The government, on January 13, had initiated an SFIO probe into various corporate aspects of the fraud under Section 235 of the Companies Act after getting a report from the registrar of companies, Andhra Pradesh. "The report was submitted to the government on Monday night," said a senior corporate affairs ministry official who declined to reveal the contents of the report.
In the three months since the scam, Satyam's employee strength has reduced from 53,000 to 50,000, said a senior ministry of corporate affairs official. "Satyam continues to have strong revenues. The difference between its turnover and the next highest is around 10-15 per cent," he said. He did not disclose his idea of the revenue and net profit, saying it would interfere with the ongoing process for selling a strategic stake in Satyam.
India has bilateral tax agreements with more than 70 nations.
The government has initiated the process to recruit the remaining two members of the Competition Commission of India (CCI), with an aim to make the anti-trust body fully functional by June 2009.
This would bring between 20,000 and 25,000 firms under the ambit of cost audit. At present, only 44 industries and specific products within an industry come under cost audit. This covers around 6,000 firms but cost audits are conducted in only about 2,200 of these. The proposed change will have a major positive impact on the profession because more firms will have to mandatorily appoint a cost auditor and have cost accounting records audited on an annual basis.
The government's estimate that 300,000 to 500,000 people will lose their jobs -- is well below the projections of industry lobby groups, which put the number at around 1 million. The textiles and garments industry is the second-largest employer in India after agriculture. It directly employs 35 million people and indirectly provides livelihood to about 88 million people.
The general elections could take a toll on the bottom lines of a host of Indian companies that have accessed overseas debt.
Data collected from the Registrar of Companies, or RoC, show that The Firm, as McKinsey is reverentially referred to, has been making steady losses in India since 2004-2005, except in 2006-07. It ended 2007-08 with a loss of Rs 2.26 crore, which was a lot better than the figure in some of the earlier years.
ICAI president Uttam Prakash Agarwal said the new board, to be called the Review Reporting Board, will have powers to examine even unlisted firms. Currently, the Financial Reporting Review Board, which was set up in 2004 to monitor and regulate the functioning of CAs in the country, picks up audit reports of about 50-60 listed companies and non-government organisations to see whether procedures are being followed.
The Budget estimate of fiscal deficit for the next financial year has been underestimated by nearly 0.9 percentage point of Gross Domestic Product, or about Rs 51,000 crore. This is because the estimates for revenue collections in the Interim Budget for 2009-10 do not reflect the full impact of the duty concessions announced by the government since December 2008. The Budget estimate for fiscal deficit in 2009-10 put it at 5.5 per cent of GDP.
The second phase of reforms was expected to address areas like extending 'national treatment' to foreign banks, which means that foreign banks would be treated on a par with Indian ones under the World Trade Organisation agreement. Other items that are to be considered include permitting listing foreign banks' wholly-owned subsidiaries in India and the acquisition of sound Indian banks by foreign banks.
Rs 1,400 crore provided in the stimulus package was due under TUFS anyway.
Recession-hit retailers in the US and Europe are increasing their purchases from Bangladesh as it is able to supply garments at a relatively less price due to low labour cost and better economies of scale, experts said. Data collected by the Apparel Export Promotion Council, the body for the promotion and facilitation of garment-manufacturing and their exports, show Bangladesh overtook India after August 2008.
The government is planning to nominate full-time directors while inducting the remaining seven members in the reconstituted board of Satyam Computer Services Ltd, said a top corporate affairs ministry official. The ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), which got an interim order from the Company Law Board to supersede the existing board of the Hyderabad-based company, is planning to make the announcement within a week to ensure smooth functioning at Satyam.
The industry, which has complained of widespread job losses along with a sharp decline of about 30 per cent in its expected export target for the current fiscal, wants a quick action from the government. Industry sources say that even if the government releases the funds, the banks would take another month to disburse them.
Deficit-financed tax cuts could be a better option to revive the economy hit by global financial crisis as government spending is not effective due to leakages and delay in execution, economists feel.
Low commodity prices and a likely softening of interest rates have set the right business conditions, but the revival of demand - both in domestic and overseas markets - will be the key driver in 2009, experts said.
Interestingly, these recovery officers do not have the power to reduce the amount stated in the order issued by the presiding officer. The annual review was published "to point out irregularities or deficiencies which need the immediate attention of the Heads of Departments", S M Kumar, chief controller of accounts, said in the review for 2007-08.
Employment data are currently estimated once in five years through a sample survey by the National Sample Survey Organisation.
The draft Companies Bill 2008 has identified the three key managerial positions as chief executive officer, chief finance officer and company secretary. By recognising these three key managerial positions, the Bill is fixing responsibility to bring out a system which is more accountable, transparent and workable, according to an official at the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
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