Page 45 - Finance Ministry

There are downside risks to growth due to external sectors, weather: FinMin

There are downside risks to growth and upside risks to inflation, partly channelled through the external sector and partially originating from weather uncertainties, the finance ministry said in a report on Monday. Consumption has shown steady and broad-based growth, while investment in capacity creation and real estate is finding traction, said the April edition of the Finance Ministry's Monthly Economic Review. "April is too early to forecast the economic outcomes for the entire year. A good beginning, though, is a harbinger of positive outcomes," it said. Observing that the FY24 for the Indian economy opened on the back of strong activity witnessed in the last quarter of the previous fiscal, the report said GST collections in April, which marked the commercial activity of the last month, underwent a level shift pushed up by the widening of the tax base and heightened economic activity. Index of Industrial Production (IIP) and Eight Core Industries Index (ECI) averaged steady gro

No TCS on overseas payment via international credit, debit cards: FinMin

The government on Friday said no TCS will be levied on international spending of up to Rs 7 lakh a year by using debit or credit cards. Facing backlash from a wide section of people, the Finance Ministry said the move is aimed at removing procedural ambiguity with regard to Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) and the levying of Tax Collected at Source (TCS). The ministry's decision earlier this week to bring international credit card spending under the RBI's liberalised remittance scheme (LRS) and the consequent levy of 20 per cent TCS has evoked sharp reactions from experts and stakeholders. "To avoid any procedural ambiguity, it has been decided that any payments by an individual using their international Debit or Credit cards up to Rs 7 lakh per financial year will be excluded from the LRS limits and hence, will not attract any TCS," the ministry said in a statement. Currently, payments of up to Rs 7 lakh for medical treatment abroad and towards education do not attract TCS. TCS

FinMin applies amnesty scheme for traders failing to meet export obligation

The finance ministry has operationalised the amnesty scheme for traders who defaulted in export obligation under the Advance and EPCG authorisation scheme. As per the amnesty scheme, which was announced in the Foreign Trade Policy on March 31, EXIM traders who failed to meet the export obligation under the Advance and EPCG (export promotion for capital goods) authorisation scheme can come clean by paying customs duty and interest, subject to a ceiling of 100 per cent. The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) asked principal commissioners/commissioners to ensure that the exporters approaching for paying the duty, etc. are registered with the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT). "These cases under the scheme be monitored and tracked so that there is efficient handling and expeditious closure of these old cases of bona fide default in a seamless manner," the CBIC said in a circulate dated May 17. The authorisation holder choosing to avail this scheme will have to

DPIIT takes up startup taxation issue with finance ministry: Secretary

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has taken up the taxation issue of startups with the finance ministry, a top government official has said. "Startup India does provide such policy advocacy, particularly on the taxation issue. We have been taking that particular issue that many startups are worried about funding from non-residents...and the initial valuation of the startup, how that tax is calculated. We have taken it up," DPIIT Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh said here at an industry interaction. Post the amendments proposed in the Finance Bill, concerns have been raised over the methodology of calculation of fair market value under the two different laws. The Finance Act, 2023, has amended Section 56(2)(viib) of the I-T Act, thereby bringing overseas investment in unlisted closely held companies, except DPIIT-recognised startups, under the tax net. The Income Tax department is expected to soon come out with certain draft rules to specify the class o

FinMin stands by 2021 Parl reply that Sebi was investigating Adani Group

As a political row erupted over SEBI telling Supreme Court that it has not been probing the Adani group since 2016, the Finance Ministry on Monday said it stands by its July 2021 written reply in Parliament that had stated that the stock market regulator was investigating some Adani group companies. After SEBI filed a fresh affidavit with the Supreme Court to strengthen its case for a six-month extension of the deadline to complete the probing allegations of fraud and money laundering against Adani Group, Congress and other opposition parties cited the finance ministry's July 2021 replies in Parliament to ask who was misleading. "The government stands by its reply in Lok Sabha on 19th July 2021 to Q. No. 72, which was based on due diligence and inputs from all concerned agencies," the Finance Ministry tweeted. This was in response to Congress spokesperson Jairman Ramesh posting a screenshot of the written reply made by Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary on July 19, ...

FinMin invites applications to appoint CEO and chairperson of NLMC

ACC has approved a committee to appoint executives and board members of NLMC

Govt plans unique code to identify entities involved in financial offences

The Central Economic Intelligence Bureau under the finance ministry has created a repository of about 250,000 such offenders

Sponsor banks need to proactively handhold RRBs for tech adoption: DFS

In FY22 and FY23, the Centre had decided to infuse Rs 10,890-crore into RRBs

GST e-invoicing must for businesses with turnover of Rs 5 crore or more

Lowering of e-invoicing threshold will extend the digital application to the MSME sector and benefit the business ecosystem by reducing costs, rationalising errors, and processing invoices quicker

Thennarasu replaces Palanivel Thiaga Rajan as Tamil Nadu Finance minister

The high profile Tamil Nadu Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan was on Thursday shifted out of the key portfolio of Finance and Human Resources Management and given the Information technology department. The move comes days after the BJP released two audio clips, claiming the voice in it was that of Thiaga Rajan, purported to be making some remarks about the assets of DMK's first family. Rajan had described the clips as "malicious and fabricated," and insisted they were digitally altered tapes. PTR, as Thiaga Rajan is addressed, thanked Chief Minister M K Stalin for allocating him the IT department. Thangam Thennarasu, the soft-spoken DMK strongman from southern Tamil Nadu, is the new Finance Minister. Industries portfolio held by him was allocated to TRB Rajaa, the three time legislator from Mannargudi constituency who was newly inducted into the Council of Ministers. Rajaa, the IT wing secretary of the DMK is the son of party treasurer and former Union Minister T R Baalu. He was ...

FinMin to take call on Rs 3,000 crore infusion into 3 PSU general insurers

Finance Ministry will take a call on Rs 3,000 crore capital infusion this fiscal based on financial performance of three loss-making public sector general insurance companies. According to sources, the finance ministry last year had asked these three insurers -- National Insurance Company Limited, Oriental Insurance Company Limited and United India Insurance Company -- to chase bottomline rather than topline and underwrite only good proposals. The FY'23 financial numbers would give some idea about the impact of restructuring initiated on the profitability numbers and the solvency margin, sources said. The solvency margin is the extra capital the companies must hold over and above the claim amounts they are likely to incur. It acts as a financial backup in extreme situations, enabling the company to settle all claims. It is noted that the government last year provided Rs 5,000 crore capital to three insurers -- National Insurance Company Limited, Oriental Insurance Company Limited a

Finance ministry's May economic report may be FY23 Eco Survey update

It could be the first time that CEA would use MER to give a detailed analysis of last FY

FM Sitharaman to review state of economy at FSDC meeting on Monday

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman will review the state of the economy amid global and domestic challenges at a meeting of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) on Monday. The 27th meeting of the high-level panel to be held here will be attended by all financial sector regulators, including RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das, sources said. This would be the first meeting of the FSDC after the passage of Rs 45 lakh crore Budget for 2023-24 with greater emphasis on capital expenditure with an outlay of Rs 10,00,961 crore. The FSDC is the apex body of sectoral regulators, headed by the Union finance minister. The meeting will review the current global and domestic economic situation and financial stability issues, including those concerning banking and NBFCs in view of failure of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank and liquidity pressure faced by Credit Suisse, according to the sources. The council would review the progress of measures approved earlier for further ...

Rejection rates of DGTR's proposals by FinMin to impose duties rise

The rejection rate of the commerce ministry's recommendations to impose anti-dumping and countervailing duties on different imported products by the finance ministry has gone up substantially between September 2020 to October 2022, according to a report. The report of the 'Centre for Digital Economy' also said that the rejections are almost invariably without giving any reasons. From September 2020 to October 2022, as many as 70 anti-dumping and countervailing duties recommendations of the commerce ministry were rejected out of 120. From 1991 to 2020, only seven recommendations were turned down by the finance ministry out of 1,052 cases recommended by the commerce ministry's investigation arm -- Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR). DGTR is a quasi-judicial body which deals with anti-dumping duty, safeguard duty, and countervailing duty. These duties are trade remedy measures, provided under an agreement of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to its member countries. They a

FinMin allows 22 finance cos to undertake Aadhaar-based client verification

The Finance Ministry has allowed 22 financial companies, including Amazon Pay (India) and Hero FinCorp, to undertake Aadhaar-based authentication of clients. The ministry, through a notification, said these 22 companies, which are already reporting entities under the PMLA, will be able to verify the identity of clients and beneficial owners' details using their Aadhaar numbers. These 22 financial companies include Godrej Finance, Amazon Pay (India) Pvt Ltd, Aditya Birla Housing Finance, Tata Motors Finance Solution, IIFL Finance and Mahindra Rural Housing Finance Ltd. Nangia Andersen LLP Partner Sandeep Jhunjhunwala said that while Aadhaar authentication of clients is made available as one of the modes of verification for banking companies, the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) provides that Aadhaar authentication can also be adopted by reporting entities other than banking companies as may be notified by the central government. "Accordingly, the CG has notified a list of

Vivad Se Vishwas scheme aimed to provide relief to MSMEs comes into force

Also, relief will be provided in all contracts for procurement of goods and services, entered into by any ministry or department attached with MSMEs

FinMin wants PSBs to enhance recovery rate from written-off accounts to 40%

Worried over the low recovery rate from written-off accounts, the Finance Ministry has asked state-owned lenders to increase it to about 40 per cent, sources said. Currently, the recovery rate from written-off accounts is less than 15 per cent. Public sector banks (PSBs) could recover only 14 per cent of the written-off loans worth Rs 7.34 lakh crore in the last five years ended March 2022. Of Rs 7.34 lakh crore written-off loans, state-owned lenders recovered Rs 1.03 lakh crore. So after recovery, the net written-off stood at Rs 6.31 lakh crore at the end of March 2022. It seems that after the write off banks get complacent about recovery from those non-performing assets (NPAs), the sources said, adding, this level of recovery is not acceptable. Besides, they said, higher recovery from written-off accounts directly adds to their bottomline and improves their capital. To review the situation on the issue, the sources said, the Department of Financial Services would soon hold a mee

Government to come up with angel tax rules for start-ups before April 30

Rajeev Chandrasekhar had admitted that the angel tax was an 'aberration' and reforms were under consideration

Centre likely to seek different taxation policy for games of skill, chance

The finance ministry will present its view when the GST Council discusses the report of a Group of Ministers (GoM) on online gaming, sources said

FinMin considering classifying online games as games of skill, chance

The Finance Ministry is considering classifying online gaming into categories of skill and chance, and levying a differential rate of GST, an official said. Online games where winning is dependent on a certain outcome or is in the nature of betting or gambling would attract 28 per cent Goods and Services Tax (GST), while those which involve some amount of skill could be taxed at a lower 18 per cent. A final decision on the taxation on online gaming would be taken by the GST Council in its next meeting, which is likely in May or June. "All online games are not games of chance and are not in the nature of betting or gambling. The Finance Ministry will be presenting its view before the council," the official told reporters here. The task would be to differentiate between what should be a game of skill and what can be called a game of chance. Currently, online gaming attracts 18 per cent GST. The tax is levied on gross gaming revenue, which is the fees charged by online gaming portals