117 companies raise Rs 62k cr via IPOs in Apr-Nov FY18, highest in 5 years

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As many as 117 companies have garnered a staggering Rs 62,736 crore through IPOs in the first eight months of Financial Year 2017-18, much higher than the cumulative amount raised in the last five fiscals, Parliament was informed on Friday.

These 117 initial public offers (IPOs) include 28 main- board public offers and the remaining for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), Minister of State for Finance Pon Radhakrishnan said in a written reply to Lok Sabha.


During April-November of 2017-18 fiscal, a total of 117 companies raised Rs 62,736 crore through IPO route. This was much more than the cumulative amount of Rs 62,147 crore garnered in the last five financial years.

Besides, the ongoing fiscal has witnessed the highest IPO activity since 2007-08, when companies had mopped up Rs 52,219 crore through the route.

The IPO chart in this fiscal is led by General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC) that garnered over Rs 11,176 crore. This was the largest public float by any firm after the October 2010 offer by Coal India which raised Rs 15,000 crore.

GIC is followed by New India Assurance Company that raised Rs 9,467 crore, HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company (Rs 8,695 crore) SBI Life Insurance Company (Rs 8,386 crore) and ICICI Lombard General Insurance (Rs 5,700 crore).

Individually, a total of 106 firms had garnered Rs 29,104 crore in the entire 2016-17, while 74 companies had raised Rs 14,185 crore in 2015-16.

Further, 46 firms had mopped up Rs 3,039 crore in 2014- 15, 40 companies had raised Rs 8,692 crore in 2013-14 and 33 firms had raked in Rs 6,497 crore in 2012-13.

 

Source: Business Standard

MCA introduces Condonation of Delay Scheme 2018 for defaulting companies

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MCA introduces Condonation of Delay Scheme 2018 (CODS-2018) for defaulting companies to file its overdue returns/documents due for filing till 30.06.2017 by temporarily activating DIN of disqualified directors

 

 

 

General Circular No………./2017

File No. 02/04//2017

 

Ministry of Corporate Affairs

5thFloor,‘A’ Wing, Shastri Bhawan

Dr.Rajendra Prasad Road,

NewDelhi-110001.

 

To

 

All Regional Directors,

All Registrar of Companies,

All Stakeholders.

 

Sir,

 

Subject: Condonation of Delay Scheme 2018

Whereas,companies registered under the Companies Act,2013 (or its predecessor Act) are inter-alia required to file their Annual Financial statements and Annual Returns with the Registrar of Companies and non-filing of such reports is an offence under the said Act.

 

Whereas, section 164(2) of the Act read with section 167 of the Companies Act, 2013 [the Act], which provisions were commenced with effect from 01.04.2014, provide for disqualification of a director on account of default by a company in filing an annual return or a financial statement for a continuous period of three years.

 

Whereas, Rule 14 of the Companies (Appointment and Qualification of Directors) Rules, 2014 further prescribes that every director shall inform to the company concerned about his disqualification, if any, under section 164(2), in form DIR-8.

 

Whereas, consequent upon notification of provisions of section 164(2), Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) had launched a Company Law Settlement Scheme 2014 providing an opportunity to the defaulting companies to clear their defaults within the time period specified therein and following the due process as notified.

 

 

Whereas, MCA in September 2017, identified 3,09,614 directors associated with the companies that had failed to file financial statements or annual returns in the MCA21 online registry for a continuous period of three financial years 2013-14 to 2015-16 in terms of provisions of section 164(2) r/w 167(1)(a) of the Act and they were barred from accessing the online registry and a list of such directors was published on the website of MCA.

 

Whereas, as a result of above action, there have been a spate of representations from industry, defaulting companies and their directors seeking an opportunity for the defaulting companies to become compliant and normalize operations.

 

Whereas, certain affected persons have also filed writ petitions before various High Courts seeking relief from the disqualification.

 

Whereas, with a view to giving an opportunity for the non-compliant, defaulting companies to rectify the default, in exercise of its powers conferred under sections 403, 459 and 460 of the Companies Act, 2013, the Central Government has decided to introduce a Scheme namely “Condonation of Delay Scheme 2018” [CODS-2018] as follows.

 

  1. The scheme shall come into force with effect from 01.01.2018 and shall remain in force up to 31.03.2018

 

  1. Definitions – In this scheme, unless the context otherwise requires, –

 

(i) “Act” means the Companies Act, 2013 and Companies Act, 1956 (where ever applicable);

 

(ii) ‘overdue documents’ means the financial statements or the annual returns or other associated documents, as applicable, in the case of a defaulting company and refer to documents mentioned in paragraph 5 of the scheme.

 

(iii) “Company” means a company as defined in clause of 20 of section 2 of the Companies Act, 2013;

 

(iv)  “Defaulting company” means a company which has not filed its financial statements or annual return as required under the Companies Act, 1956 or Companies Act, 2013, as the case may be, and the Rules made thereunder for a continuous period of three yea

 

(v) “Designated authority” means the Registrar of Companies having jurisdiction over the registered office of the company.

 

  1. Applicability: – This scheme is applicable to all defaulting companies (other than the companies which have been stuck off/whose names have been removed from the register of companies under section 248(5) of the Act). A defaulting company is permitted to file its overdue documents which were due for filing till 30.06.2017 in accordance with the provisions of this Scheme.

 

  1. Procedure to be followed for the purposes of the scheme:– (1) In the case of defaulting companies whose names have not been removed from register of companies,-

 

(i) The DINs of the disqualified directors de-activated at present shall be temporarily activated during the validity of the scheme to enable them to file the overdue documents.

 

(ii) The defaulting company shall file the overdue documents in the respective prescribed eForms paying the statutory filing fee and additional fee payable as per section 403 of the Act read with Companies (Registration Offices and fee) Rules, 2014 for filing these overdue documents.

 

(iii) The defaulting company after filing documents under this scheme, shall seek condonation of delay by filing form e-CODS 2018 attached to this scheme along with a fee of 30,000/- (Rs. Thirty Thousand only) as prescribed under the Companies (Registration Offices and Fee) Rules, 2014 well before the last date of the scheme.

 

(iv) The DINs of the Directors associated with the defaulting companies that have not filed their overdue documents and the eform CODS, and these are not taken on record in the MCA21 registry and are still found to be disqualified on the conclusion of the scheme in terms of section 164(2)(a) r/w 167(1)(a) of the Act shall be liable to be deactivated on expiry of the scheme period.

 

(2) In the event of defaulting companies whose names have been removed from the register of companies under section 248 of the Act and which have filed applications for revival under section 252 of the Act up to the date of this scheme, the Director’s DIN shall be re-activated only NCLT order of revival subject to the company having filing of all overdue documents.

 

  1. Scheme not to apply for certain documents – This scheme shall not apply to the filing of documents other than the following overdue documents:

(i) Form Number 20B/MGT-7- Form for filing Annual return by a company having share capital.

(ii) Form 21A/MGT-7- Particulars of Annual return for the company not having share capital.

(iii) Form 23AC, 23ACA, 23AC-XBRL, 23ACA-XBRL, AOC-4, AOC-4(CFS), AOC (XBRL)    and     AOC-4(non-XBRL)   –     Forms     for     filing     Balance Sheet/Financial Statement and profit and loss account.

(iv) Form 66-  Form  for  submission  of  Compliance  Certificate  with  the Registrar.

(v) Form 23B/ADT-1- Form for intimation for Appointment of Auditors.

 

  1. The Registrar concerned shall withdraw the prosecution(s) pending if any before the concerned Court(s) for all documents filed under the scheme. However, this scheme is without prejudice to action under section 167(2) of the Act or civil and criminal liabilities, if any, of such disqualified directors during the period they remained disqualified.

 

  1. At the conclusion of the Scheme, the Registrar shall take all necessary actions under the Companies Act, 1956/ 2013 against the companies who have not availed themselves of this Scheme and continue to be in default in filing the overdue documents

 

Yours faithfully,

 

(KMS. Narayanan)

 

Assistant Director (Policy)

MCA-CODs-2018.

Modi government set to issue notices to GST defaulters

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Due to postponement of measures under the GST such as matching returns, the e-way bill, and the reverse change mechanism, assesses have found a way to avoid paying taxes.

The government it seems is in no mood to lower its guard on the tax collection front as it looks to send notices to GST defaulters.

 

According to a report in Business Standard, the government is set to issue notices who have failed to file returns.

 

Due to postponement of measures under the GST such as matching returns, the e-way bill, and the reverse change mechanism, assessees have found a way to avoid paying taxes. This has prompted a hardening stand on revenue leakages, as per a government official.

 

In July, the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) had asked its officers to go easy on taxpayers till GST’s teething problems were solved. But CBEC Chairperson Vanaja Sarna in a letter to his officers has said “sending out notices to those assessees under your jurisdiction who have failed to file returns may be considered.”

 

GST collections slowed to their lowest at Rs 83,346 crore in October as the integrated GST was used as credit and rates were revised downward, the report said.

 

The government official further said that reduction in the GST rates for more than 200 items last month might also affect collections. Fearing a slump in revenue collections, the GST Council on Saturday decided to implement the nationwide roll-out of the electronic way bill on interstate movements of goods from February 1 and for interstate carriage from June 1.

 

Source: MoneyControl.com

Forex reserves jump by $1.2 bn to $401.94 bn

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India’s foreign exchange reserves rose by USD 1.2 billion to touch USD 401.942 billion in the week to December 1.

India’s foreign exchange reserves increased by USD 1.2 billion to touch USD 401.942 billion in the week to December 1, according to the RBI data.

The surge in reserves was aided by an increase in foreign currency assets, a major component of the overall reserves.

The reserves once again crossed USD 400 billion mark in the previous week, after they rose by USD 1.208 billion to USD 400.741 billion.

The foreign currency reserves increased by USD 1.151 billion to USD 377.456 billion for the reporting week, the RBI said today.

Expressed in the US dollar terms, foreign currency assets include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of the non- US currencies such as the euro, the pound and the yen held in the reserves.

After remaining stable for many months, gold reserves also rose by USD 36.5 million to USD 20.703 billion.

The special drawing rights with the International Monetary Fund rose by USD 4.9 million to USD 1.502 billion.

The country’s reserve position with the Fund also rose by USD 7.4 million to USD 2.280 billion, the Reserve Bank of India said.

 

Source: The Hindu Business Online

Credit growth gathering steam: RBI

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Year-on-year disbursements up 10% as of November 24

Credit offtake from banks is gradually gathering steam, going by Reserve Bank of India data. This is underscored by the fact that year-on-year credit growth nudged closer to 10 per cent as on November 24, 2017.

Given the overhang of bad loans, especially in the case of public sector banks, market experts are of the view that these banks had turned risk-averse and reined in lending. However, banks seem to be slowly shrugging off their risk aversion.

In its fifth bi-monthly monetary policy statement, the Reserve Bank of India said: “On the positive side, there has been some pick-up in credit growth in recent months. Recapitalisation of public sector banks may help improve credit flows further.” After plunging to a multi-decade low of 4.1 per cent in May 2017, non-food bank credit has witnessed a rising trajectory every month since June, although it has been lower vis-a-vis the year-ago period.

In June, non-food bank credit growth rose to 4.8 per cent and increased in the following months — July (5.3 per cent); August (5.5 per cent); September (6.1 per cent); October (6.6 per cent). In the fortnight ended November 24, 2017, the banking system’s deposits declined by ₹41,164 crore while credit nudged up by ₹3,524 crore.

 

Source: The Hindu Business Online

FPIs pump over Rs 19,700 crore in November, highest in eight months

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After taking a break from buying into Indian equities in August and September, FPIs bought equities in abundance in November.

Foreign investors pumped over Rs 19,700 crore into the country’s stock markets in November, the highest in eight months, mainly due to government’s plan to recapitalise PSU banks and surge in India’s ranking in the World Bank’s ease of doing business.

In addition, such investors put in Rs 530 crore in the debt markets during the period under review.

According to depositories data, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) invested a net amount of Rs 19,728 crore in equities last month.

This is the highest net investment by FPIs since March, when they had poured in Rs 30,906 crore in the equity market.It has been a tremendous journey for the Indian equity markets in 2017. After taking a break from buying into Indian equities in August and September, FPIs bought equities in abundance in November.

The strong inflow could be largely attributed to the government’s decision to recapitalise public-sector banks, which is expected to enhance lending and propel economic growth, said Morningstar India’s senior analyst manager (research) Himanshu Srivastava.

“This is particularly seen as a positive step after the questions have been raised from various quarters on the government’s ability to effectively implement economic reforms. Further, the slow pace of economic growth was also believed to be due to rising non performing assets (NPAs) problem in public sector banks, hence this decision provided a much-needed impetus to FPIs to again look back at Indian equity space,” he added.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had announced the PSU bank recapitalisation plan of Rs 2.11 trillion, out of which Rs 1.35 trillion will come from recapitalisation bonds, and the rest from markets and budgetary support.

Additionally, the news about India faring well in the World Bank’s Ease of Business index and a jump in core sector growth also turned the tide in India’s favour, Srivastava said.

India gained 30 places in the World Bank’s ease of doing business index for 2018 to 100th among 190 nations.

“These (bank’s recapitalisation plan and world bank’s ranking) and positive developments in the recent times provided a much-needed breather to FPIs who were concerned about the short-term impact of demonetisation and goods and services tax (GST) on the domestic economy and sluggish pace of economic recovery,” he added.

Yet another positive piece of news has come from Moody’s Investor Services, which upgraded its India rating by a notch to ‘Baa2’ from ‘Baa3’ with a stable outlook, citing improved economic growth prospects driven by the government reforms.
Overall, FPIs have invested Rs 53,800 crore in equities so far in 2017 and another Rs 1.46 lakh crore in debt markets.

CBDT shoots off letter to taxmen, says don’t go overboard on fishing and roving inquiries in wake of demonetisation drive

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The move comes at a time when the tax department’s field formations have apparently been on an overdrive after the demonetisation move brought large chunks of supposedly tax-evaded cash into the banking system.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has sent a missive to all assessing officers (AOs) to stick to protocol while pursuing cases of “limited scrutiny” and not resort to “fishing and roving inquiries” in such cases.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has sent a missive to all assessing officers (AOs) to stick to protocol while pursuing cases of “limited scrutiny” and not resort to “fishing and roving inquiries” in such cases. The move comes at a time when the tax department’s field formations have apparently been on an overdrive after the demonetisation move brought large chunks of supposedly tax-evaded cash into the banking system. The department selects cases of “limited scrutiny” — which restricts probe into a single aspect rather than a complete appraisal of tax liability — through Computer Aided Scrutiny Selection (CASS). The data mined include annual information reports and 26AS, which includes tax payment/TDS history. In its latest direction to the assessing officers (AOs), the board said it has come across instances where AOs have ventured beyond their jurisdiction while making assessments in ‘limited scrutiny’ cases by initiating inquiries on new issues without following the due procedure.

“These instances have been viewed very seriously by the CBDT and in one case, the Central Inspection Team of CBDT was tasked with examination of assessment records on receipt of allegations of several irregularities,” the letter said. The CBDT in fact suspended the officer concerned after it was found that there was no reason recorded for expanding the scope of limited scrutiny. Violating standard operating procedure, the officer had not sought approval from principal commissioner for converting limited scrutiny cases into a complete scrutiny case. Moreover, the AO hadn’t maintained the order sheet properly, which gave rise to strong suspicion of mala fide intentions. The purpose of introducing ‘limited scrutiny’ was to curb overarching powers of AOs and improve ease of paying taxes. The CBDT has previously issued instruction to AOs to confine the questionnaire to the specific issues and complete the case expeditiously in a limited number of hearings.

The CBDT reiterated that AOs must maintain “order-sheet” properly by ensuring that the minutes of the hearing in a case are entered along with relevant date. Further, it said that the order-sheet must have entries for each posting, hearing and seeking and granting of adjournments. Order-sheet is meant to chronicle the progress of an assessment case by the concerned official. “Suspension of undisciplined officers clearly conveys the message that the government aims to make India’s taxation regime transparent, non-adversarial and taxpayer friendly. But the established fact is that real picture is drawn from the enforcement and not policy formulation. Hoping that the tax authorities follow the instructions diligently going forward and end the era a tax terrorism,” Rakesh Nangia, managing partner at Nangia & Co said.

Source: Financial Express