The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday proposed to make interoperability mandatory for digital payments firms. It also allowed users to withdraw cash from e-wallets and fintech companies to process RTGS and NEFT transactions. The RBI expressed dissatisfaction over prepaid payment instruments' (PPIs') failure to migrate towards full-KYC (know your customer) PPIs, and therefore interoperability, even two years after guidelines were issued.
'It is surprising and unfortunate that unfounded allegations are now being made without any reference to me whatsoever,' Vijay Mallya said.
Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections at Rs 95,480 crore in September touched the highest level so far this fiscal, the finance ministry said on Thursday.
The investments exceeded the $2 billion mark for the first time in 6 years.
'At the first board meeting I chaired, I sensed that corporate governance is an issue in this company.' 'I started taking steps that may have aggrieved a few.' 'This has now become a mission I intend to accomplish before I step down.'
Less than 50 per cent respondents admit that their company has sufficient security controls, says PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The initiative is being undertaken by the government of Karnataka, considered one of the leaders in the technology space. Currently, India doesn't have such a platform and, globally, there are very few privately-run platforms.
The management institute also clocked 100% placement, says Virendra Singh Rawat.
The last date to apply for the medical entrance exam is December 31.
Dealmakers and advisors feel investors are shifting their focus to Asia Pacific, especially India, owing to geopolitical instability driven by events such as Brexit and protectionist trade wars.
Surge in UPI transactions is because of an increased consumer interest in making bill payments and recharging mobile phones online, and purchase of non-essential goods on e-commerce platforms.
The PwC survey found more than 50 per cent respondents reporting lack of adequate skill sets
Of the 1,145 offers made this year, consulting firms made up 34 per cent, followed by banking, financial services and insurance, pharma/healthcare, IT/ITeS and FMCG/retail.
With $120 billion worth of deals, 2018 was the best year on record. Many also blame frequent policy flip-flops and increasing tax scrutiny as big dampners for business.
To begin with, there would be the immediate integration of various technology stacks. This would create more business for global consulting and IT services entities such as KPMG, PwC, EY, Accenture and IBM, among others. Indian service providers - Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), and Wipro, for instance - would also cash in.
A significant 71 per cent of India's CEOs are very confident of their companies' growth in the next 12 months, a 7-point increase over last year's and 33 points above this year's global average (38 per cent).
However, Icra Rating Principal Economist Aditi Nayar feels that the numbers are a bit too optimistic and need real heavy-lifting by the Centre and the states. "The survey forecasts on real and nominal GDP will require a substantial push from Central and state spending as private sector capacity expansion is anticipated to be intermittent, and sector-specific in the next couple of quarters," she said. Nayar added that private consumption is likely to chart a differentiated recovery across income and age groups. Based on the comments made in the Survey, she expects the Union Budget to incorporate a growth in gross tax revenue of 15-16 per cent.
The analyst community tracking the Indian IT services industry took special note of Accenture's first quarter (Q1) performance, which showcased the rapid growth of its consulting business that outperformed its outsourcing business. Bookings indicate that the trend will continue. Consulting bookings increased 41.6 per cent year-on-year (yoy) to $9.4 billion, higher than the 17.6 per cent growth in outsourcing to $7.4 billion. The management commentary was also more bullish on the consulting business.
Equities in India saw record FPI inflows of $16.8 billion in November and December, taking the benchmark indices to new highs.
The increase in infrastructure spends in the country is likely to be driven by sectors like housing, telecom, healthcare, education and transportation.
From watches and sunglasses to trekking/fitness bicycles, online shoppers seem ready to loosen purse strings.
The industry is expected to spend an additional $500- 1,000 million during the same period on logistics functions.
Xi Jinping is winning the war without firing a shot in Sri Lanka, observes Colonel R Hariharan (retd).
Last Saturday, USL board asked its Chairman Vijay Mallya to quit.
Last year's Budget had created uncertainty about the quantum of tax to be withheld on dividends paid to non-residents, as the exact tax rate was not specified under section 195.
Individuals flew the flag for philanthropy in FY20, escalating their contribution significantly in comparison with company and foreign fund donations, according to the Dasra/Bain & Co India Philanthropy Report of 2021. Funding by individual philanthropists went up by 42 per cent from Rs 21,000 crore in FY19 to Rs 30,000 crore in FY20.
Accountancy regulator ICAI on Wednesday agreed to withdraw disciplinary proceedings against audit firm Price Waterhouse Delhi for its alleged involvement in the multi-crore scam in Satyam Computer Services.
Mutual funds aspirants have the option of snapping up smaller AMCs or applying for a new licence.
Record equity divestment by the Reliance Group in its telecom and retail businesses garnering around $23 billion revved up the deal street in 2020, which otherwise would have gone down as one of the dullest on record, and dealmakers are seeing sunnier days in 2021 given the large scope for consolidation in a slew of sectors ravaged by the pandemic. With Jio Platforms alone garnering over $16 billion (Rs 1,18,318 crore) by selling 25.24 per cent stake and Reliance Retail notching up $6.4 billion (Rs 47,265 crore) by divesting around 9 per cent shareholding, the deal street signed off with $85 billion in the deal kitty across 1,270 transactions. This is higher by about 10 per cent over 2019. What is significant is that over a third of the total deal value came from Reliance transactions, say investment bankers.
Recruiters are now in search of candidates with soft skills alongside tech-based knowledge, says Ambrish Sinha.
Companies such as Tata Sons and Bharti Telecom, which are unlisted but have listed subsidiaries, may soon have to file periodic financial statements with the registrar of companies under the new provision of the Companies Act. The provision requires greater financial disclosures by a certain category of unlisted companies.
As per the Budget proposals, migration of a fund to a fund in IFSC will not be regarded as transfer if done on or before March 31, 2023. Transfer of units will be tax neutral. Grandfathered investments of the fund to continue to enjoy capital gains exemption on future sale by the IFSC fund. There is no impact on carry forward of losses for the investee company.
India conceding ground to bring only top 100 digital companies like Google, Facebook, and Netflix into the global taxation pact may have revenue implications. This will mean that New Delhi will have to withdraw the contentious 2 per cent equalisation levy on e-commerce operators by 2023. This may have revenue implications for India, experts pointed out, as the equalisation levy has a much lower annual revenue threshold of Rs 2 crore (euro 0.2 million) as against euro 20 billion agreed by 130 countries at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). India, along with other developing countries, was pitching for at least euro 1 billion threshold to cover at least 5,000 global entities. India collected Rs 2,057 crore from the equalisation levy in 2020-21, an 85 per cent growth over Rs 1,136 crore in the previous fiscal.
Salman Khan's lawyer on raised a question in the Bombay high court as to why police had gone for a blood test when no witness or FIR had ever suggested that the actor was drunk or was smelling of liquor.
The fourth additional sessions court in Hyderabad on Wednesday posted the orders on the bail petition of Price Waterhouse auditors to Thursday.
Billionaire and Mahindra Group chairman Anand Mahindra along with top Silicon Valley investors Naval Ravikant and Balaji Srinivasan are backing space tech start-up Agnikul as part of a new funding round. Chennai-based Agnikul said, on Thursday, that it has raised $11 million in Series A funding round led by Mayfield India. It is the largest funding round for a private Indian space technology company in the country. Existing investors pi Ventures, Speciale Invest and Artha Venture Fund also invested in this round.
The bill to nullify retrospective taxation offers a fair solution within the framework of Indian law and Parliamentary sovereignty to companies which have been subjected to such demands, Finance Secretary T V Somanathan said on Thursday. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman introduced 'The Taxation Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021' in the Lok Sabha that seeks to withdraw tax demands made using a 2012 retrospective legislation to tax the indirect transfer of Indian assets. The Bill provides for the withdrawal of tax demand made on "indirect transfer of Indian assets if the transaction was undertaken before May 28, 2012 (i.e. the day the retrospective tax legislation came into being)."
The cricketing world is all set for another feast with the Indian Premier League.
