UK-based Cairn Energy PLC on Tuesday said it will drop litigations to seize Indian properties in countries ranging from France to the US, within a couple of days of getting a USD 1 billion refund resulting from the scrapping of a retrospective tax law.
Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das on Thursday said cryptocurrencies are a "threat to macroeconomic and financial stability" and cautioned investors against punting on them, days after the Union government's move to tax the gains made from cryptocurrency trades. In the Union Budget for 2022-23 presented in Parliament on February 1, the government proposed levying a 30 per cent tax on gains made on cryptocurrency trades by investors and the announcement was welcomed by cryptocurrency industry players, saying it legitimises their trades. Das invoked the 17th century 'tulip mania', widely considered to be the first financial bubble, to caution investors, saying the cryptocurrencies do not even possess the value of the exotic flower.
The government must also look at rationalising the levies on the sector and close long standing legal disputes that are a big drag on performance of operators, he said.
The government is open to 'some tinkering' in the varied rates and holding period for computation of capital gains tax on shares, debt and immovable property, in a bid to make it simple, revenue secretary Tarun Bajaj said on Wednesday. Under the Income Tax Act, gains from sale of capital assets, both movable and immovable, are subject to 'capital gains tax'. The Act, however, excludes movable personal assets such as cars, apparels, furniture from this tax.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday ruled out a cut in excise duty on petrol and diesel to ease prices, which have touched an all-time high, saying payments in lieu of past subsidised fuel pose limitations. Petrol and diesel as well as cooking gas and kerosene were sold at subsidised rates during the previous Congress-led UPA government. Instead of paying for the subsidy to bring parity between the artificially suppressed retail selling price and the cost that had soared because of international rates crossing $100 per barrel, the then government issued oil bonds totalling Rs 1.34 lakh crore to the state-fuel retailers. These oil bonds and the interest thereon are being paid now.
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.
Billionaire Anil Agarwal's mining group Vedanta on Monday said it has withdrawn cases in the Delhi high court as well as before an international arbitration tribunal to settle a Rs 20,495 crore retrospective tax dispute with the government. Post slapping of a Rs 10,247 crore tax demand on UK's Cairn Energy Plc for alleged capital gains made on a 2016 internal reorganisation prior to the listing of its India business, the Income Tax Department had sought Rs 20,495 crore in taxes (including penalty) from Cairn India for failing to deduct tax on capital gains made by its British parent. Cairn India was in 2011 bought by Agarwal's group and subsequently, the firm was merged with Vedanta Ltd.
The government on Tuesday confirmed that a French court has ordered the freezing of certain Indian assets in Paris on a petition by Britain's Cairn Energy, which is seeking to recover $1.72 billion from New Delhi after winning an arbitration against retro tax. Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha said the government has filed an appeal against an international arbitration tribunal overturning levy of Rs 10,247 crore in back taxes on Cairn Energy. "Yes sir, an order has been passed by a French Court freezing certain Indian government properties in the case pertaining to Cairn Energy," he said.
The move is likely to encourage service providers to take their broadband services to rural India. To further increase connectivity, it recommended allowing open access to local loop for broadband provision and designate rural fibre-optic network as a 'public carrier' for provision of telecom connectivity in the rural areas.
'These accusations of my film being a copy only makes our chances at the Academy harder.'
The finance ministry said the notification pertains to putting in place an efficient mechanism for collection of stamp duty on security market instruments transactions through stock exchanges or clearing corporations authorised by stock exchanges and depositories.
The Central government will borrow up to Rs 1.1 lakh crore on behalf of the states to bridge the shortfall in GST collections, the finance ministry said on Thursday. A slowdown in the economy since last fiscal has resulted in a drop in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections, upsetting the budgets of states which had given up their right to levy local taxes such as sales tax or VAT when GST was introduced in July 2017. To make up for the shortfall, borrowing from the market was proposed.
However, where the directors' remuneration is in the nature of professional fees and not salary, GST will be levied on a reverse charge basis.
SBI may charge 14 to 14.75% for 5-year loans.
A record GST tax collection, an overhaul of the income tax return filing portal and the landmark move to scrap retrospective taxation have set the stage for the next level of reforms in tax administration that include bringing a framework for cryptocurrencies and rationalising the GST rate structure. With tax reforms such as faceless assessment taking roots, 2021 will go down as the year that pivoted the tax administration in a country aspiring to become the world's favourite investment destination. The task ahead is going to be a tough one as the tax department would grapple with taxing cryptocurrencies, rationalising Goods and Services Tax (GST) rates to shore up revenues and post June 2022, the scenario of how the GST revenue plays out for states without the Centre's support of compensation.
Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) won 15 of 20 seats up for grabs in the politically crucial province of Punjab on Sunday, dealing a major blow to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his 13-party alliance led by the ruling PML-N.
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If other states follow suit, it is going to become difficult for the GST Council to decide on the next stage of reforms.
A division bench of the Madras high court on Tuesday expunged the adverse remarks made by a single judge against top Tamil actor Vijay on the issue of entry tax over the import of a luxury car from England in 2012.
CCPA said the primary issues raised in the notices included 'deficiency in service'. This includes lack of proper response from customer support, driver refusing to take payment by online mode and insisting for cash only.
On January 2, 2016, a team of gunmen wearing Indian army fatigues waded through a branch of the Ravi river on the India-Pakistan Punjab border. Arriving on the Indian side, the men hijacked vehicles and drove towards the sprawling Pathankot Air Force base.
Petrol and diesel prices on Monday were hiked for the seventh day in a row as a rally in international oil prices took retail rates in India to new highs. Petrol price was increased by 26 paise per litre and diesel by 29 paise, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers. This pushed retail rates, which differ from state to state depending on the incidence of local sales tax or VAT and freight charges, to their highest level. The hike took petrol price in Delhi to a record Rs 88.99 per litre and to a highest-ever rate of Rs 95.46 a litre in Mumbai.
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It was alleged in an audit that Subramanian was the Yogi, but Sebi dismissed that claim in its final report on February 11.
Petrol and diesel prices on Tuesday were hiked for the sixth time this month, propelling prices to cross the Rs 100-a-litre-mark in places from Nanded in Maharashtra to Rewa in Madhya Pradesh to Jaisalmer in Rajasthan. Petrol price was hiked by 27 paise a litre and diesel by 30 paise per litre, according to a price notification by state-owned fuel retailers. The increase took petrol and diesel prices to their highest-ever level across the country. In Delhi, petrol now comes for Rs 91.80 per litre and diesel is priced at Rs 82.36.
To maintain social distancing norms, three pre-booked time slots at 1030 hrs, 1230 hrs and 1430 hrs have been fixed with a maximum limit of 25 visitors per slot.
Petrol price on Friday scaled to Rs 102 per litre in some parts of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh after rates were raised for the fourth straight day after ending more than two-week-long hiatus during assembly elections in states like West Bengal. On Friday, petrol price was hiked by a steep 29 paise per litre and diesel by 31 paise a litre, according to a price notification by state-owned fuel retailers. This took the price of petrol in Delhi to Rs 91.27 per litre and that of diesel to Rs 81.73.
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The cess levied on top of the maximum 28 per cent tax rate on petrol vehicles with capacity to carry 10-13 persons has been reduced to 1 per cent and the same for diesel vehicles has been cut to 3 per cent.
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Sebi has barred fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi and one Rakesh Girdharlal Gajera from the capital markets for one year and levied a fine totalling Rs 2.5 crore on them for violating insider trading rules in the matter of Gitanjali Gems. In addition, they have been restrained from buying, selling or otherwise dealing in securities of Gitanjali Gems Ltd (GGL) for a period of two years. Also, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has directed Gajera to disgorge a sum of Rs 15.82 crore.
The CBI on Friday questioned former CEO of National Stock Exchange (NSE) Chitra Ramkrishna in view of fresh facts emerging in connection with its ongoing probe into the alleged abuse of co-location facility in the NSE, officials said. The agency has also opened look out circulars against Ramkrishna, another former CEO Ravi Narain and former COO Anand Subramanian to prevent them from leaving the country. The central probe agency had booked a owner and promoter of Delhi-based OPG Securities Pvt. Ltd, Sanjay Gupta and other in connection with alleged abuse of NSE co-location facility to make gains by getting early access to the stock market, they said.
Five to 10 per cent of the active Covid cases this time so far needed hospitalisation but the situation is dynamic and may change rapidly, the Centre said on Monday and asked states to keep a watch on cases under home isolation and in hospitals.
In order to provide an impetus to digital funds movement, it has been decided to do away with the charges levied by the RBI for transactions processed in the RTGS and NEFT systems, RBI said.
Telecom operator Bharti Airtel on Friday said it has paid Rs 15,519 crore to the government towards prepayment of its entire deferred liability pertaining to spectrum acquired in the 2014 auction. The company had acquired 128.4 MHz spectrum (including Telenor spectrum) for a consideration of Rs 19,051 crore in the 2014 auction, Airtel said in a statement. The company estimates that the prepayment to Department of Telecom (DoT) will likely result in interest cost savings of at least Rs 3,400 crore over the residual life for fully substituted capital.
The Union government has collected Rs 94,181 crore through levy of excise duty on petrol and diesel in the first three months of the current fiscal on the back of a record tax on fuel that yielded 88 per cent higher revenue the previous financial year, the Lok Sabha was informed on Monday. Excise duty on petrol was hiked from Rs 19.98 per litre to Rs 32.9 last year to recoup gain arising from international oil prices plunging to multi-year low as pandemic gulped demand. The same on diesel was raised to Rs 31.8 from Rs 15.83 a litre, according to a written reply by Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Rameswar Teli in the Lok Sabha. This led to excise collections on petrol and diesel jumping to Rs 3.35 lakh crore in 2020-21 (April 2020 to March 2021), from Rs 1.78 lakh crore a year back, he said.
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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.
The new rates will be Rs 900, Rs 1,400 and Rs 1,800 per test, adding it was the fourth time rates had been revised from the original Rs 4,500.