Page 32 - Finance Ministry

Court takes cognizance of ED chargesheet in Rs 36 cr Delhi Waqf board case

The Rouse Avenue court took cognizance of the prosecution complaint (charge sheet) filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Delhi Waqf Board Money Laundering case

Commerce ministry to launch portal to provide info to aspiring exporters

The commerce ministry will launch an online platform in the next 2-3 months to provide all relevant information, including details about custom duties, for aspiring exporters. Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) Santosh Kumar Sarangi said the portal will act as a one-stop place for getting all information on engaging in export activities. The 'Trade Connect ePlatform' will provide facilitation for new and aspiring exporters, information on various regulations to access markets, sectors, export trends, and easy access of benefits under Free Trade Agreements. Besides, it will facilitate access to sector specific events along with a facility to address trade related queries to officials in Government of India and associated entities to get expert advice.

New provisions for partial pension withdrawal: All you need to know

The PFRDA introduced rules for partial withdrawals from National Pension System, allowing subscribers to withdraw up to 25% for specified purposes, effective from February 1

Cabinet approves creation of 3 officer-level posts for 16th Fin Comm

The Cabinet on Thursday approved the creation of three officer-level posts for assisting the 16th Finance Commission, chaired by Arvind Panagariya. The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the creation of three posts at the level of Joint Secretary i.e. two posts of Joint Secretary and one post of Economic Adviser, for the 16th Finance Commission, an official statement said. "The newly created posts are required to assist the Commission in carrying out its functions," the statement said. All other posts in the commission have already been created as per the delegated powers, it added. In a notification dated December 31, 2023, the government appointed former vice chairman of Niti Aayog Panagariya as the chairman of the 16th Finance Commission. Ritvik Ranjanam Pandey was named as the Secretary to the Commission. The Commission would submit its report to the President by October 31, 2025. The report would be for five years commencing April 1, 2026. Be

As interim Budget nears, check differences between old and new tax regime

Interim budget 2024: In a bid to improve the direct tax system, the finance ministry had introduced a simplified optional new income tax regime in 2020-2021

Budget 2024: Govt may hike housing subsidy ahead of Lok Sabha polls

Interim Budget 2024: The govt estimates reveal a significant housing shortage of over 20 mn homes in rural areas. While the same for urban areas stands at 1.5 mn homes, according to industry experts

86% Indian CEOs optimistic about country's economic growth: PwC survey

44% of global business leaders expressed a similar opinion about the economy in their countries or territories

Govt may consider cash refunds to exporters to improve cash flow: GTRI

The government can consider giving refunds to exporters in cash instead of scrips for tax remission schemes, as it would immediately improve cash flow for them, economic think tank GTRI said on Tuesday. At present, the refund under the Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP) scheme and the Rebate of State and Central Taxes and Levies (RoSCTL) scheme is issued as a scrip, which can be used to pay basic customs duties at the time of import. The scrip can be sold to other importers, who can later use the scrip instead of cash for payment of basic customs duty. These schemes refund select central and state levies to Indian exporters. "Refund RODTEP and ROSCTL dues to exporters in cash and not in the form of scrips. This will immediately improve the cash flow of thousands of exporters facing a weak export outlook for 2024," the Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) said. The RoSCTL refunds taxes for apparel and made-up sectors. RoDTEP covers most of the remaining

Govt levies 50% export duty on molasses, relief for edible oil imports

The government has imposed 50 per cent duty on exports of molasses, a by-product of sugarcane used as raw material for alcohol production, with effect from January 18. A finance ministry notification said molasses resulting from the extraction or refining of sugar will attract 50 per cent export duty. In another notification, the finance ministry extended the existing concessional duty rates on imports of crude and refined edible oils -- palm, soyabean and sunflower -- by one year till March 31, 2025. The basic import duty on refined soyabean oil and sunflower oil was cut to 12.5 per cent from 17.5 per cent , in June last year. India imports palm oil mainly from Indonesia and Malaysia, and a small quantity of crude soft oil, including soyabean from Argentina. Sunflower oil is imported from Ukraine and Russia.

Crypto players see surge in activity after crackdown on global companies

The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) under the finance ministry issued the show cause notices to VDA platforms like Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange, and Kucoin last month

LIVE: Court sends Parl security breach accused to judicial custody

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ED makes two fresh arrests in Mahadev betting app money laundering case

The Enforcement Directorate has arrested two more persons in connection with its money laundering investigation into the Mahadev online betting and gaming app case, officials said on Saturday. Nitin Tibrewal and Amit Agrawal were taken into custody under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and produced before a special court in Raipur on Friday, ED lawyer Saurabh Pandey said. The court sent them to ED custody till January 17, he said. Tibrewal is alleged to be a "close associate" of an accused in the case, Vikash Chapparia. He is alleged to have purchased some "undisclosed" properties in Dubai and a majority shareholder in an FPI company in which Chapparia is also a shareholder, ED sources said. The agency suspects these assets were bought using the "proceeds of crime" generated from the profits of Mahadev app. Amit Agrawal, the sources said, is a relative of another accused in the case, Anil Kumar Agrawal. Amit Agrawal is alleged to have received M

LIC receives notification for tax refund of Rs 25,464 crore for 7 AYs

The insurer noted that it will file an appeal with the before Commissioner (Appeals) against all the tax notices

Interim Budget likely to assume peak crude oil price at $85 per barrel

Brent crude prices moved up on Thursday, ending at $78.9 per barrel

DGGI flagged 46% surge in evasion cases worth Rs 1.98 trillion in 2023

140 masterminds behind GST evasion cases and 116 behind ITC frauds were arrested in 2023

GST intel unit detected over Rs 1.98 trn worth tax evasion cases in 2023

The GST intelligence unit detected tax evasion of more than Rs 1.98 lakh crore last year and arrested 140 masterminds who were involved in defrauding the exchequer, the finance ministry said on Thursday. In 2023, the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) detected significant GST evasion in diverse sectors like online gaming, casinos, insurance and secondment (import of manpower services). "DGGI has achieved an increase in detection of cases of evasion and voluntary payments. In 2023, DGGI detected 6,323 cases involving evasion of duty of Rs 1,98,324 crore with a voluntary payment of Rs 28,362 crore. 140 masterminds involved in GST evasion were arrested," the ministry said in a statement. This is a significant improvement as compared to 2022 wherein 4,273 cases were detected, amounting to duty of Rs 90,499 crore, and voluntary payment of Rs 22,459 crore and 97 arrests were made. There was a 119 per cent increase in the year-on-year amount of duty evasion detected by DGGI an

Inter-ministerial meet next week over issues on trade from Red Sea crisis

The commerce ministry has called a high-level inter-ministerial meet next week to discuss ways to insulate India's trade from the ongoing problems in the Red Sea, a senior official said on Thursday. Senior officials from five ministries -- external affairs, defence, shipping and finance and commerce -- will participate in the deliberations. The commerce ministry has also set up an internal strategic group, comprising additional secretaries of the ministry, to discuss global issues impacting the country's trade on a daily basis and prepare a strategy to deal with them. "The idea of the inter-ministerial meeting is to see how we can strategise our trade so that it gets least affected in such a situation," the official said. The situation around the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, a crucial shipping route connecting the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean, has escalated due to recent attacks by Yemen-based Houthi militants. Due to these attacks, the shippers are taking ...

NARCL's offer prices lower than the liquidation value, say bankers

PSBs say this is the reason for slow progress of NPA sale

Govt holds back $600 million plan to replenish strategic oil reserves

India has limited oil storage capacity, with space for only 39 million barrels of crude - barely enough for eight days of the country's consumption - to use in the event of an emergency

DPIIT to announce ranking of states, UTs on startup initiatives on Jan 16

The commerce and industry ministry's arm DPIIT on January 16 will announce ranking of states and union territories for 2022 based on initiatives taken for startups, an official said. The exercise aims to evaluate measures taken by states/UTs to boost the startup ecosystem during a specified period. It also aimed at supporting states and Union territories (UTs) in developing their startup ecosystem and learning from each other's best practices. "The ranking is a periodic capacity building exercise developed and released by DPIIT that evaluates states and UTs on their efforts to build an ecosystem conducive to growth of startups," the official said. The major objectives of the ranking exercise are - facilitating states and UTs to identify, learn and replace good practices, highlighting the policy intervention by States and UTs for promoting startup ecosystem and fostering competitiveness among states. The last ranking was released on July 4, 2022 in which Gujarat, and Karnataka were