Veil of secrecy on reports to FinMin

Infrastructure companies' representatives, tax experts want 4th report of Lohia panel be made public

The Union finance ministry has not made public some recent panel reports, though some of the recommendations could form part of the Budget for 2017-18. 

The Lohia panel on Indian Accounting Standards, the Shankaracharya committee on changing the financial year and the Easwar committee on tax simplification have given their reports but none of these has been put in the public domain. 

On Monday, the NK Singh panel on the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management law also gave its report. Sources said some of its members want the report to be made public at least after the Budget is presented, unlike that of the Jalan committee on expenditure management, whose reports never came into the public domain. 

Infrastructure companies' representatives and tax experts had met ministry officials last month to ask that the fourth report of the Lohia panel be made public. The report is important because the new Ind-AS accounting standard has taken effect from 2016-17 for some companies but they're still unsure of the fair market value rules to compute their profit. 

These standards have come  into effect for listed and unlisted companies having a net worth of at least Rs 500 crore, beside holding, subsidiary, joint venture or associate companies of these listed or unlisted companies. 

The Easwar committee is considered likely to have recommended restoration of standard deduction and penal provisions for those not depositing tax deducted at source to the exchequer, etc. Some of these could come in the Budget.