Top 10 biz headlines: Tax on FPI, IT sector under stress, and more

From government's plan to issue sovereign bonds to DHFL crisis, Business Standard brings you the top headlines that mad news on Wednesday

No question of rolling back surcharge on FPI trusts, says Finance Ministry

The government has ruled out a rollback of the ‘super-rich’ tax on foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) organised as trusts or association of persons. The tax on such FPIs will yield an estimated Rs 400 crore, as against the overall revenue gain of Rs 12,000 crore from the surcharge. Read more here

PAN not linked to Aadhaar card will become invalid from September

The government will invalidate all PAN cards that are not linked to Aadhaar by September 1. At the moment 180 out of the existing 400 million PAN cards are not linked to Aadhaar. Read more here

Co-promoter Gangwal wants expansion of IndiGo board, asks Sebi to intervene

IndiGo co-promoter Rakesh Gangwal wants the company board to be expanded so that the number of independent directors goes up. Gangwal has also asked the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to intervene and rewrite the Article of Association (AoA) to ensure that with 37 per cent stake he gets equal rights in the management of the company — a demand that the Rahul Bhatia camp says would be impossible to implement without 75 per cent shareholder support. Read more here

Every number in Budget is authentic, says Finance Minister Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said the government was committed to the path of fiscal consolidation without compromising on public expenditure. Sitharaman also said all the data mentioned in the Budget 2019-20 was authentic, allaying the Opposition’s doubts about the numbers. Read more here

Crisis-hit DHFL headed for more trouble, auditors may decide to resign

With 48 hours to go for the board of directors to ratify Dewan Housing Finance Corporation’s (DHFL’s) fourth quarter numbers and 2018-19 financial account, the crisis-hit firm could be heading towards more trouble. Read more here

Decline in global client spending may put Indian IT sector under stress

The Indian information technology (IT) industry may be in for a rough ride this year, as the overall IT services market is likely to face slowdown pangs, owing to lingering uncertainty on Brexit, apart from rising trade war tensions. Read more here

Govt's plan to increase free-float in MNCs to 65% triggers sell-off

Shares of multinational companies (MNCs) have been on a downward slope since the Union Budget. Top MNCs such as Siemens, ABB India, and Honeywell Automation have seen their stock prices correct between 7 and 11 per cent over the past four trading sessions. Read more here

Saudi Aramco-backed Ratnagiri refinery may be shifted to Raigad

The $44 billion refinery and petrochemicals project being implemented by Ratnagiri Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (RRPCL) may come up in Roha, a city in Raigad district of Maharashtra, according to two oil company executives aware of the development. Read more here

Will government's plan to issue sovereign bonds abroad yield the desired outcome?

Nirmala Sitharaman has become the first Indian finance minister to agree to borrow in foreign currency to finance the fiscal deficit. After she announced this in her maiden Budget speech last week, economic affairs secretary Subhash Garg added that the plan is to raise up to 10-15% of government borrowing — $10 billion — from the first overseas sovereign bond. In all, central government plans to borrow a record Rs 7.1lakh crore this year. Read more here

Cracking the whip: Govt books 1,800 cases for issuing fake GST invoices

GST: The Union government has booked nearly 1,800 cases for issuing fake GST invoices since 2017-18. The highest number of cases have been booked in the last financial year when the authorities booked 1,220 cases involving an amount of nearly Rs 9,500 crore. The government informed the Rajya Sabha that 1,796 cases for issuing fake GST invoices has been booked in three years to claim the Input Tax Credit (ITC) available under the GST. Read more here