Why does the world's fastest-growing major consumer of energy fail to attract investments in oil and gas? This is a question worth pondering after private sector conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) failed to close a $15-billion downstream asset deal with Saudi Arabia's national oil company, Aramco. It's understandable if multi-billion dollar investments in oil and gas projects or deals involving state companies that need to traverse a complex bureaucracy at state and federal levels and the corridors of ministries unravel. However, Mukesh Ambani-run RIL, India's most successful energy company, is not typically known to fumble on closing deals (Ambani closed deals worth around Rs 2 trillion early last year in telecom and retail with blue chip investors).
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has rebutted Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Randeep Singh Surjewala's allegations regarding "wilful defaulters, bad loans and write-offs", and stated that they have "attempted to mislead people in a brazen manner".
The government is likely to file an appeal against the Cairn arbitration award contesting its sovereign rights to tax, sources said.
The seizure occurred during raids at eight premises of a group engaged in sand mining in Tamil Nadu.
A quick computation puts the following value to the seizures.
A New York court has paused Cairn Energy's pursuit of US assets of Air India for the recovery of $1.2 billion arbitral award, so as to allow the British firm to reach a settlement with the Indian government on the long drawn dispute. The New York district court delayed the tax suit to November 18, according to court documents reviewed by PTI. This follows Cairn Energy and Air India jointly asking the court to stay further proceedings in view of the fresh government enacting a fresh law to scrap retrospective taxation in the country.
Cairn Energy and Air India have jointly asked a New York federal court to stay further proceedings in the British firm's US lawsuit targeting the airline for enforcement of a $1.2-billion arbitral award. The move follows the government enacting a law to scrap retrospective taxation in the country, which in effect will result in withdrawal of the Rs 10,247 crore tax demand on Cairn, according to court documents reviewed by PTI. The British company had won an international arbitration award against levy of such taxes and sought to take over Air India assets when the government refused to honour the award and pay it $1.2 billion-plus interest and penalty.
The onus to explain that the gold jewellery was inherited or bought from known sources of income would be on the owner.
Future Retail Ltd (FRL) on Wednesday said it has filed an appeal in the Delhi high court against the status quo order on its Rs 24,713-crore deal with Reliance. On Tuesday, a Delhi High Court bench of Justice J R Midha had directed FRL to maintain status quo in relation to its Rs 24,713-crore deal with Reliance Retail that has been objected to by US-based e-commerce giant, Amazon. Following the Tuesday directive, FRL had said it would explore legal recourse.
The probe is being conducted under various sections of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) after the central probe agency recently received a communication from the commerce ministry seeking "necessary action" against e-commerce players like Amazon and Flipkart pertaining to certain multi-brand retail businesses and an observation made by the Delhi High Court in relation to Amazon.
The government will use the Supreme Court order calling the 2005 deal between ISRO's commercial arm Antrix and privately-owned Devas Multimedia a fraud, to counter seizure of its properties, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday as she launched a blistering attack on the Congress for handing over airwaves used by the defence to the private firm for pittance. "It is a fraud of Congress, by Congress (and) for Congress," the minister told reporters as she read out paragraphs from the Supreme Court's January 17 decision allowing winding up of Devas Multimedia because of the fraud.
The new powers are aimed at making Sebi more effective in protecting investor interest and helping it to better regulate the market.
The Indian government has asked a federal court in Washington to dismiss Britain's Cairn Energy suit seeking enforcement of a $1.2 billion arbitral award, saying it had sovereign immunity under US law. Cairn had in May asked a US federal court to force Air India to pay a $1.26 billion arbitration award the firm had won in December. The government on August 13 filed a 'Motion to Dismiss' petition in the US District Court for the District of Colombia, saying it lacked subject matter jurisdiction in the dispute between Cairn and the Indian tax authority, according to a filing seen by PTI.
The Republic Day parade, which will begin at around 1030 am, will be a unique mix of the country's military prowess and cultural diversity, depicting the country's growing indigenous capabilities, Nari Shakti and emergence of a 'New India'.
Seeking to wriggle out of the FATF's grey list, Pakistan has imposed tough financial sanctions on 88 banned terror groups and their leaders, including Hafiz Saeed, Masood Azhar and Dawood Ibrahim, by ordering the seizure of all of their properties and freezing of bank accounts, a media report said.
Other than Kapoor, the complaint, running into more than 10,000 pages, named his wife, Bindu; three daughters Rakhee, Roshini, and Radha; and three firms, Morgan Credits, RAB Enterprises, and Doit Urban Ventures, allegedly controlled by them.
The bench also said there was merit in ED's contention that while the "driving force behind the companies" (Modi) was not submitting to the agency's jurisdiction, his companies cannot be given any discretionary relief.
Air India has asked a New York court to dismiss a petition filed by Britain's Cairn Energy for seizure of its assets to enforce $1.2 billion arbitral awards against the Indian government, saying the litigation was premature as an appeal against the arbitration award was still pending. The petition by the airline, which is separate to Indian government's plea in a Washington court seeking dismissal of Cairn's lawsuit to seek confirmation of the arbitral award, said the New York district court lacks jurisdiction to adjudicate a "mere hypothetical question" or one that depends upon contingent future events that may or may not occur. Cairn first moved a court in the US District Court for the District of Columbia seeking confirmation of the arbitration award and then filed a petition in the New York court to seek declaration of Air India as "alter ego" of the Indian government and so it should be made liable to pay the $1.26 billion arbitral award.
Future Retail Ltd (FRL) on Tuesday said it will explore all legal remedies to pursue its Rs 24,713-crore deal with RIL following a Delhi high court order directing status quo to be maintained till the court pronounces its order. Earlier in the day, a Delhi high court bench of Justice J R Midha directed FRL to maintain status quo in relation to its deal with Reliance Retail that has been objected to by US-based e-commerce giant, Amazon. Amazon welcomed the latest court directive.
The troubled Web portal's employees open up (a little) about the company's problems.
On October 18, the tax department had said searches had led to detection of undisclosed income of more than Rs 500 crore in addition to Rs 93 crore worth seizures, including gold jewellery and diamonds. A revised appraisal of such seizures now pegs its value at Rs 106 crore which includes cash (Rs 45 crore), gold jewellery and diamonds (Rs 41 crore) and foreign currency Rs 20 crore.
The Budget loosened the reins on public spending to drive growth.
He opined that procedural delays like granting sanction and difficulty in marshalling large number of witnesses were the major hurdles in achieving meaningful convictions.
Officials said the Enforcement Directorate along with the Central Bureau of Investigation launched fresh searches on March 22 at the Samudra Mahal luxury residential flats of Modi in Mumbai's Worli area which resulted in the recovery of fresh valuables.
Bulk seizures of new currency continued on Saturday with some more incidents being reported, including one in which the IT department recovered Rs 5.7 crore cash in new notes secretly stashed inside the bathroom tiles of a hawala dealer in Chitradurga district in Karnataka.
If Sebi and RBI remain quiet about this brazenly illegal activity, will someone in the finance ministry or the NITI Aayog take a closer look, asks Debashis Basu.
Those earning over Rs 50 lakh a year need to disclose all jewellery and cash in their returns, says Tinesh Bhasin.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to stay the investigation against Mumbai Congress chief Kripashankar Singh and his family members for allegedly amassing disproportionate assets but put an interim stay on the process of attaching and seizure of their properties.
In a 7-page letter Choksi said, he was being threatened by the individuals with whom he has business relationship and due to the seizure of his assets, his employees, customers and creditors have started to show animosity towards him.
I-T officials are also looking into the finances of candidates who contested state elections in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat, and Karnataka, reports Shrimi Choudhary.
Future Retail Ltd has said that SEBI's one-year ban on its chairman Kishore Biyani and some other promoters from the securities market will have "no impact" on the Rs 24,713 crore-deal with Reliance. Further, Kishore Biyani, some other promoters and Future Corporate Resources Pvt Ltd (FCRPL) plan to appeal against the order passed by Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on Wednesday. "The order will have no impact on the ongoing Scheme of Arrangement of the company. We understand that the relevant parties propose to challenge this order in exercise of their statutory right to appeal," Future Retail Ltd (FRL) said in a late-night regulatory filing on Wednesday.
To check black money menace, the Cabinet on Tuesday approved a new bill that would give more powers to the tax department in tracking illicit wealth stashed abroad and provide for strict penal actions for such offence.
Former Union Communications Minister Sukhram was convicted on Fridayby a Delhi Court for amassing Rs 4.25 crore of disproportionate assets that included seizure of Rs 2.45 crore from his residence in New Delhi.
The government on Thursday gave more powers to market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India to crackdown on ponzi schemes, access phone call records to check insider trading and carry out search and seizure operations.
US federal authorities were in the process of seizing four mosques and a 36-storey skyscraper in Manhattan that are owned by a nonprofit Muslim organisation long suspected of having ties to the Iranian government.
Dawood Ibrahim is wanted in India to face the law of the land for carrying out serial blasts in Mumbai in 1993 in which scores of people were killed and injured.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday said the NDA government has done more work to fish out black money than any other previous government in a short span of two years and all efforts are afoot to book those who have not taken advantage of the disclosure scheme.
The crackdown on black money has led to seizing of Rs 3,963 crore of smuggled goods in two years.
In 2021, there is the risk of interest rates spiking. Investors should tackle duration risk with a longer investment horizon, suggests Sanjay Kumar Singh.
Among the seizures were Indian masters such as FN Souza, VS Gaitonde, SH Raza, Amrita Sher-Gil and Akbar Padamsee, sculptures from Italy and the US, Chinese artwork and masterpieces by Xu Lei and Zeng Xiaojun.