World’s largest IT storage company EMC in race to develop smart cities in India

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EMC is offering its services to the central and state governments, according to senior officials of the company.

The world’s largest IT storage company is in the race for developing smart cities in India, offering their services to the central and state governments, according to senior officials of the company.

“We have already completed a health project for a state government to make hospitals smart and to provide real time information to the government for taking appropriate decision,” Rajesh Janey, President, EMC India and Saarc, told visiting Indian journalists to the EMC world annual conference here.

The project was done for Telengana, the newest state in India. “We are talking to the central governments as well as state authorities to offer the hardware and software to make cities smart,” Janey said.

The Narendra Modi government had announced an initiative to develop 100 smart cities in India, with initial funds of Rs.7,000 crore being allocated for the project by the central government, though very little was actually spent. The project would be implemented by state governments or city councils.

EMC and Dell had announced a $67 billion merger in October, making it the largest tech marriage in history. The EMC World conference at the casino capital of the world was told by Michael Dell, Chairman and CEO of Dell, on Monday that the merged entity would be called Dell Technologies while the enterprise company would be named Dell-EMC.

The merger is awaiting some regulatory approvals and is likely to be completed between June and October, according to the team set up to work out the logistics of two tech giants coming together.

EMC has over 5,000 employees in India, largely in the engineering section, with offices in Bengaluru, Hyderbad, Delhi NCR and some tier-two towns. It provides storage hardware and software to companies and did about $350 million (Rs.2,400 crore) business last year. The $25 billion EMC employs around 70,000 employees globally.

EMC has set up a division on smart cities, whereby they are offering services for collating all data from health services, traffic, police, power infrastructure, municipalities, weather division, transport and government services collating all data from health services, traffic, police, power infrastructure, municipalities, weather division, transport and government services collating data and bringing forth significant information which needed decisions. Also, the interface with citizens and those who seek services would become much easier, officials say.

According to Rob Silverberg, Director and Chief Technology Officer, Enterprise Application Architecture for State, Local Government and Education at EMC California, the company is focusing on smart cities because it’s the world of future.

“We are talking to several cities and towns across the US to adopt what we have to offer,” said Silverberg, adding it would help city officials do their job more effectively and efficiently. He said the Indian section of EMC was following up on the smart cities in India. EMC is competing in smart cities business in the US and other countries with IBM.

Silverberg said that already a huge amount of data was being collected every day and every minute whether in crime tackling, traffic regulation or policing and other activities. “The data has to be stored and made intelligible for everyone so that right decisions are made fast.”

Silverberg said the EMC smart cities project could even help track crimes and prepare evidence for courts whether it’s through video monitoring data already been collected across the country or other methods. “Essential everything is data, and we are the experts who can help store and make sense of it,” he said.

According to Janey, the basic modules which the global company is now projecting to cities in various parts of the world, including Dubai, was made in Bengaluru by Indian software engineers. Janey said that EMC International had thrown up demand and the engineers in India came up with an effective solution which was adopted by the multinational.

Source:  http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/52185960.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

E-commerce sees major money inflow

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It is not only Uber, the American taxi-hailing app, that is going all guns blazing in India with massive investment plans. Its biggest competitor, Bengaluru-based Ola, as well as e-commerce entities Flipkart and Amazon, are all planning to pump in big money to stay ahead, even in a scenario when investors are not as ready as earlier in opening their purse-strings.

Uber India has readied itself for another $500 million (Rs 3,300 crore) investment in the next three months, reports suggest. The app service had only nine months earlier committed $1 billion (Rs 6,600 crore) in India. Uber could not be reached for a comment.

For foreign giants such as Amazon, Uber and Alibaba, this country is a big market they all want to capture. Experts believe this is a trend which will continue, as a global economic slowdown will push a chunk of new investments towards India.

“We can clearly see a slowdown in overseas markets, while India is still managing annual growth of seven to eight per cent. So, companies such as Uber, Amazon and Alibaba want to bet big on India. While Amazon was not able to make a dent in China and Alibaba in Europe, they do not want to lose out on India. We will see this trend through the year,” says Amarjeet Singh, partner – tax, KPMG in India.

Ola, rival of Uber in the same segment, is on track to invest a chunk of its $1.3 billion (Rs 8,650 crore) capital raised so far. The firm recently announced it would invest Rs 200 crore in the Delhi-National Capital Region area over the next six months, “towards innovative green fuel technology, leasing of CNG cars and strengthening the system to catalyse greater CNG adoption in the region”, Rahul Maroli, its vice-president for strategic supply initiatives had said.

According to sources, Ola will further make strategic investments in all metro cities, as well as in Tier-II and Tier-III towns. “The company plans to add at least another 550,000 vehicles by the end of this year,” said one. Ola has at least 350,000 cabs and 80,000 auto rickshaws on its platform across 102 cities in the country.

American e-commerce major Amazon had said in October 2014 it was investing $2 billion (Rs 13,200 crore) in India. Later, its executives said the group had an open chequebook for the market. In February, it bought Noida-based payments services provider Emvantage, its first acquisition. This is aimed to help Amazon accelerate the development of payment solutions for customers.

As for Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce giant, it already has a foothold in Indian e-commerce through its investments. The group is majority stakeholder in One97Communications, owner of mobile payments giant Paytm. Also, online marketplace major Snapdeal raised $500 million (Rs 3,300 crore) from a group of entities last year which included Alibaba.

The Chinese company now plans to directly enter India.

“We plan to enter the e-commerce business in India in 2016,” recently said J Michael Evans, group president. “We have been exploring very carefully the opportunity in this country, which we think is very exciting against the backdrop of (the) Digital India (programme of the government).”

Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart had, in March, infused Rs 338 crore into its online fashion store, Myntra, documents filed with the registrar of companies stated. Flipkart has so far raised $3 billion (nearly Rs 20,000 crore).

Source: http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/e-commerce-sees-major-money-inflow-116032800986_1.html

Mallya default singes top auditing companies

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Some of world’s top auditing firms, including Price Waterhouse, Grant Thornton, Deloitte LLP and Walker Chandiok & Co, are under scrutiny with a slew of regulators seeking answers on their valuation, auditing and due diligence of UB Group companies over the last few years.

Deloitte LLP conducted the financial and tax due diligence for Diageo of United Spirits Ltd (USL) which led to the $2.1 billion acquisition of the company, but could not detect the problems in annual accounts. These accounts, in turn, were prepared by PW, which was the auditor for USL between 2010 and 2011, and later by Walker & Chandiok & Co.

The accounts were disputed by Diageo in April 2015 after it found a Rs 2,100 crore hole and sought Vijay Mallya’s ouster from the USL board. Questions have also been raised by lenders on what basis Grant Thornton valued the Kingfisher brand at Rs 4,100 crore. This is now being probed by the Serious Fraud Investigation office (SFIO).

When contacted, a Grant Thornton spokesperson said the firm fully stood by its brand valuation report on Kingfisher. “We believe it was appropriate in the context of when it was done and the purpose for which it was done,” the spokesperson said.

PW declined comment but an external spokesperson said the firm had not received any communication from either the Securities and Exchange Board of India or the Enforcement Directorate. “Deloitte does not comment on client confidential matters,” its spokesperson said.

Diageo had invested in USL after the British company was given express representations that all of the receivables from Mallya entities were recoverable in full. The fund diversion worth Rs 2,100 crore from USL was later raised when KPMG, the new auditor appointed by Diageo, discovered discrepancies when it was finalising USL’s 2014 accounts. All the three years’ accounts will now have to be re-stated, according to listing norms.

In the same year, the new USL management called in PW UK for a forensic audit of the previous three years (which included auditing by its own India unit) and passed on the reports to the regulators including the Sebi, the ministry of corporate affairs and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

The ICAI, sources said, had asked both PW and Walker Chandiok to explain the discrepancy. An ED official said it was surprising that none of the auditors or valuers for Diageo raised flags over the accounts manipulation or the Rs 4,000 crore diversion by USL to the British Virgin Islands in 2007.

While the auditors of USL are in the dock for cooking accounts, another marquee auditing firm — Grant Thornton is under investigation by the SFIO for its Rs 4,100 crore brand valuation of Kingfisher Airlines. It was based on this brand valuation in 2011 that Mallya raised Rs 9,100 crore from government-owned banks by offering the brand as collateral. The lenders are now holding a dud Kingfisher brand, which is finding no takers.

Sources in the ICAI said it was a redux of the Satyam scam, when some of the world’s top auditors overvalued assets before the Maytas and Satyam merger, which led to the unravelling of the scam. In the Satyam case, the ICAI had debarred two auditors from Price Waterhouse who were found guilty of professional misconduct. S Gopalakrishnan and T Srinivas were struck off the ICAI’s rolls and fined Rs 5 lakh each. A Central Bureau of Investigation court later convicted them of fraud.

Source: http://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/mallya-default-singes-top-auditing-companies-116031900495_1.html

CBDT lays down norms for e-assessments

by | posted in: Corporate Updates, Income Tax,e-Filing- Individuals, Firms, Companies | 0

 

CBDTThe Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has laid down operational guidelines for e-assessments of select non-corporate taxpayers to be undertaken as a pilot in five metros.

 

It has now specified the format and standards for ensuring secured transmission of electronic communication between the taxpayer and the Income-Tax Department.

 

The move comes three months after the CBDT announced its intent use ‘electronic mail’-based communication for assessment.

 

It had then announced that a pilot project would be launched in five “non-corporate charges” at Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad and Chennai.

 

Non-corporate charges

 

Non-corporate charges are those dealing with assessments of individuals, Hindu Undivided Families and partnerships.

 

Initially, 100 cases would be identified for e-hearing in each of these five regions and a major part of the assessment would be done electronically, the CBDT had then decided. Only cases taken up for scrutiny were to be covered under the pilot.

 

Commenting on the move, Aseem Chawla, Partner, MPC Legal, a law firm, said: “If this IT-enabled exercise does succeed, it would usher in a new era in taxpayers’ interaction with tax department in making the process, simpler, economical and hassle-free.”

 

Amit Maheshwari, Partner, Ashok Maheshwary & Associates, a CA firm, said, “The guidelines allay various concerns of the taxpayers on the scheme and once it’s successful would enable quick percolation across the entire tax department and make it a standard practice. One good move is that the communication status would be displayed to the taxpayer in their online account.

 

“This would prevent missed dates, miscommunications and effective follow-ups.”

 

Vikas Vasal, Partner –Tax, KPMG in India, said the Centre has clarified the procedural aspects of usage of electronic communication regarding paperless assessment proceedings.

 

Saving time

 

“Gradually, the aim is to move most of the communication to the electronic format.

 

“Once done, it would save time and effort both for the tax payers and the tax department.

 

“Also, it would bring in more transparency and consistency in tax positions” .

 

A number of tax simplification measures have been announced by the government recently and more are expected in the forthcoming Union Budget, he added.

 

“If this IT-enabled exercise does succeed, it would usher in a new era in taxpayers’ interaction with the department in making the process, simpler, economical and hassle free”.

 

Source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/todays-paper/tp-news/cbdt-lays-down-norms-for-eassessments/article8200085.ece

All communication of tax scrutiny to be via e-mail from FY17

by | posted in: Corporate Updates, Income Tax,e-Filing- Individuals, Firms, Companies | 0

The I-T department in the recent times has taken a host of initiatives to reduce human interface between tax official and assessees and make the tax system non-adversarial

 

The income tax department is planning to carry out all communication related to the scrutiny of returns through e-mails from the next fiscal to reduce harassment of tax payers by eliminating interface between assessees and taxmen.

 

The I-T department, on a pilot basis, has already started scrutiny of returns through e-mails in 5 metropolitan cities- Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad and Chennai regions.

 

“We are working on a software so that all scrutiny communications can be stored in a specified server. Once it is ready, we will shift to e-environment as far as scrutiny, and all communications in this regard are concerned,” a top revenue department official told PTI.

 

The official further said that moving to e-scrutiny would help in combating corruption, as it would reduce the interface between assessee and tax officials. Also, he added that all the communication records with regard to scrutiny would be stored in one place and can be verified whenever needed.

 

“There has been an encouraging response to the pilot project undertaken by the tax department. From next fiscal we want to make all scrutiny communication through emails,” the official said.

 

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has already asked the officials to initiate the concept of using emails for corresponding with taxpayers.

 

The I-T department in the recent times has taken a host of initiatives to reduce human interface between tax official and assessees and make the tax system non-adversarial. These include directing field offices to raise only specific queries in income tax assessment cases picked up for scrutiny. It also directed expeditious completion of those scrutiny cases where income concealed is up to Rs.5 lakh.

 

The department had also stipulated that appeals before I-T commissioner should be filed in electronic format by those assessees who e-file their returns.

 

Source: http://www.livemint.com/Politics/q7dtcfDoj7LMFeJkTG1VRK/All-communication-of-tax-scrutiny-to-be-via-email-from-FY17.html