One of the most favoured duty reimbursement schemes among exporters - the Duty Entitlement Passbook (DEPB) scheme - is likely to be scrapped, as the government gears up to introduce the Goods and Services Tax (GST) from April 1.
The government may take the first step towards fiscal consolidation in Budget 2010-11 by partially rolling back tax cuts given to the industry last year. The service tax rate may be restored to 12 per cent, while excise duty could be increased marginally.
The Indian Banks' Association recently mooted a proposal for a centralised admission test for commercial banks in the country.
The government has also set the ball rolling on filling up the vacancies in the second rung. It has sought a dossier on general managers who could be promoted to the level of executive directors.
The current employee strength of all state-run banks is about 672,000.
The Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (Irda) is likely to broaden the definition of infrastructure to include more sectors. The move, being discussed with insurance companies, is aimed at enabling insurers to get access to more papers to invest in and diversify their portfolio.
Public sector banks have performed better than their private sector counterparts in customer service.
Centre likely to miss collection target for '09-10
The long wait for a symbol of the rupee is expected to end by March next year. A committee headed by Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor Usha Thorat has shortlisted five symbols from 4,000 entries for a public competition to select a design for the symbol.
The government is likely to ease the incidence of minimum alternate tax, or MAT, on infrastructure companies.
The Centre has turned down the proposal of the empowered group of state finance ministers to keep alcohol out of goods and services tax.
Businesses with more than Rs 10 lakh turnover may end up paying the central goods and services tax, with the Centre not agreeing to states' suggestion of keeping the threshold at Rs 1.5 crore.
RBI wonders if banks are doing enough to push the service.
Jalanga or its neighbouring villages do not have a single bank branch. The nearest bank branch, that of UCO Bank, where Das has an account, is located at Bhadrak, around 20 km from the village.
Outlets of telecom companies such as Airtel and Vodafone may soon double as bank kiosks for financial services like funds transfer or bill payment, especially in parts of the country where there are very few banks or none at all.
Along with Subir Gokarn's appointment as the fourth deputy governor, the Reserve Bank of India on Wednesday reshuffled some of the key portfolios of its deputy governors and executive directors.
This is because of a government order that RBI has no power to update pension of its employees. This has been a bone of contention between the government and the central bank for the past one year.
The finance ministry is likely to drop the proposal to tax religious trusts. The proposal formed part of the direct taxes code and had raised eyebrows both within and outside the finance ministry. Under Section 10 (23C) of the Income Tax Act, any trust or institution that works wholly for public religious and charitable purposes and is approved by the chief commissioner or director general, is tax exempt.
The government has said that public sector banks have asked for much more capital than it can give.
The Reserve Bank of India's proposed guidelines on bank executives' compensation will be extended beyond just CEOs to all senior executives in private and foreign banks, especially those involved in treasury functions.
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