by India, the European Union and Australia, but will surpass consumption for the fifth consecutive season.

 

FAO’s latest estimates do not augur well for Indian farmers who have been battered by low prices of key crops like rice, wheat and sugar, alongside weather uncertainties during the 2014-15 crop season.

 

Source:livemint.com

Materials used in railway tracks meant for handling raw materials/finished goods inside plant are ca

Cenvat Credit : Railway track materials used in 'railway tracks' meant for transporting hot metal from blast furnace to pig casting machines for manufacturing pig iron and also used for handling raw materials and processed/finished goods, are eligible for credit as 'capital goods'

Tribunal couldn't go into merits of case while hearing appeal against order directing pre-deposit of

VAT/CST : Gujarat VAT : Where Commissioner (Appeals) has dismissed appeal for non-compliance with pre-deposit, then, on appeal thereagainst, Tribunal can only decide upon validity of pre-deposit; Tribunal cannot go into merits of assessment order

Civil Court can't return complaint to DRT for lack of jurisdiction, as it can either reject complain

Banking Laws : Pending bank's claim before DRT, civil suit filed by debtor raising counter claim cannot be returned for presentation before DRT; same can only be rejected if barred by law

Assessee is not entitled to interest on delayed payment of interest on tax refund

IT: Assessee is not entitled to any interest for delayed payment of interest under section 244A on principal refund amount

Rupee Breaches 64-Mark Against Dollar

Continuing its weakness, the rupee dipped below the 64-mark to trade at 64.25 against the American currency, its lowest since September 2013 on sustained capital outflows by foreign funds.

Surge in crude oil prices globally too weighed on the rupee, however, dollar’s weakness overseas, capped losses in the local unit, traders said.

Persistent foreign funds outflows, weighed down by lingering concerns over MAT and delay in passage of key tax reform Bills in Parliament, dragged down the rupee to 20-month lows.

The rupee opened lower at 63.75 as against last closing level of 63.54 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market, later it slid further to breach 64-level to trade at 64.25 at mid-session, showing a significant fall of 71 paise.

Meanwhile, Brent prices fell 56 cents to U.S. dollar 67.21 in early Asian trade after hitting 2015-high in the previous session.

Source:thehindu.com

B4U had no Indian PE as it was extending time slots for ads through agents not having authority to c

IT/ILT: Assessee, a Mauritius based company was engaged in business of telecasting TV channels - Assessing Officer held that income of assessee from giving time slots to advertisers through its agents was taxable in India as said agents constituted its PE- within meaning of article 5 of India - Mauritius DTAA - It was noted that assessee carried out entire activities from Mauritius and all contracts were concluded in Mauritius - It was also undisputed that only activity which was carried out in

Dept. can’t levy relying on a provision held unconstitutional by various High Courts

Excise & Customs : Where a rule providing 'penalty equal to duty even without mens rea' has been declared as unconstitutional by various other High Courts and said judgments have not been stayed/overturned by Supreme Court, revenue cannot rely upon said rule to levy penalty equal to duty for unintentional delay in payment of duty

Rule 5 imposing condition of claiming WDV depreciation by due date u/s 139(1) by power generating un

IT : Since under section 32 these is no specific provision of exercising of option of claiming depreciation at percentage specified in second column of table in Appendix-I within a particular time, to said extent condition imposed under rule 5(1A) proviso (ii), is invalid

IRDA revises fee structure for cancellation or change in nomination of insurance policies

INSURANCE/INDIAN ACTS & RULES : IRDAI (Fee for Registering Cancellation or Change of Nomination) Regulations, 2015

Cabinet approved a proposal to allow REITs to access foreign investments

FEMA/ILT : Introduction of Real Estate Investment Trusts (Reits) as An Eligible Financial Instrument/structure under Fema, 1999

Excise duty exemption on goods subject to non-availment of credit has to be extended to importer in

Excise & Customs : Where excise duty in India is NIL subject to 'not taking of credit on inputs/capital goods', an importer is entitled to said exemption in respect of 'CVD equal to excise duty' and in his case, CVD would be equal to excise duty i.e., NIL

Additions affirmed as assessee was charging lesser rate per hour than the comparable entity for simi

IT/ILT : Where certain addition was made to assessee's ALP in respect of rendering software development services to its AE on basis of difference in per hour rates charged by other provider of similar services, said finding being based on material on record, did not require any interference

Materials used in railway tracks meant for handing raw materials/finished goods inside plant are cap

Cenvat Credit : Railway track materials used in 'railway tracks' meant for transporting hot metal from blast furnace to pig casting machines for manufacturing pig iron and also used for handling raw materials and processed/finished goods, are eligible for credit as 'capital goods'

Non-payment of unpaid dividend by Co. is a continuous offence; limitation of bar can't be applied th

CL: Non-payment of unpaid dividend by a company is a continuous offence committed by company of which limitation cannot be bar

Date of original purchase contract and not date of revised one would be considered for sec. 32A allo

IT : Where assessee entered into contract for purchase of certain machinery on 2-5-1986, i.e., before 12-6-1986 being cut off date given in section 32A(8B) but due to escalation in price, revised contract was entered into on 18-8-1986, assets would be presumed to have been purchased before cut off date and would be eligible for investment allowance under section 32A

SEBI prescribes norms on pricing for debt-equity conversion under debt-restructuring scheme; amends

SEBI/INDIAN ACTS & RULES : SEBI (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) (Second Amendment) Regulations, 2015 – Amendment in Regulation 70

ITAT affirms claim of depreciation on leasehold land acquired from State Government

IT : Where assessee, engaged in mineral exploration, claimed deduction of provision for mine closure obligation, Commissioner (Appeals) rightly directed Assessing Officer to ascertain amount of year wise mining and allow mine closure obligation to extent mining was done corresponding to current year

India Manmade Fibre Spun Yarns Export Decline Sharply In March

Spun yarns made of man-made fibres recorded sharp decline in export both in terms of volume and value. During March, a total of 6.85 million kg of man-made spun yarn were exported, comprising 3 million kg of polyester yarn, 2.1 million kg of viscose yarn and 1.7 million kg of acrylic yarn.

Polyester yarn exports were down 31 per cent in value while viscose yarn export was down 16 per cent during the month. Unit price realization was down US cents 10 for viscose and US cents 27 for polyester from a year ago. Acrylic yarn export jumped 12 per cent in volume while unit price realization fell US cents 19 to US$3.02 per kg.

Viscose yarn found buyers in 25 countries in March with exports valued at US$6.46 million or INR39 crore and volume at 2.13 million kg, implying average unit price realization of US$3.04 per kg. This was US cents 18 higher than realized in February and US cents 10 lesser than a year ago. Belgium continued to be the single largest importer of viscose yarn worth US$1.60 million followed by Egypt with imports worth US$0.91 million.

Algeria, Indonesia, Mexico, Japan and Thailand were the new markets for viscose yarns in March 2015, together importing yarn worth US$0.63 million with volumes at 178,000 kg. Meanwhile 12 other countries did not import any viscose yarns this March with majors ones being Syria, Costa Rica and Croatia. Belgium, Portugal, United Kingdom, Sri Lanka and Bangla-desh have cut their import of viscose yarns from India compared to last year.

Polyester spun yarns were exported to 49 countries in March aggregating US$7.08 million with a unit price realization averaging US$2.36 a kg. A total of 3 million kg was exported, of which, 34 per cent was only to Egypt and USA. Nigeria, Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Kenya and Tanzania were the new markets of polyester yarns in March.

Blended spun yarn exports aggregated US$38.6 million in March with volumes at 13.3 million kg. This includes 6.5 million kg of PC yarns worth US$17 million and 4.8 million kg of PV yarns valued at US$13.3 million. Egypt was the largest importer of PC yarn from India followed by Bangladesh, amongst the 49 countries that imported PC yarn from India in March. While Ecua-dor, Vietnam, Lebanon and Peru were the fastest growing markets for PC yarns, Sudan, United Arab Emirates, Djibouti, Honduras and Iran did not import any. Meanwhile, Pakistan, Mexico, Venezuela, Algeria and Israel significantly cut their imports of PC yarns from India. Among new markets Latvia was the major one in March 2015.

Turkey remained the largest importer of Indian PV yarns in March with volumes at 2.65 million kg worth at US$7.3 million, followed by Iran and Pakistan. Egypt and Tunisia were the new ma-jor markets for Indian PV yarn during the month while Tanzania, Spain, South Korea and Colombia did not import any PV yarns from India.

Source:ccfgroup.com

IRDA's approval must to register transfer of shares of Insurance-co. if it changes substantial holdi

INSURANCE/INDIAN ACTS & RULES : IRDAI (Transfer of Equity Shares of Insurance Companies) Regulations, 2015

Credit denied as assessee failed to establish existence of transporter who had supplied inputs to hi

Cenvat Credit : Where assessee claims that inputs were transported by a transporter, assessee must prove existence of said transporter and if such transporter is found to be bogus/non-existent, credit cannot be allowed

Presence of other builders offering Industrial plots in same area rules out dominance of opposite pa

Competition Act : Where land was allotted to various builders for establishment of industrial parks in various parts of Punjab and such builders were offering industrial plots, it could not be said that respondent builder who had cancelled allotment of industrial plot of appellant was in dominant position and had abused its dominance

CIT(A) couldn’t decide TP issue without discussing appropriate method and comparable instances to de

IT/ILT : Where Commissioner (Appeals) did not discuss about appropriate method to determine ALP of international transaction of import of A.C. unit and comparable instances had not been discussed to arrive at correct ALP, matter needed fresh adjudication

Tom Albanese Eyes Return To India Iron Ore Exports

Former Rio Tinto chief executive Tom Albanese says his new business, Indian mining giant Vedanta Resources, is gunning to restart iron ore production as soon as October, after India last week cut its duties on lower-grade exports of the commodity.

The possible return of one-time exporting giant India to the seaborne iron ore export market comes despite claims from Andrew Forrest that no new tonnes outside the major producers will come into production unless the price returns to above $US100 a tonne.

India's paring of its export duty from 30 per cent to 10 per cent, effective June, has made restarting production profitable for some miners in the state of Goa, even at current prices.

Mr Albanese, who was made chief executive of the London-listed Vedanta about a year ago, told Fairfax Media that he welcomed the export duty change, and the Indian mining group would now look to restart Goa production in October, at a run rate of 5.5 million tonnes a year.

"While Goan ores are lower grade than that desired by the Indian steel industry, they have had a long standing market in China," he said.

"Following some additional local and federal environmental permit related matters, we hope to resume production after the monsoon season in October. Obviously, at current low seaborne prices, we have a lot of work to do to ensure our costs are below our net realised prices. With the current mining cap in place, we would look to be mining at about 5.5 million tonnes a year."

India's domestic iron ore sector has been languishing since the Supreme Court ban on mining across three states was issued four years ago. The Supreme Court's ban in Goa was lifted about a year ago, with the condition that mining would be capped at 20 million tonnes a year. But the country's export duty had previously been too hefty to justify exporting.

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Before the ban was slapped on, Vedanta was planning to spend $US500 million ($638 million) to double its then production capacity in Goa to 36 million tonnes.

The industry expects the 20 million-tonne cap will be lifted or adjusted up if the resumption of exporting goes well. Goa was the country's largest exporter of iron ore before the ban.

For smaller, higher-cost players, the wait to return to production will hinge on whether higher prices can incentivise them back online.

Rio Tinto iron ore chief executive Andrew Harding told the Financial Review that "we shouldn't make the mistake of thinking that other countries don't want to grab our market share".

"If iron ore producers exit the market, other suppliers will fill the market void left behind," Mr Harding told the Financial Review.

"India could come online again at a moment's notice. They have previously had a large and viable iron ore export sector and there's nothing to suggest that they won't again."

Mr Forrest last week slammed Rio and BHP Billiton's argument that if they stop increasing production, others will simply fill the gap as a "fallacy".

"I would like to address the fallacy that multi-national companies (Rio and BHP) are protecting Australia's interests by expanding on the false premise that if we don't do it, someone else will," he said last week.

"We are talking about the highest barrier of entry resources industry in the world – you can't switch it on and off."

He also told ABC Business this week that "beneath $100 iron ore … if you look out there in iron ore expansion world, all the lights are off".

Industry modelling puts the break-even for the lower cost Goa producers at roughly $US53 a tonne, and even the slimmest of margins will encourage exporting to China. The reduced export duty rate applies to ore at a grade lower than 58 per cent.

India has swung from one of the world's biggest exporters of iron ore to a net importer in just four years, largely because of the Supreme Court ban on mining across three states. In 2011, India shipped about 100 million tonnes. In the current financial year it is tipped to import about 12 million tonnes of the commodity.

UBS commodities analyst Dan Morgan says India's iron ore industry is a "wild card that needs to be closely monitored". "It is probably too early to make a call, people have been disappointed in the past with India trying to come back from some of this disruption."

Source:afr.com

Banks acquiring equity shares pursuant to debt restructuring needn't comply with disclosure norms un

SEBI/INDIAN ACTS & RULES : SEBI (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) (Second Amendment) Regulations, 2015 – Amendment in Regulation 10

Restricting Cheaper Rice Imports

Rice forms the very foundation of food security in Bangladesh as the Bangalees will continue to eat rice as a staple in the decades ahead as they did since time immemorial. Even in villages today, farmers, who toil day and night, like to take three meals of rice a day. Various kinds of cakes are still being made out of rice.

But then experts have warned, any distortion in rice prices in the country due to losses farmers incur will not only drive farmers from cultivating paddy to other lucrative vocations but also pose a serious threat to food security in the long run. Although the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has predicted good rice harvests in 2015 and 2016, it is still unpredictable as to whether such harvests could be sustained as paddy cultivation is highly dependent on vagaries of nature.

Huge imports of cheaper rice from neighbouring India by the private sector into the country have already made paddy cultivation uneconomic in terms of prices. It was found that imported rice cost 20-25 per cent less than that of local rice. For example, import cost of Swarna variety is Tk 22.5 to Tk 24.5 for a kilogram when it is Tk 27 to Tk 29 for the local variety.

And millers have done what they are bound to do in an open market operation. About 60 per cent of them stopped milling rice in the Aman season.

Official statistics show, private importers brought in 1.3 million tonnes of rice from India in July-April period of this financial year (FY'15) when overall import was 0.374 million tonnes in FY'14.

Realising the gravity of the situation, the ministry of food has already asked the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to impose duty on rice imports to protect the farmers from price debacle. But then the NBR is yet to rise to the occasion.

On the other hand, thanks to timely distribution of seed and fertilizer, favourable weather and uninterrupted supply of electricity, the production of paddy, particularly Aman and Aus, is set to increase in the current fiscal year. The rise is predicted despite a fall in harvesting area.

Aman production of financial year 2014-15 has been estimated around 14 million metric tons, an increase of 1.3 per cent compared with 13 million metric tons in the same period a year earlier, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS). During the period, Aus production has been estimated at 232.8 million metric tons, which is 0.08 per cent higher over the last year despite declining harvesting area by 0.6 per cent.

The NBR should take a quick decision on imposition of import duties on cheaper rice imports temporarily. This is because farmers do not know what the NBR is or what duties mean. They care about prices their produces fetch in local markets and accordingly take decisions on cropping.

Source:thefinancialexpress-bd.com

Hpcl Revises Down May Petrol Import Demand

Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) has revised down its petrol May imports to a total of 52,000 tonnes from an initial 57,000 tonnes, traders said on Wednesday.

It is now looking to buy a total of 30,000 tonnes of petrol for May 15-23 delivery to Mundra, down from its original target of a total of 35,000 tonnes for May 15-20 delivery.

Its import demand of a total of 22,000 tonnes petrol for May 16-20 delivery to Ennore was unchanged. HPCL does not usually import petrol and traders said these two import tenders, which are due to be awarded on May 8, were rare and the refiner could be looking to plug a supply shortfall caused by refinery maintenance.

HPCL said it would shut a crude unit and petrol-making unit at its Vizag refinery from June to July. A crude unit and a petrol-making unit at its Mumbai refinery were also scheduled for maintenance from April to May.

HPCL is not the only refiner seeking petrol imports. Indian Oil Corp (IOC) has been buying more than 200,000 tonnes of petrol recently for March to May delivery due also to refinery maintenance.

The unusual Indian demand for petrol has added to the strong market as the summer driving season in the U.S. and upcoming Muslim fasting month in June have tightened supplies.

Source:reuters.com

Moody's: Gail And Petronet To Benefit The Most From Surge In India's Lng Imports

Moody's Investors Service says that the expected surge in imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) will benefit the country's leading LNG importer, Petronet LNG Limited (PLL, Baa3 stable) and dominant gas distributor, GAIL (India) Limited (Baa2 stable) the most, because of the increased usage of their gas infrastructure. India's (Baa3 positive) imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) are set to more than double over the next five years.

"India's LNG imports should more than double to 24 million tonnes per annum by 2020 from 10.7 million tonnes in the financial year ended 31 March 2014, because of low and sustained LNG prices, rising industrial demand, and falling domestic gas production levels," says Abhishek Tyagi, a Moody's Vice President and Senior Analyst for the Public, Project and Infrastructure Finance Group.

"The stimulant effect on demand of lower LNG prices would be felt post 2017, because the fuel is mostly imported under long term contracts, which are generally linked to five-year average crude oil prices," says Vikas Halan a Moody's Vice President and Senior Credit Officer for the Corporate Finance Group.

Moody's analysis is contained in its just-released report titled "India Infrastructure: India's LNG Import Boom Is Credit Positive for GAIL, PLL," and is co-authored by Halan and Tyagi.

Moody's report says the demand for LNG in India would be even greater if it were more widely used by the power generation sector, which currently absorbs only 10% of bulk imports because of the fuel's persistently high price relative to coal and domestic gas.

As for GAIL in particular, Moody's report says that as the largest owner of gas pipelines in India, and given the company's capacity utilization rate of 45%, Moody's estimates that even a 5% increase in the company's capacity utilization rate will result in profits increasing by about 10%.

On PLL, Moody's report points out that the company's regasification capacity which accounts for around 76% of India's total installed capacity will continue to exhibit the largest market share for the foreseeable future, given the limited competition in the regasification sector.

Source:indiainfoline.com

CCI rejects allegation of anti-competitive practices against Flipkart, Amazon, and other e-commerce

Competition Act: Exclusive arrangement between manufacturers and e-commerce portals such as Flipkart, Amazon, Jasper and others to launch upcoming products on their websites wasn't anti-competitve and didn't have appreciable adverse effect on competition in relevant market. It seems very unlikely that an exclusive arrangement between a manufacturer and an e-portal will create any entry barrier as most of the products which are illustrated in the information to be sold through exclusive e-partner

India Gold Bullion Imports From Switzerland Rise Sharply During 2014-2015

Switzerland has turned out to be the preferred source of gold import among Indian gold bullion importers. The percentage share of Switzerland in overall gold imports by the country has recorded significant improvement over the past few years. Sources indicate that Switzerland is followed by the UAE, South Africa and Australia.

According to industry sources, Switzerland’s share in overall gold imports by Gujarat has grown considerably from 45% in 2011-’12 to as high as 80% in 2014-’15. Out of the total imports of 152.24 metric tonnes of gold imported through Gujarat during 2014-’15, nearly 122 metric tonnes were imported from Switzerland. Also, the overall gold imports by the state surged higher by 67% when matched with the net gold imports of 92 metric tonnes during 2013-’14.

The trend seems to be gaining further momentum in 2015. According to import data published for the month of March this year, out of 22 metric tonnes imported, 19 metric tonnes (ie., more than 86%) were sourced from Switzerland. The imports from other sources remained weak. The other key import sources were the UAE (1,450 kg), South Africa (740 kg), Australia (600 kg) and Turkey (350 kg).

Switzerland has the largest reserves of gold in the world. Banks and trading houses normally import gold directly from Switzerland, unless gold of a different quality is required or when it is required urgently. The easier procedures for gold shipment ensure fast movement of gold.

Switzerland has better systems and procedures in place when compared with other gold reserves such as South Africa and Australia. Moreover, there is rarely any chance for duplication or fake gold, if imported from Switzerland. All these factors have contributed to the sudden rise in gold imports from that country, traders say.

Source:metal.com

 

Rupee Weakens Against Dollar To 63.56

The Indian rupee on Wednesday weakened for the fourth consecutive session against the dollar after the local equity markets fell. The local unit opened at 63.33 per dollar and touched a high and a low of 63.31 and 63.66, respectively. At 2.04pm, the home currency was trading at 63.56, down 0.19% from its previous close of 63.44.

The Sensex fell 2.1%, or 574.43 points, to 26,864.12 points. Since 13 April, the local equity markets have fallen by over 2,170 points on the expectation of weak monsoon, muted earnings and threat of minimum alternate tax on foreign funds. The Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have sold $1.73 billion in equity markets in the last eleven out of twelve sessions, except on 21 April when FIIs bought $2.6 billion.

Most of the Asian currencies were trading higher. Malaysian ringgit was up 1.16%, Singapore dollar was up 0.32%, Thai baht was up 0.31%, Philippines peso was up 0.28%, Taiwan dollar was up 0.25%, South Korean won was up 0.21%, Indonesian rupiah was up 0.13%, while China renminbi and China offshore were up 0.1% each.

Bond yield rose after international crude prices hit to a fresh 2015 highs. Brent crude was trading at 68.55, up 1.5% from previous close. The Brent crude has hit a low of 46.59 $/bbl in 13 January 2015 and since then it gained 47.48%.

The yield on India’s 10-year benchmark bond was trading at 7.91% compared with its Tuesday’s close of 7.85%. In intraday the bond yield touched a high of 7.92%—a last level seen on 6 January. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.

Since the beginning of this year, the rupee has lost 0.74%, while foreign institutional investors have bought $7.21 billion from local equity and $7.45 billion from bond markets.

The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 94.720, down 0.38% from its previous close of 95.076.

Source:livemint.com

In case of transit sales via dealer, consignee can take credit on basis of invoice issued by manufac

EXCISE LAWS/C : Additional Facility for Direct Transport of Goods from Manufacturer or Importer to Consignee Where Consignee Avails Cenvat Credit on Basis of Cenvatable Invoice Issued by Registered Dealer or Importer – Clarification on Cenvat Credit in Transit Sale through Dealer

Penalty was rightly levied on assessee as declaration form of import of goods was found blank

CST & VAT : Rajasthan VAT - Where goods of assessee were being carried by transporter in a vehicle from Delhi to Bharatpur and Assessing Officer intercepted said vehicle at destination of assessee, while goods had partly been unloaded, and having found that Form VAT-47 was totally blank levied penalty under section 76(6), levy of penalty was justified

ITAT directs admission of additional evidence by assessee to prove that its liaison office in India

IT/ILT : Where Assessing officer treated liaison office of assessee as PE, in view of fact that assessee had not been provided with reasonable and sufficient opportunity to represent its case, additional evidence filed by assessee was required to be admitted as per principles of natural justice

Short delay in filing appeal by revenue due to administrative reasons can be condoned

Service tax : 'Inordinate delay' and a 'delay of short duration' are different and only inordinate delay attracts 'Doctrine of Prejudice' and 'Strict Approach'; hence, delay of 29 days in filing appeal by revenue before Tribunal must be condoned liberally even if delay was administrative in nature

LPG subsidy isn't taxable as it is for welfare of people; Govt. clarifies provision in Finance Bill,

IT : FINANCE BILL, 2015 – Clarification as to Applicability of Official Amendment Moved in Finance Bill, 2015 with Respect to Definition of Income – Provisions in Finance Bill, 2015 Will not Affect Lpg Subsidy and Other Welfare Subsidies Received by Individuals

ITAT affirms claim of deprecation on leasehold land acquired from State Government

IT : Where assessee, engaged in mineral exploration, claimed deduction of provision for mine closure obligation, Commissioner (Appeals) rightly directed Assessing Officer to ascertain amount of year wise mining and allow mine closure obligation to extent mining was done corresponding to current year

No withholding taxes from debtor collection charges paid by co-venture and in-turn reimbursed by ass

IT/ILT-I: Where assessee, a joint venture between UPS WWF, USA, and 'J' Ltd., made reimbursement of debtor collection charges to US based company, in view of fact that had assessee made direct payment to payee, it would not have fallen within ambit of 'fee for technical services', assessee was not required to deduct tax at source while making payment in question

Assessee was to be penalized since he paid taxes collected from customers, belatedly

CST & VAT: Andhra Pradesh VAT - Where assessee paid admitted tax belatedly, i.e., beyond month in which it fell due and Assessing Authority imposed penalty upon it under section 15(4)(a), since assessee had charged its customers to tax, action of Assessing Authority in imposing penalty was justified

Interim order passed by SEBI can’t be challenged through writ; only SEBI can review such order

CL : An interim order passed by SEBI, is amenable for review by SEBI itself and no intervention is to be made through writ proceedings

Outstanding fee received by advocate from his client after elevated to post of High Court's Judge is

IT : Outstanding professional fees received by assessee for his discontinued legal profession as an advocate after elevation to post of Judge of High Court would not be taxable under section 4

Compensation paid to clear title of land was deductible as cost of improvement on its sale

IT : Expenses incurred to remove impediments or encumbrances in way of transfer of capital asset has to be allowed as deduction under head 'cost of improvement' while computing taxable amount of capital gain

HC upheld stay till disposal of appeal with a direction that appeal should be disposed within 6 mont

Excise & Customs : Where Tribunal had continued/granted stay 'until disposal of appeal/till further orders', High Court upheld said stay with a direction to Tribunal to dispose of appeals within 6 months with special emphasis on high value matters

No misconduct by a public servant if he had given proof of sum received and duly disclosed it in his

Prevention of Corruption Act : Where public servant had given testimony about amounts received by him and same had been duly intimated and reflected in IT returns, there was no violation of section 13

Lack Of Standard Norms, Complex Procedures Delay Imports: Cag

Lack of standard norms for clearance of inbound shipments at ports coupled with complex procedures lead to inordinate delay in imports, government auditor CAG said today.

"It was seen that the procedural complexities and consequent delays in import clearance are of a much higher order than in the case of export clearances.

"No standard benchmark or norms have been prescribed for ships waiting to get berth at ports and time taken during the various stages in the clearance of goods," CAG said.

The performance audit related to 'Import and Export Trade Facilitation through Customs Ports'. It found incomplete facilitation process mapping, weak target setting, inadequate monitoring of the implementation of the recommendations of the task forces and committees on transaction cost have compromised the achievement of envisaged benefits.

The audit observed that though there was a decrease in the dwell time during the period 2010-11 to 2013-14 for clearance of goods, this could be further improved by implementing the trade facilitation measures initiated by Central Board of Excise and Customs( CBEC) more effectively.

Dwell time indicates gap between the time cargo arrives in the port and leaves the premises after all permits and clearances have been obtained.

As much as 70 per cent of the dwell time was attributable to filing of Bills of Entry (BE) and payment process in case of imports while in exports filing of the Export General Manifest (EGM) constituted 90 per cent of the total time.

"These stages caused delay which needed to be addressed to reduce the dwell time and the consequential reduction in transaction cost," CAG said.

According to the Strategic Plan of Department of Commerce (2020), due to poor facilitation, the impact on the transaction cost has been estimated to the tune of Rs 42,000 crore.

CAG pointed out that the main reason for the delay in payment of customs duty by importers was the disagreement on the amount of duty computed by the department or lack of sufficient funds with the importer.

To reduce transaction cost and eliminate delays in clearance of goods at ports, CAG said: "The (Revenue) department may consider reaching out to importers to file error free Bills of Entry, to reduce time delay, allow online amendments to the minor errors in BE, adjustment of excess duty paid due to short landing."

Further, it said, the department may explore possibility of permitting minor amendments to EGM online and allow frequent monitoring of uploading of EGMs by service centres at Inland Container Depots.

It may also examine and address the reasons for non- utilisation of the facility of examination at the factory premises by the exporters, CAG recommended.

Source:economictimes.indiatimes.com

Dgft Weighs 'Systemic Interaction' With Customs Dept

The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), an arm of the Union Commerce Ministry, is considering regular 'systemic interaction' with the Customs department to sort out operational issues.

"The attempt is to have such meetings once in two months to resolve operational issues between the two to promote foreign trade," additional DGFT Sanjeev Nandwani told reporters on the sidelines of an event organised by The Bengal Chamber here today.

DGFT is planning to hold a meeting on May 15, the first after the announcement of the Foreign Trade Policy 2015-20 in April, for the operational review.

According to insiders, the meeting is an attempt to clear a few misgivings about the clubbing of advance licence. Regular operational review meetings based on feedback will take place from time to time.

During 2014-15, India's exports touched the USD 310.5 billion mark in 2014-15 against USD 314.4 billion in the previous year. Imports stood at USD 447.5 billion against USD 450.2 billion in 2013-14.

Source:igovernment.in

Assocham Cautions Govt Against Signing Fta With China

Time is not yet ripe for India to go ahead and sign a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with China even though such an arrangement with world's second largest economy is a key issue of economic cooperation in order to face Chinese competitiveness in the international markets, an Assocham study has noted.

While the potential of Sino-Indian economic cooperation is huge and the opportunity cost of non-cooperation is substantial, "at this juncture, a free-trade agreement with China would bring gains skewed in favour of China and will reinforce the existing trade asymmetries between the two countries", the Assocham Paper on 'Should India sign a Free Trade Agreement with China?', pointed out.

It said China's substantial edge in the manufacturing sector is in a large measure rooted in its better and extensive infrastructure (a non traded input), labour laws, productivity and an import tariff regime conducive for efficient manufacturing

"Given the different tariff rates and structural features of the economy between India and China, the benefit of FTA would not be equally shared. India will face some challenges in reducing and eliminating tariffs over a short time horizon. India China FTA cannot afford accelerated elimination of tariffs. It has to be gradual with reduction in tariffs in a phased manner covering commonly agreed, selected, and manufactures, services and agricultural products. Negotiations should take into account interests, sensitivities and specific differences between the two economies. The ultimate goal should be an FTA with a free flow of goods, services, investment, labour, and capital," it said.

Commenting on the findings, Assocham spokesman said, "In view of the comparative advantage China enjoys in manufacturing any form of trade agreement between the two has to tread cautiously. India's opening up of the trade sector has to be carefully calibrated to balance the interests of domestic manufacturing over the medium term."

The opening up of the India's trade sector will have to be complemented with greater openings for India's commercial services market so that overall bilateral trade and services balance with China is sustainable notwithstanding large trade deficit. This will also make trade negotiations smooth and easy and will not be viewed as a negative sum game where one partner loses and the other gains, he said.

Under an FTA or PTA gain or loss of the sector depends on its trade structure and initial import tariff rate. Commodities being exported to China facing tariffs will gain. On the contrary, those industries with more imports from China and protected by tariffs may face challenges. An FTA between the PRC and India certainly goes in favour of the PRC and is disadvantageous to India at least in the short run. This is because of the high tariff regime in India and the low tariff regime in the PRC. FTA negotiations pose serious challenges on import tariff issues.

The six main categories of goods receiving duty-free status are computers, telecommunications equipment, semiconductors, semiconductor manufacturing equipment, software, and scientific equipment. India's import tariff regime continues to be beset with a large number of anomalies with higher tariff rates for intermediates and lower for the final products leading to negative protection to the latter. This needs to be rectified as early as possible to strengthen India's negotiating stand in any FTA negotiations.

The restructuring of the manufacturing industry will take time and, therefore, in the short run the costs will be borne by Indian industry. Indian exports to China will need to expand beyond primary goods. Resource exports have weak linkages and neither benefit local communities if the process of resource extraction is low labor intensive. One should not overlook the fact that China is a huge market. To tap these markets Indian exporters should: (a) target China's demand for consumer goods which it cannot produce; and (b) plug into China’s supply chain networks, adds the Assocham study.

One needs to keep in view the disparity in size of the economy and production capacity between India and China. India needs to negotiate receiving similar (or higher) concessions that have been offered to other similarly placed partner countries which enjoy preferential treatment in accessing China.

The negotiations on preferential market access to China must enable Indian exports to be as competitive as those from China or its other FTA partners. Secondly, rather than agreeing on a general rules of origin criterion, the negotiations should focus on achievable product-specific rules of origin requirements, as the requirements differ from product to product. Thirdly, the vulnerabilities of domestic industries to imports from China also need attention when formulating and negotiating India's negative list.

Source:myiris.com

Infrastructure Issues Haunt Mango Exports

Not only mango lovers but exporters too are staring at a dull season this year. With production in the major mango producing states down by about 50%, prices in the domestic market are already high, and exports are also likely to be muted this season.

According to Abhijeet Bhasale, managing director of Pune-based import-export house Rainbow International that is also engaged in online retailing of mangoes through mangowale.com, “ Production in the major mango producing states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka are down by almost 50%. This would impact the availability of mangoes in the domestic market, and also impact exports.”

Distributors and traders point out that regions like Andhra have been hit severely during the Hudhud cyclone in October last year, followed by the unseasonal rains at the onset of summer this year. The region is left with 25-30% of its normal production which is estimated to be around 200,000 tonne per year.

Similarly, in Gujarat, which exports the kesar variety of mangoes, exporters say that usually export inquiries start by mid-April, however, this year, only a handful of exporters have received queries.

“Gujarat has no Agricultural Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Apeda) approved mango packaging facility. That is also a drawback for Gujarat”, said Harsukh Zarsaniya, secretary of Talala Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC).

Quality is also an issue for lower interest in mango exports this year, allege traders. This year, the weather conditions were not very favourable for the mango crop between January to April. Unseasonal rains in many mango growing areas across Gujarat have damaged the mango fruits badly.

“Quality is a major issue this time. Quality is not matching export criteria. However, we are waiting for regular arrivals in the market,” said Sanjay Vekaria, mango grower and trader from Gir area of Gujarat.

Talala APMC is the largest place in Gujarat for mango auction, especially for the kesar variety. Auction here is expected to start from May 19, late by almost 20 days compared to last year. Traders expect that prices of the kesar variety will be around Rs 450 per 10 kg box, higher by nearly Rs 150 a box from last year.

The Apeda, however, is not panicking. Sudhanshu, regional in-charge, western, Apeda said, “Exports to the European Union have started from March 24. It has been low at around 3 tonnes per day. However, we are awaiting a new hot water treatment facility at Goregaon, being set up by Apeda, that will be operational within a week. Exports to the EU would pick up after that.”

Hot water treatment is a post harvest requirement to export to the EU. Bhasale alleges that despite the EU writing to the Indian government sometime around December, it took time for the final guidelines for exports to come about. “The government issued the guidelines around March, and many exporters are not ready with the preparations,” he said.

For that matter, mango exports from India have been plunging in the last few years. It stood at 41,280 tonne in 2013-14 from 55,585 tonne in 2012-13 and 63,441 tonne in 2011-12. In value terms, the exports rose to $50.55 million in 2013-14 from $48.54 million and $43.73 million in 2012-13 and 2011-12, respectively. Production of mangoes last year stood at 18.43 million tonne.

Source:business-standard.com

HC couldn’t quash criminal complaint against cheque dishonouring by giving opinion on disputed quest

Negotiable Instruments Act : Where High Court quashed criminal complaint filed under section 138 by giving opinion on disputed questions of fact, High Court exceeded its jurisdiction in exercise of powers under section 482 of CrPC

No misconduct by a public servant if he had given proof of um received and duly disclosed it in his

Prevention of Corruption Act : Where public servant had given testimony about amounts received by him and same had been duly intimated and reflected in IT returns, there was no violation of section 13

Speculators Fuelling Soybean Prices: Sopa

The Soybean Processors Association of India (SOPA) has revised downwards the damage to soybean crop due to the recent rains. The body now expects the damage to be around 10 million tonne from 10.4 million tonne earlier.

SOPA blamed the futures market for underestimating the crop size, which it said has pushed up prices by 20% in a month. Soybean prices are trading around Rs 4,070 per quintal currently.

It said speculators in the futures market are quoting abnormally low figures, hurting the fortunes of processors and their margins.
 
The association also said that there is no change in crop estimates for MP, Rajasthan and other states except for Maharashtra where the crop size is revised to 26 lakh tonne.

"We are looking to protect the long term interest of processors, not just a few large ones. Heavy speculation and manipulation of prices in the futures market through NCDEX is hurting the entire trade. Futures influences market sentiments through unfounded rumours of lower crop size, bad weather and other unfavourable conditions resulting into unrealistic rise in prices which needs to be stopped," said Davish Jain, President, SOPA.

However, NCDEX clarified that, “Soybean futures contracts on the exchange platform have attracted wide and active participation from all segments of the value chain participants including manufacturers and exporters. The exchange is constantly monitoring the trading on its platform and shall take appropriate action in case any irregularities are noticed.”

The exchange further said, “The futures prices are based on underlying fundamental factors. Recent price movement in the futures prices for soya complex appear to be in response to recent developments in the demand-supply dynamics”.

SOPA said that heavy speculation, tax evasion by a few unscrupulous companies and very low prices of soybean oil in the world market and historically low landed price in India are hurting business of soybeen processors.

The body has suggested making physical delivery mandatory for a certain percentage of the futures contract, increasing the margin money and temporarily suspending soybean futures during the off-season when the speculation is at its peak.

Jain said that, SOPA will again approach the Central government to increase import duty on soybean oil from current 7.5% to 17.5% because there is a likelihood of carry over stock in the coming season”.

Source:business-standard.com

Liquid Milk Import In J&K Ticks Up, Poultry Down

Jammu and Kashmir has seen an increase in import of liquid milk up to February last fiscal while the corresponding figures for eggs, chicken, sheep and goats have turned lower.

As much as 95.38 thousand metric tonnes (TMT) of liquid milk have been imported through Lakhanpur inter-state border terminal, up to February in 2014-15, from 76.61 TMT in 2013-14 and 72.16 TMT in 2012-13, official data of the state government showed.

In contrast, 55.23 crore eggs came in under the said period in 2014-15, against 66.1 crore and 59.69 crore in 2013-14 and 2012-13. According to the figures, import of one-day chicks dropped to 5.26 crore in 2014-15, from 5.59 crore in 2013-14.

Source:business-standard.com

Government intimates recent amendments in indirect tax laws to revenue authorities

EXCISE LAWS/MISC. : Finance Bill, 2015 – Changes in Rates of Duty in Central Excise, Customs and Service Tax Introduced through Specified Notifications Pursuant to Finance Bill, 2015

Rupee Trading Weak At 63.51 On Dollar Demand

The rupee pared its initial losses, but was still down by 9 paise at 63.51 against the American currency in the afternoon session on dollar demand from banks and importers.

The rupee opened lower at 63.54 against the previous close of 63.42 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market. It slid further to 63.59 before quoting at 63.51 at 12 noon.

The domestic unit hovered in the range of 63.60 and 63.45 during the morning deals. Overseas, In New York, the dollar was slightly firm against a basket of major currencies amid thin early trade as several key financial centres were shut for holidays. Meanwhile, BSE Sensex was trading higher by about 61.53 points or 0.22 per cent at 27,552.12.

Source:thehindubusinessline.com

Assam VAT : Clarification by AO from Commissioner not to be held as reference in absence of any prov

CST & VAT: Assam VAT - Under Assam General Sales Tax Act, there is no provision for reference, in absence of such provision for reference, internal letter of Assessing Officer to Commissioner seeking a clarification on exigibility of a good to taxation or on rate of tax could not be construed to be a reference in law

No denial of sec. 12AA registration to trust just because no charitable activity was carried out by

IT : Assessee's application seeking registration under section 12AA cannot be rejected on ground that no activity has been carried out by trust subsequent to its creation and even up to time of disposal of its application

JCIT gets flak from High Court for sanctioning reassessment notice by recording satisfaction in mech

IT : Where Joint Commissioner recorded satisfaction in mechanical manner and without application of mind to accord sanction for issuing notice under section 148, reopening of assessment was invalid

Rajasthan VAT: Dept. couldn’t establish terms of contract while claiming lease as sale transaction;

CST & VAT: Rajasthan VAT - Where Assessing Authority concluded that supply of goods by assessee to third parties was a sale transaction and not merely a lease and Tax Board upheld said order, since none of authorities had made any endeavour to ascertain intention of parties having regard to terms of contract, Assessing Authority was to be directed to re-examine matter

Discrepancies in book of accounts should cause addition to income of assessee and not its rejection

IT : Where in case of assessee engaged in business of readymade garments, liability towards creditors remained in existence for a long time and, moreover, assessee failed to establish genuineness of those liabilities by producing supporting evidence, addition made by authorities below under section 41(1) was to be confirmed

Company rendering e-business services isn’t comparable to software development service provider

IT/ILT : Where TPO made addition to assessee's ALP in respect of rendering software development services to its AE, in view of fact that one comparable selected by TPO was rendering e-business services whereas another one was developing its own software products and thus there existed functional difference, impugned addition deserved to be set aside

Cenvat credit allowed for outdoor catering service used by employees if cost thereof is borne by co.

Cenvat Credit : Rule 2(l)(C) of CENVAT Credit Rules excludes services 'primarily for personal use or consumption of any employee', i.e., 'services, cost of which is included as part of salary of employee on cost to company basis'; outdoor catering services used by all employees in general and whose cost is borne by company, is not excluded and is eligible for credit

Sub-tenants couldn’t resist eviction of main tenant under CLB’s decree as they couldn’t prove their

CL : Where there was no evidence to prove that objectors were sub-tenants of main tenant in respect of property of company-in-liquidation, objectors could not resist execution of decree passed by company Court directing eviction of main tenant

JCIT gests flak from High Court for sanctioning reassessment notice by recording satisfaction in mec

IT : Where Joint Commissioner recorded satisfaction in mechanical manner and without application of mind to accord sanction for issuing notice under section 148, reopening of assessment was invalid