On the eve of consideration of Lokpal Bill by the Rajya Sabha, Trinamool Congress on Wednesday mounted difficulties on the government by giving notice for amendment to the crucial legislation in which it wants references to formation of Lokayuktas to be dropped.
In the entire month's recess during Parliament's Budget session, said the Bharatiya Janata Party, the major opposition grouping, none from the government spoke to it on any of the major stuck legislation.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday spurned Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's request for inputs on the proposed Lokpal Bill, arguing it would not be proper for a political party to submit its views to a drafting committee comprising civil society members as it would upset constitutional propriety.
The levy of retrospective tax on the UK's Cairn Energy Plc is a tale of bizarre twists and turns that saw its attached shares being sold in May 2018 amid the passing of the baton from a full-time finance minister to interim one and the talks at the highest level to resolve the dispute, to claims that levy of back taxes was a result of an investigation into Panama Papers leak. The government late last month refunded about Rs 7,900 crore it had collected from selling residual shares of the British firm in its erstwhile India unit, seizing dividend and withholding tax refunds, to settle an eight-year-old dispute that had tarred the country's reputation as an investment destination. But, this did not come about easily. For seven years, the establishment vehemently justified in courts and outside seeking of Rs 10,247 crore in back taxes plus interest and penalty from a firm that gave India its biggest onshore oil discovery.
While the Left parties are in talks with secular Opposition parties on a joint strategy during voting on the Budget in the budget session resuming from April 15, they are not not averse to BJP and its allies supporting a joint opposition cut motion.
The Bill has already been passed by the Lok Sabha.
Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee had a brief meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on salient features of the Budget.
You telephone bills will become cheaper if the finance minister P Chidambaram heeds to the telecom operators' demand for a reduction in levies.
The bill says the deductor will deduct tax at higher rates than that is in force or 20 per cent in case the TDS assessee does not furnish his PAN.
Despite being cleared in the lower house, the GST bill has been pending in the Rajya Sabha for clearance, where the Congress enjoys numerical strength, reports Kavita Chowdhury.
The devil is in the detail for the real estate sector. Though the Budget gave sops to home buyers in the form of tax savings and interest rate subvention, it quietly brought back service tax on lease rentals in the Finance Bill.
Armed with permission to issue Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) of tax-free bonds in 2011-12, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will issue the first lot worth Rs 2,500 crore by mid-May.
7 key areas that the Budget must address to re-energise the infrastructure sector, suggests Vinayak Chatterjee.
Finance Minister Jaswant Singh on Friday hinted that value added tax might not take off as scheduled in June as not all states have agreed to its implementation.
Manufacturing taxes, VAT will come down, assures Jaitley
Those who consider the rupee as a proxy for virility have started thumping their chests and dreaming of dethroning the dollar from its coveted position, observes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said the rules that will lead to scrapping of the retrospective tax demands made on companies such as Cairn Energy Plc and Vodafone Plc will be framed soon. Parliament earlier this month passed a bill to scrap all tax demands made using the 2012 retrospective tax legislations. The bill provides for government refunding the retro tax to companies provided all legal challenges are withdrawn.
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has convened a meeting of senior ministers on Tuesday to discuss the recommendations of the National Advisory Council on the Food Security Bill.
Banks may become more cautious in extending loans, as more and more farmers may take loans, relying on the assurance that a debt relief commission will back them in the event of default.
A comprehensive Bill on insurance sector is likely to be introduced in the winter session of Parliament, Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram said on Friday. \n
The Bill at best makes the existing public distribution system a legal right, an aspect that seems of little consequence to the lords of high finance, whose primary anxiety is the FSB-by-numbers.
Jaitley promised the states that they would be fully compensated for any loss of revenue arising from implementation of GST.
Unable to comprehend the deliberations in English in the joint drafting committee on Lokpal Bill, anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare has sought an interpreter for himself from the next meeting.
The joint drafting committee on Lokpal bill on Saturday had its first meeting when civil society representatives presented a new draft of the legislation to the government with both sides expressing hope that the new law will be brought in the monsoon session of Parliament.
The government has reached out to investors to apprise them about Life Insurance Corporation of India's (LIC's) growth and prospects as it prepares for the country's largest initial public offering (IPO). Preliminary presentations have been made to inform investors on how the organisation is being restructured ahead of the IPO, along with its financials, so that the IPO process can be hastened once its embedded value is derived. "A detailed presentation has been made to investors, giving them details on how LIC is positioned beyond what is known. "This includes how LIC is being restructured ahead of the IPO, and investors are keen to know that," said an official. In the Finance Bill, 2021, the government had proposed a slew of changes to the LIC Act, 1956.
'It has been an ongoing process, talking to the relevant ministries about eliminating leakages and curbing non-core expenditure in various schemes.'
The Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal on Monday said they would oppose the Women's Reservation Bill in its present form at an all-party meeting convened by the government and stick to their demand for separate quotas for women from the minority community, scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other backward classes. the meeting has been convened by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who is Leader of Lok Sabha, to find a way out of the impasse on the bill.
India, the world's largest edible oil importer, on Wednesday slashed customs duty on RBD Palm oil to 70 per cent from 85 per cent but traders here said it is unlikely to have any significant impact on imports.
There will be a lot to repair and rejuvenate -- if that opportunity even presents itself, warns Rathin Roy.
Life insurers have decided to pass on service tax to customers. The chief financial officers of life insurance companies met last Wednesday and have decided to pass on the service tax burden to customers, confirmed officials of various life insurance companies.
"I came in between" Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Tuesday, taking a dig at the leaders of the Congress and the Samajwadi Party who had formed a coalition to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday took up the four bills related to the GST, with the Opposition urging the government to insulate taxpayers from harassment and questioning how the new regime was "ideal" when 40 per cent of the revenue base of the GDP was kept out of its purview.
The government on Friday asked the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) to suggest ways to curb its rising subsidy bill on food, fertiliser and petroleum products without hurting the targetted population.
Says govt is creating conditions for greater private investment
Growing up in the Mumbai of 1970s, Uday Kotak aspired to be a cricketer and trained under legendary coach Ramakant Aachrekar. However, it was an on-field injury which resulted in a shift to finance. He started off with bill discounting, turned to lending and successfully applied to start a universal bank in the first decade of the millennium, as India was warming up to private play in banking.
Select committees of the House have already submitted their reports
