The Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India, the apex body to regulate the profession of cost accountants, is working out the impact of IFRS on costing principles. The ICWAI has taken this initiative at the behest of the International Federation of Accountants, the global organisation for the accountancy profession, which is for the first time addressing costing and has come out with guidelines on the impact of IFRS on costing principles.
India's anti-trust body CCI, which would ultimately replace MRTPC, is an independent body responsible for investigating mergers, market shares and conditions and the regulation of firms. Section 66 of the Competition Act deals with repealing and dissolution of the MRTPC Act, 1969. With the operationalisation of CCI, MRTPC was supposed to stop entertaining new cases and was to deal with pending cases for two years before being completely dissolved.
If the company A is located in a non-GST state, it would pay a total tax of Rs 300 (Rs 200 on finished product and Rs 100 on input), compared to Rs 200 paid by other producers in a GST state. The Centre is hoping that in such a scenario companies in GST states would lobby for introduction of the pan-India tax, which will subsume most state and Centre-level taxes.
However, unlike exports of other goods, which have been affected by the economic slowdown, the reason for fall in exports of opium is entirely different. India is the only country in the world to legally produce gum opium for export, for the pharmaceutical industry. However, exports to the US and Japan, the main importers, have been falling for the past couple of years.
The Mumbai-based Piramal Healthcare is preparing to become the first private sector company to process opium for use in pharmaceutical products.
Key roadblock: Constitutional amendment required to provide wider taxation powers to Centre, states.
Experts agree with the assessment that the Budget next month would respond to the predictions of deficient monsoon rains with a policy package. According to them, rain-fed areas, which are likely to be affected by a 'below normal' monsoon, could see increase in allocation in terms of higher spending through the public distribution system and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Khursheed said his ministry would push for affirmative action in the corporate sector through fiscal incentives.
Prospects of a stable government at the Centre have prompted at least six economic forecasters to raise their growth estimates for the current fiscal, citing lower-than-expected political risk after the recent general elections.
Under the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, the Centre should have eliminated the revenue deficit and brought down the fiscal deficit to 3 per cent of gross domestic product by March 2008. This target was extended by a year. Then, due to the global economic crisis, the government decided to suspend implementation of the FRBMA. As a result, the fiscal deficit for 2008-09 crossed 6 per cent of GDP and is projected at 5.5 per cent in fiscal 2009-10.
Two sections of the Competition Act still to be notified.
A month after the government allowed registration of Limited Liability Partnerships, only 10 firms have availed this new form of doing business that provides advantages of a partnership firm and also a corporation. This is because the government is yet to notify key sections (Sections 55 to 58) of the law that would enable conversion of a partnership firm, private company or unlisted public company into an LLP.
The Taj Mahal, the timeless masterpiece built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, along with other heritage sites like the Qutab Minar, will be valued in the government books at just Re 1. This is part of the broad move to move government accounts towards accrual-based accounting system from the cash-based one within the next five years. Like a corporate balance sheet and profit and loss account statements, the government too will undertake similar book keeping.
The investigation arm of the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission, the country's anti-trust body, has launched a probe against 10 cellular service providers, including state-owned ones, for allegedly charging customers for Short Message Services that are not delivered.
Beating the slowdown, chartered accountants (CAs) have bagged jobs with top-notch companies in the latest campus placement drive, which has also seen more newly qualified professionals get jobs.
Maytas Infrastructure Ltd, the listed company floated by the promoters of Satyam Computer Services, plans to raise Rs 800 crore to Rs 1,000 crore through asset sales plus loan and guarantees from banks to complete various projects, including the prestigious Hyderabad Metro, and to bid for some new projects that are coming up for auction.
"Since December last year, we started focusing on TDS and regular assessment to increase tax collections, and it has paid off," said a senior revenue department official. According to the latest data, TDS collections increased by 25 per cent to Rs 1,304.56 billion in fiscal 2009, compared to Rs 1,046.95 billion in the previous fiscal. However, advance tax collections under two major heads -- corporation tax and income tax -- dipped by 7 per cent to around Rs 1,680 billion.
The country's economy is expected to grow by around 6 per cent in the current fiscal, even in the worst-case scenario of global recession prevailing till March 2010, according to Arvind Virmani, chief economic adviser in the Ministry of Finance.
India's information technology sector is likely to post a single-digit growth rate of 9 per cent in fiscal 2008-09, as measured in gross domestic product calculations, according to a senior government official. The IT sector, which constitutes 3.5-4 per cent of India's GDP, grew at an average rate of around 25 per cent in three years up to March 2008. Thus, the sharp fall in growth rate is cited as one reason for drop in growth rate of the Indian economy in fiscal 2009.
He went on to explain that it is standard practice for developers to have development agreements under which the land-owner cannot sell his land to any other entity or individual.