Page 46 - Finance Ministry

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

You may soon have to pay more for soaps, detergents, shampoos. Here's why

A new proposal may impose duties on raw material required to produce cleaning products, making them more expensive

Downside risks weigh on GDP growth forecast, says finance ministry

Report flags El Nino conditions, rising crude prices

Banking system 'strong enough to survive' policy rate changes: FinMin study

Probability of event like Silicon Valley Bank's collapse in the US happening in India significantly less, says ministry's monthly review

No proposal to regulate finfluencers, clampdown on ponzi apps in works: FM

Regulating crypto without global consensus will not be effective, says finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman

I-T Dept sends 8,000 notices to taxpayers who claimed exemption for charity

The people who have been served notices include salaried employees, self-employed individuals, and companies

Appeal by firm can be heard even without certified copy of order: HC

Earlier, an appellate authority under the GST regime had rejected the appeal on the ground that it was not accompanied by a certified copy of the order against which the appeal was filed

FinMin plans Rs 3K cr extra capital infusion in PSU general insurance firms

The finance ministry is planning an additional capital infusion of Rs 3,000 crore this fiscal in the three loss-making public sector general insurance companies to improve their health, according to sources. The government in FY22 provided Rs 5,000 crore capital to three insurers --National Insurance Company Limited, Oriental Insurance Company Limited and United India Insurance Company. Kolkata-based National Insurance Company Limited was given the highest Rs 3,700 crore, followed by Delhi-based Oriental Insurance Company Limited Rs 1,200 crore and Chennai-based United India Insurance Company Rs 100 crore. According to the sources these companies have been asked to improve their solvency ratio and meet the regulatory requirement of 150 per cent. The solvency ratio is a measure of capital adequacy. A higher ratio reflects better financial health and the ability of the company to pay claims and meet future contingencies and business growth plans. Barring the solvency ratio of New In

Global sovereign debt roundtable for improving info sharing on debt rejig

The Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable (GSDR) has agreed on urgently improving information sharing, including on macroeconomic projections and sustainability assessments, at an early stage of debt restructuring processes. Co-chaired by the International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, World Bank Group President David Malpass and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the GSDR on Wednesday discussed debt sustainability, and debt restructuring challenges and ways to address them. As a priority for India's G20 Presidency, she said there is a need to augment present global efforts, including those of the G20, to address growing debt distress across the globe. Sitharaman stressed on debt transparency and information-sharing as well as clarity on the comparability of treatment, predictability and timeliness of the debt restructuring process, including those for steps involved in the process and ways to assess and enforce. Discussions focused on the actions that ca

Finance Secretary Vivek Joshi holds review meeting with heads of PSU banks

Financial Services Secretary Vivek Joshi on Thursday chaired a meeting with heads of Public Sector Banks (PSBs) and financial institutions, and urged them to push various financial inclusion schemes, including Jan Suraksha and Mudra Yojana. The day-long review meeting was also attended by senior officials from the Department of Animal Husbandry, Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, and Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare. Joshi exhorted the PSBs to achieve the targets allocated to them under the various schemes for financial inclusion in a time-bound manner, the finance ministry said in a statement. To achieve saturation under Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY), the ministry has also launched a three-month campaign. PMJJBY offers life insurance cover of Rs 2 lakh in case of death due to any reason to people in the age group of 18-50 years having a bank or post office account, who give ..

Achieve targets under financial inclusion plans: Finance ministry to PSBs

"Banks were advised to leverage their banking correspondents network for outreach and enrolling potential beneficiaries," the finance ministry said in a statement

Net direct tax collections rose 160% to Rs 16.6 trillion in 2022-23

As per the data, gross direct tax collections also witnessed a massive 173 per cent rise to Rs 19,68,780 crore in 2022-23 from Rs 7,21,604 crore in 2013-14

India's trade deficit widens to $19.73 bn, exports rose 6% to $447 bn

India's merchandise trade deficit in March 2023 stood at $19.73 billion, which was higher than $17.43 billion recorded in the previous month, according to government data released on Thursday

DFS Secretary chairs meeting to boost enrolments under PMJJBY, PMSBY

In a bid to push micro insurance schemes, Financial Services Secretary Vivek Joshi held a meeting with chief secretaries and senior officials of all states and union territories. The meeting via video conference was held on Monday with the objective of sensitising and impress on states salient features of the intensive three- month long campaign to boost coverage of Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) at gram panchayat level. The three-month campaign will cover all the districts in the country from April 1 to June 30, 2023, the finance ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. During the meeting, states/UTs were urged to increase enrolments under the micro-insurance schemes given the scope and size of population in states, it said. Currently, it said, active enrolments under PMJJBY are 8.3 crore and 23.9 crore under PMSBY, and claims of about Rs 15,500 crore have been paid under these schemes. Joshi sought support of the