Page 19 - Finance Ministry

Power to arrest is proportional to its checks, balances: Delhi court to ED

A Delhi court has pulled up the Enforcement Directorate (ED) while granting bail to an accused in a money laundering case and said that the power to arrest must be directly proportional to its checks and balances coupled with unambiguous regulations. Granting bail to Mangelal Sunil Agarwal, Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Dheeraj Mor noted that in a "very unpleasant situation", while the previous investigating officer had cited him as a witness, the next IO chose to arrest him based on the same evidence available on record. "The hallmark of investigation is its objectivity. Subjective interpretation of IO must be deprecated as it would make a supposed objective investigation dependent upon his uncontrolled whims and fancies, who has been conferred extreme power of arrest that leads to curtailing liberty of an individual," the judge said in the order passed on August 31. "In these circumstances, it is apparent that one of the lOs was/is wrong and either acted upon the considerations

Govt looks to increase insurance cover under PMJJBY, PMSBY to Rs 5 lakh

Centre may increase cover from the current Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 lakh under its flagship insurance schemes ahead of the high-stakes assembly elections in three states

Govt lowers minimum public shareholding rule to 10% for GIFT City listing

Experts believe these revised thresholds will enable Indian companies to access global capital and will be a step in cementing the country's position in the global financial landscape

No restrictions for queer community to open joint bank accounts: FinMin

The ministry also said that a clarification in this regard has also been issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to all the scheduled commercial banks on August 21, 2024

GST Council meet to discuss rate rationalisation on Sep 9, says FM

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said the GST council next month will discuss rationalisation of tax rates but a final decision on tweaking taxes and slabs will be taken later. She also said that compensation cess on luxury and sin goods are also going to be discussed and can come up in the September 9 meeting or later. The Group of Ministers (GoM) on rate rationalisation under Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Chaudhary met last week and broadly converged on retaining slabs under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) unchanged at 5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent. The panel also tasked the fitment committee -- a group of tax officers -- to analyse the implication of tinkering rates on some items and present them before the GST council. "The upcoming GST Council meeting will take up the issue of rate rationalisation. There will be a discussion on the issue. Committee of officers will make a presentation on rate rationalisation," Sitharaman told reporters here. However, a final .

Kalpataru gets notice from Afghan govt for not submitting tax declarations

Kalpataru Projects International Ltd on Tuesday said it has received a tax notice from the Afghanistan government for non-submission of certain declarations. In an exchange filing, the company said, "The branch office through its consultant... received certain tax challans from the Ministry of Finance, Afghanistan Revenue Department with the demand of payment of tax liability, additional tax and fine, due to non-submission of certain declarations for FY 2020-21 and FY 2021-22." The notice was received on August 26, it said. The authority has demanded tax liability of AFN 8,774,153 (Rs 104.59 lakh), additional tax of AFN 12,150 (Rs 0.14 lakh) and fine of AFN 166,401 (Rs 1.98 lakhs), Kalpataru Projects International Ltd said. The branch anticipates this additional tax and fine may be waived off by the Ministry of Finance once the payment towards the tax liability is discharged, it said. Last week, the company also received a tax notice from the GST authority in India. The authority

UPS no burden on future govts: Cabinet Secretary-designate Somanathan

Fiscally prudent, funded within Centre's projections, stresses pension panel head

New pension norms in the works; finance ministry to meet state govts

Approved by the Union Cabinet on Saturday, the UPS kicks in from April 1, 2025

FM Nirmala Sitharaman seeks RBI help to clear RRB dues with states

The finance minister also directed RRBs to become more customer-friendly and use their local connections to further improve performance

To ban or regulate? Govt's cryptocurrency paper likely by October 2024

In October 2023, G20 finance ministers and central bank governors adopted the roadmap on crypto assets proposed in the synthesis paper, calling for its swift and coordinated implementation

MCA likely to bring out internship scheme guidelines within two weeks

The MCA has held industry consultations on the scheme before finalising the guidelines. The ministry will also put in place checks and balances in the scheme to ensure transparency

Economic momentum intact, set to achieve 6.5-7% growth: FinMin report

India's economic momentum remains intact despite a somewhat erratic monsoon, and real GDP growth of 6.5-7 per cent projected in the Economic Survey seems appropriate, a finance ministry report said on Thursday. According to the Monthly Economic Review for July, the Indian economy has sustained its momentum in the first four months of FY25. Goods and Services Tax collections in the first four months of FY25 underwent a level shift pushed up by the widening of the tax base and heightened economic activity, the report released by the finance ministry said. "The resilience of domestic activity is also reflected in the strong performance of the manufacturing and services sector purchasing managers' indices. The manufacturing growth has been driven by expansion in demand conditions, a rise in new export orders and growth in output prices," it said. On the fiscal front, it said, the Union Budget FY25 has laid out a glide path of fiscal consolidation. Supported by strong revenue collection

Over Rs 80,000 crore worth GST notices issued for assessment year 2018-22

Alleged shortfall in tax paid, reversal of ITC among reasons

No plan to probe Buch over Hindenburg row: FinMin sources deny media report

Hindenburg Research on August 10 alleged that Sebi Chief Madhabi Buch and her husband had alleged investments in obscure offshore funds, which were used in the alleged Adani money syphoning scandal

Focus on deposits, strengthen cybersecurity: FM Sitharaman to banks

The FM also met top officials of regional rural banks in a separate meeting, where banks were asked to expedite one state-one RRB initiative

FinMin must identify high risk taxpayers in GST composition scheme: CAG

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has asked the Finance Ministry to identify high risk taxpayers in the GST composition scheme on a periodical basis and verify from other sources, including third parties, their declared value of sales to check tax evasion. Based on an analysis of 8.66 lakh composition taxpayers under the central jurisdiction between 2019-20 to 2021-22 fiscals, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) found that a significant number of GST taxpayers have a high risk of crossing the turnover threshold for composition levy scheme (CLS). These high risk taxpayers were identified by audit from the data contained in GST returns viz. GSTR-4A, GSTR-7 along with third party data sources such as IT returns, 'Vahan' database etc. The GST composition scheme is available to taxpayers whose aggregate turnover, in the preceding financial year, has not exceeded Rs 1.5 crore. For taxpayers in special category states, this limit is Rs 75 lakh. The CAG said two major risk ar

India must focus on skilled workforce to become developed by 2047: Gopinath

India has grown well in terms of its overall growth rate, and at 7 per cent, it is the fastest growing major economy in the world, she said

Financial bids for Chhattisgarh-based NMDC Steel likely in two months

The Union Budget has set the target for miscellaneous capital receipts, including disinvestment, at Rs 50,000 crore for FY25 compared to the revised estimate of Rs 30,000 crore for FY24

Global crypto exchange Binance set to start ops in India after 6 months

Registers as reporting entity with FIU

Finance ministry exempts UIDAI from payment of income tax for 5 yrs

The finance ministry has exempted the income of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) from payment of income tax for five years till fiscal 2027-28. Accordingly, grants/subsidies received from the central government; fees/ subscriptions, including RTI fee, tender fee, sale of scrap, PVC card; authentication, enrolment and updation service charges received; term/fixed deposits; and interest on bank deposits earned by UIDAI would be exempt from income tax. A notification to this effect was issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) under the Ministry of Finance. "This notification shall be applicable for assessment year 2024-2025, 2025-2026, 2026-2027, 2027-2028 and 2028-2029," it added. UIDAI is a statutory authority established under the provisions of the Aadhaar Act, 2016, to ensure compliance with Aadhaar Act, and make regulations & rules consistent with the Act. This notification would be effective subject to the conditions that UIDAI would not engage in any