This is the first time a bank has introduced a real-time international account to account money transfer service via mobile phones anywhere in the world, a statement here said.
rediffGURU Samkit Maniar answers readers' personal income tax queries
In the first such collaboration for India, the country's flagship payments platform, the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), and Singapore's PayNow payment system have launched a real-time cross-border payment linkage system. The linkage, which was launched by Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi and Singapore's PM Lee Hsien Loong on Tuesday, was kicked off by a live cross-border transaction between Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das and Monetary Authority of Singapore managing director Ravi Menon, using mobile phones.
Credit card payments for foreign travel will be brought under the purview of the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) of the Reserve Bank, to ensure that such expenses do not escape TCS (Tax Collection at Source). While moving the Finance Bill 2023 for consideration and passage in the Lok Sabha on Friday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the Reserve Bank has been asked to look into ways to bring credit card payments on foreign tours under the LRS. "It has been represented that payments for foreign tours through a credit card are not being captured under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) and such payments escape tax collection at source (TCS)," she said.
'At this moment you cannot give her asylum because if you do, then you are directing public anger against India.'
The Union finance ministry on Thursday issued a clarification on the changes in FEMA rules which brings overseas international credit card spending under the RBI's liberalised remittance scheme (LRS). Here's how it affects you.
The central government has given banks and credit card entities six to eight months to put in place the requisite reporting mechanism and related features to collect tax at source on international credit card transactions, a senior bureaucrat told Business Standard. According to the bureaucrat, the plan to bring overseas credit cards under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) has not been mothballed and is simply being deferred so that banks get adequate time to get the system up and running. The official expects the reporting mechanism to be ready in the given time, and the rule could be implemented in the next financial year (2024-25, or FY25).
The Enforcement Directorate has upgraded its Look out Circular (LC) issued against Byju's founder and CEO Byju Raveendran in connection with a FEMA probe, seeking to stop him for going abroad. The earlier such alert meant that immigration authorities had to just intimate the agency about his movements through various ports. Official sources said that the over an year old LC was revised sometime back in light of investors' concerns and ongoing adjudication of a FEMA contravention case against Raveendran and some others.
The government said remittances from abroad will not attract service tax, putting to rest the concerns raised in view of new tax norms.
Remittances by artists and for advertisements, royalty payments, purchase of trademarks, commission to real estate agents and health insurance from abroad would no longer require RBI clearance.
The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) decision on Wednesday to relax restrictions on banks operating in the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) related to the repatriation of idle funds in foreign currency accounts (FCA) could give a fillip to trading in foreign stocks at the GIFT City.
The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has launched a preliminary investigation or a pre-open inquiry into alleged violations related to the Foreign Exchange Management Act (Fema) in the Paytm Payments Bank case, according to sources in the know. The probe follows serious concerns raised by the Reserve Bank of India on multiple violations by the Paytm bank, which is a joint venture between One97 Communications, which is the parent company of Paytm, and the group's founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma.
'Exposure to small and midcap stocks exceeded desired levels in many portfolios, prompting rebalancing.'
'Investing abroad helps mitigate currency risk for foreign-currency denominated goals, such as children's higher education and international travel.'
Singh has also sought details from the Finance Ministry on the issue, said Chandy who raised objections before the Prime Minister over the reported move by the Government to levy the tax on the money of Indians working abroad.
The senior counsel appearing for the former MP claimed she was being "hounded", and information on issuance of summons to her by the agency was published by the media even before she received it.
Several mutual funds (MFs) have recently approached the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as they renew efforts to increase their overseas investment limit. In June 2022, the capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) permitted MFs to invest in foreign stocks within the aggregate mandated limit of $7 billion after a correction in stocks. One of the proposals shared with the RBI is to link MFs' foreign investment limit to the country's foreign exchange reserves.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday attached 17 properties of Kashmiri businessman Zahoor Ahmed Shah Watali in a terror funding case, the agency said.
Outward remittances under the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) liberalised remittance scheme (LRS) made a strong comeback in the first quarter of FY23 as Indians increased spending on international travel, maintenance of close relatives, and gifts. The latest data for Q1FY23 released by the RBI shows that remittance by Indians under the scheme jumped 64.75 per cent to over $6.04 billion from $3.67 billion in Q1FY22. The amount remitted in Q1FY23 is even higher than that in Q4FY22, where outward remittance under LRS was to the tune of $5.8 billion. In April, about $2.02 billion was remitted, followed by $2.03 billion in May, and $1.98 billion in June, data released by RBI in the August bulletin shows.
A portfolio can be rebalanced by either selling a portion of the outperforming asset class or by buying more of the underperforming asset class.
The Enforcement Directorate on Friday alleged that Hero MotoCorp executive chairperson Pawan Kant Munjal used foreign currency issued in the name of others for his personal expenditure abroad to "override" RBI rules and attached his assets worth Rs 24.95 crore as part of a money laundering investigation. Three immovable properties (in the form of lands) of Munjal located in Delhi have been provisionally attached under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the central agency said in a statement.
British broadcaster BBC has communicated to the income-tax department that some of its past income, for its operations in India, could have gone unreported during the statutory filing of returns and hence it would like to amend it, official sources said on Wednesday.
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.
If investing in Bitcoin, adopt a three to five-year horizon and invest systematically to gain from its volatility.
Almost all will say no. Then ask them why they don't push back at those who rise the slogan of Khalistan. Somebody would confront you with a counter-question: If people can talk of a Hindu Rashtra, why get so upset if others talk of a Sikh Nation, points out Shekhar Gupta.
India's current account deficit declined sharply to 1 per cent of the GDP or $8.3 billion in the second quarter of this financial year, mainly due to lower merchandise trade deficit and growth in services exports, according to a RBI data released on Tuesday. The current account deficit (CAD), which represents the difference between the total amount of money sent abroad and money received from overseas across the economy, was 3.8 per cent of GDP or $30.9 billion in the July-September quarter in 2022-23. CAD was $9.2 billion or 1.1 per cent of GDP in the first quarter (April-June) of the current financial year 2023-24.
India topped the World Bank's list of workers' remittances at $10 billion, which is over 13 per cent of the total $72.3 billion flowing to all developing countries during 2001.
Could the MPCE survey results be used as a basis of reconstructing the Consumer Price Index with new weights, asks Madan Sabnavis.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is probing alleged fraudulent foreign funds infusion of more than Rs 86 crore into a company that runs the NewsClick portal even as it is expected to soon file a charge sheet in the case being probed under the anti-money laundering law, official sources said on Monday.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday said it has issued show-cause notices to the Indian arm of Chinese mobile phone manufacturer Xiaomi, its chief financial officer and director Sameer B Rao, former managing director Manu Kumar Jain and three foreign banks for alleged violations of the foreign exchange law to the tune of more than Rs 5,551 crore.
A new schedule has been added to report income from cryptocurrencies and other Virtual Digital Assets.
The Enforcement Directorate on Monday seized three offices in a prime location in Mumbai, valued more than Rs 41 crore, as part of a foreign exchange violation probe against a businessman whose name figured in the Panama Papers.
Anil Rego, CEO, Right Horizons, answers your personal income tax queries.
The CBI registered an FIR against NewsClick and its founder Prabir Purkayastha for alleged violation of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act and carried out searches at the office and residence of the portal's founder on Wednesday, officials said.
While India should be concerned about disparities, the fact is that whereas three decades ago about half the people had incomes greater than $2.15 a day, today seven out of eight do, notes T N Ninan.
The federal probe agency has also called for documents and the recording of statements of some company executives under provisions of the FEMA, they said.
Penalties for non-disclosure or inaccurate disclosure of these details can be severe.
The Lok Sabha contest in Thiruvananthapuram is shaping up to be a significant battle involving key candidates like Shashi Tharoor, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, and Panniyan Ravindran. This three-cornered fight highlights the political dynamics in Kerala's capital city, with each candidate bringing their own vision and promises for the region's development, notes Rajeev Srinivasan.