FDI cap may remain intact at 26% as Cabinet takes up legislation this week.
Tax experts said as a result of the amendments, companies operating from countries with which India didn't have DTAAs, would try to shift to countries with which India had such agreements, including Mauritius.
Business subsidies may attract tax
The main responsibility for producing the Budget rests with the Budget Division of the Department of Economic Affairs in the finance ministry
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The GST will subsume most of the indirect taxes like excise duty and service tax
Terror financing and counterfeit currency have been a constant headache for Indian security agencies. Rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa lokks at the latest developments in India's fight against this "dirty money."
The MPs suspended on Tuesday include National Conference's Farooq Abdullah and Congress leaders Shashi Tharoor and Manish Tewari.
'The BJP's numbers in this government are almost the same as those enjoyed by the Congress under P V Narasimha Rao when the reform process was kicked off in 1991.' 'As before, the only constraints on the prime minister's actions are internal, not external.' 'They come from his own assessment of the political consequences of any action,' points out Mihir S Sharma.
The prime minister witnessed the protests when he travelled to the Raj Bhavan in Guwahati, where he will spend the night, from Lokopriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport.
The proposed bill seeks to raise FDI cap in the sector to 49% from the present 26.5%
By doing away with the 1 per cent inter-state tax over and above the GST rate, the government has met one of the three key demands over which Opposition Congress has been blocking the Bill in the Upper House
Says Finance Ministry is working on tax structures as suggested by the Parliamentary committee
After capping anonymous cash donations to political parties at Rs 2,000, the government is amending law to make it mandatory for them to file returns on income by December every year or risk losing tax exemption status.
Rajya Sabha returns Finance Bill to Lok Sabha; budgetary process over in both Houses, President nod needed now.
Has Vijay Shekhar Sharma given up on the bank? For now, he seems to be on a save-OCL mission. The bank will face its logical end, observes Tamal Bandopadhyay.
Moody's currently assigns 'Baa3' rating on India, with a stable outlook. 'Baa3' means medium grade with moderate credit risk.
However, BJP has not given any assurance of support and conveyed to the Finance Minister that the matter will be discussed within the party and take a call, sources said.
Opposition on Thursday forced deferment of consideration of the contentious Mines and Minerals Bill in Rajya Sabha till on Friday.
'Someone who cannot even take his cabinet into confidence, how will he take the NDA alliance into confidence?'
Since 2008, the Bureau of Energy Efficiency is running a star rating programme, under which electric equipment are rated according to their efficiency. This in turn helps the consumers save electricity.
After securing Congress support for a rise in the foreign investment cap in the insurance Bill, this is another key reform Bill where the Centre has managed a broad consensus.
Finance Minister Piyush Goyal said the instances of people running away and evading the legal process was increasing and this needed to be stopped, as the current laws do not allow fully dealing with the severity of the problem.
Amid the Reserve Bank expressing reservations over the Unit Linked Insurance Products (ULIPs) ordinance, the Finance Ministry on Tuesday said a bill to replace the ordinance would be placed in the forthcoming session of Parliament beginning July 26.
'We have essentially tried to set out an agenda for the next five years and it, in essence, represents the political commitment to that agenda.'
Managing your money in January will set the trend for rest of the year, says Adhil Shetty.
The Sensex closed the day at 27,490, higher by 479 points.
'People are blowing up their entire retirement fund; they are selling their land and house to spend on one day for a marriage.'
Following are comments from economists at leading financial institutions, banks and rating agencies on the interim Budget:
The government on October 12 announced the LTC cash voucher scheme under which central government employees can purchase any goods or services with GST rate of 12 per cent or above to avail the benefit.
Several income tax proposals, including 30 per cent tax on income from trade in cryptocurrencies will come into effect from Friday. Also, the revised norms for levy of 1 per cent TDS (tax deducted at source) on sale of immovable property exceeding Rs 50 lakh will come into effect from April 1, the beginning of the new financial year. As per the revised norms, TDS of 1 per cent shall be deducted on consideration or stamp duty value, which ever is higher, as against the earlier provision of consideration.
These have to be passed in this session to meet the September 15 deadline for switching over to the new indirect tax regime, Jaitley said.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said that his office has been kept under the purview of the Jan Lokpal Bill, whose broad contours have been finalised, and the bill will be taken up in the cabinet early next week.
The restructuring exercise of the NHAI includes increasing the number of part-time members of the authority from the existing two to six, who would be from non-government sector. It also includes appointment of six full-time members, against five at present, one each for finance, administration, public private partnership, two members for projects and one for technical.
The Bill neither plans to make the Aadhar mandatory or limit its issuance to citizens.
The proposal in the Finance Bill to amend provisions of Section 179 of the Income Tax (I-T) Act relating to tax liability of directors of private limited companies from April 1, 2022, could increase risks for directors of medium and small-sized firms in case of non-payment, said experts. While the language of the provision is quite broad, the title of the section limits itself to 'liability of directors of private companies in liquidation'. The Bill proposes to align the title with the scope of the provision, thereby ensuring that orders under this section can be issued even if the relevant company is not under liquidation.
The BJP, which has two MLAs in the MDA government, backed the Cabinet decision.
The proposals, to be based on the recommendations of the Shome panel, are likely to be introduced in the Finance Bill to be presented by Finance Minister P Chidambaram in the Budget for 2012-13.
The bills were passed by voice vote.
The session started on January 29 and was originally slated to end on April 8 but several members had urged Speaker Om Birla to end the session earlier as they focus on electioneering for the five assemblies.
The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Bill, 2011, provides for market based returns and wide coverage based on several investment options in the pension sector with an aim to building confidence in the subscribers.
