The coming Union Budget might give relief to foreign portfolio investors from taxation on indirect transfers.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said there were visible signs of revival in the economy but the GDP growth may be in the negative zone or near zero in the current fiscal.
While the American Club Cool Fresh Taste saw the minimum hike of 10 per cent, from Rs 200 to Rs 220 for a pack of 20 cigarettes, the price of Navy Cut Filter rose by about 16 per cent, at Rs 80 for a pack of 10 sticks. Flake Filter has become costlier by 14 per cent at Rs 80, while prices of Flake Special Filter, Flake Blue Special Filter and Wave Cool Mint rose by 20 per cent.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while unveiling the Union Budget said the proposal would make India more attractive market for investment.
The minister, while replying to the debate on Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Bill, 2020, was responding to various issues raised by the Congress and other Opposition parties about the PM CARES Fund.
The November 3 presidential poll is an "election of a lifetime" for it being held amid a pandemic and seeing the "highest participation" of India-Americans, according to eminent community leader Swadesh Chatterjee.
UK's Cairn Energy Plc plans to bring lawsuits in the US and other countries to pierce the corporate veil between the Indian government and its owned companies such as in oil and gas, shipping, airline and banking sectors, to seize their overseas assets to recover $1.2 billion ordered by an international arbitration tribunal. The firm has moved courts in the US, UK, Canada, France, Singapore, the Netherlands and three other countries to register the December 2020 arbitration tribunal ruling that overturned the Indian government's Rs 10,247 crore demand in back taxes and ordered New Delhi to return $1.2 billion in value of shares it had sold, dividends seized and tax refunds withheld to recover the tax demand. With the government so far refusing to honour the arbitration award and instead choosing to challenge it, Cairn is looking to enforce it by seizing overseas Indian assets, Dennis Hranitzky, head of the sovereign litigation practice at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, a law firm representing the company, told PTI.
The criteria for allowing companies to avail of this provision will include profitability, networth, paid-up capital, and turnover.
While the PM sees zero tax on long-term capital gains and dividend income as unfair since the beneficiaries are not poor, he is silent on the fact that rich farmers too don't pay taxes, since farm income is tax-free, a loophole exploited by many netas and babus, says Debashis Basu.
Deveshwar wondered whether the countries FUNDING the anti-smoking NGOs had pictorial warnings.
In May, India and Mauritius signed a protocol to introduce in-principle taxation of capital gains in India in a phased manner.
However, where the directors' remuneration is in the nature of professional fees and not salary, GST will be levied on a reverse charge basis.
To incentivise the Micro and Small enterprise is to offer them lower rates of interest based on their business turnover
The Budget proposed abolishing the under-performing, authority of advance ruling, to replace it with a two-member board of advance ruling.
'Rationalising TDS on dividends for FPIs to reduce it to treaty rates ranging from 5 to 15 per cent, depending on the country of residence of FPIs from current rate of 20 per cent will provide a big cash flow relief for FPIs.'
He said the government has already begun implementing tax reforms.
Cairn has already taken steps to have the arbitration award recognised in nine major jurisdictions such as the US, UK, France, the Netherlands, Singapore and Canada's Quebec province, where Indian sovereign assets have been identified. It hasn't said what it might go after but assets could include Air India's planes, vessels belonging to the Shipping Corporation of India and property owned by state banks.
Being part of category-I implies lower compliance burden, simplified know-your-customer norms and documentation requirements, and fewer investment restrictions.
There is no proposal to modify income tax returns forms, finance ministry sources clarified when asked to comment on news reports that the purported statement of financial transactions expansion would result in the filing of high-value financial transactions in ITR by the taxpayers themselves.
Can the finance minister manage our expectations, asks A K Bhattacharya.
CII has also called for tax incentives for new health care projects and import duty relief for lifesaving equipment.
A faltering economy may have led to a re-think on economic strategy. And Mr Modi might think he is politically strong enough to take some risks. But there could be a minefield ahead, observes T N Ninan.
'Extensive thought has been put in, and we have pondered over each and every suggestions and demands received from our members.'
This will be the first time since the presentation of independent India's first budget on November 26, 1947, that the documents containing income and expenditure statement of the Union government along with finance bill, detailing new tax and other measures for the new financial year, will not be physically printed.
The central government's clarification on the 2 per cent equalisation levy on foreign digital operators in the Budget, which considerably expands the scope of the levy, might be challenged in court, with several companies contemplating filing a writ petition in the coming few weeks. The writs might be filed on the grounds of the levy's alleged extra-territorial overreach, as it aims to cover those entities that do not have a physical presence in India, going against international taxation rules.
CBDT circular issued last month had raised multiple taxation concerns.
Goods and Services Tax would usher in an unified indirect tax regime.
The high court's order, which says refunds paid on service inputs can be restricted, runs contrary to Gujarat HC verdict and could complicate matters.
The Budget has changed the rules for Indian citizens and persons of Indian origin visiting India. Instead of 182 days, the number of days has been reduced to 120. You will be treated as a resident of India for tax purposes if you stay in the country for more than 120 days in a financial year and 365 days in the past four years. One consequence of the change will be that people of Indian origin who reside outside India will be able to spend a smaller number of days in the country if they wish to keep their non-resident status intact, points out Sanjay Kumar Singh.
'India is still hierarchical, but not as much as Japan and people appreciate a flat working culture,' Charles Frump, managing director, Volvo Cars India, tells Pavan Lall.
The Mutual Logistics Support Agreement will allow militaries of the two countries to use each other's bases for repair and replenishment of supplies besides facilitating scaling up of overall defence cooperation.
A phased roll-out of prohibition will hit revenues of companies, which get 5% of their volume sales from the state
'Many of the challenges of investing in commercial real estate get taken care of when an investor takes the Reit route,' points out Suraj Nangia.
A vacation bench of Justices Vineet Saran and BR Gavai said that the directions of high court passed on May 17 shall not be treated as directives but an advice to Uttar Pradesh government.
The heavy industries ministersaid that the proposal for the auto scrappage policy was ready and all stakeholders have provided inputs, therefore its announcement was likely very soon.
The e-commerce sector is also fraught with redundant taxation laws that need immediate overhaul
Signing of the pact will hopefully end stock market uncertainty that came with the mention of the M-name
P-note is, however, now not a preferred route for investing in India as Sebi has made registration easier and also desirable for FPIs.
The political-electoral calculus favours spending thousands of crores on vanity projects like Sardar Patel's statue and the Central Vista over building up our military to handle the confrontations and conflicts that loom large, points out Ajai Shukla.
Budget planners for now have been told to prepare with the assumption that GST will apply from April 1.
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