France will help India develop Chandigarh, Nagpur and Puducherry as smart cities. Agence Française de Developpement (French Development Agency) signed memoranda of understanding with the government of Union territory of Chandigarh, and government of Union territory of Puducherry and the Maharashtra government here on Sunday in the presence of French President Francois Hollande and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Chandigarh, designed by the French architect Le Corbusier half a century ago as a model city, is spread across 114 sq km and the urban infrastructure and green belt of the city provide it a distinguished status among India’s planned cities.
On January 26, Modi is set to announce the official list of 20 smart cities to be developed in the first phase.
A delegation of 26 CEOs from France travelled to Chandigarh with Hollande and had discussions on CEO forums to explore partnerships in renewable energy, defence, information technology and aerospace.
Modi said French companies can exploit India’s trained and affordable manpower to expand their manufacturing operations in the country. The French president committed annual investment to the tune of €1 billion to strengthen business relations with India.
An agreement between Airbus and Mahindra was also inked under Indo-French cooperation to manufacture helicopters within the Make in India initiative.
French companies will also collaborate with public sector firm Engineering Projects India to provide integrated railways solutions. The railway stations of Ambala and Ludhiana will also be redeveloped with French partnership.
The French delegation evinced interest in the areas of renewable energy, infrastructure, transport, defence, and water treatment.
Income Tax Department has processed 3.27 crore returns and has issued refunds in 1.81 crore cases during April-December period of this fiscal.
Centralized Processing Centre (CPC), Bengaluru has processed 3.27 crore returns as of December 31, registering a growth of 18 per cent over 2.65 crore returns processed during the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.
“During the current financial year, the CPC has issued refunds in 1.81 crore cases out of which in 1.32 crore cases, that is 73 per cent, the refunds were issued within 30 days of filing by the taxpayers,” an official statement said.
The number of Tax payers in the income bracket of Rs 1 crore and below was 2.39 crore as of October 31 last year. For 2014-15 it was 3.66 crore; 3.73 crore in 2013-14 and 3.26 crore in 2012-13.
The Department is committed to continuously improving the quality of tax payer services and enhance taxpayer satisfaction, it added.
Meanwhile, on January 11, CPC was awarded “ISO 9001:2008 Standard for Quality Management System” Certificate by British Standards Institution (BSI).
The Certificate encompasses all business services and business enabler services of CPC, it said.
ISO 9001 is an international standard that specifies requirements for quality management system (QMS) addressing the principles and processes that surround the design, development and delivery of services, it said.
Organisations use this standard to demonstrate their ability to consistently provide services that meet customer and regulatory requirements, it added.
If a startup claims benefit in first year & does not make profit in next two years, it can still enjoy tax exemption on profit in fourth and fifth year
The three-year tax holiday proposed for startups in India will be available over a five-year window, ensuring that innovators won’t lose the benefit even if they make a profit later, the government said.
Those seeking the income tax exemption, announced in the Startup Action Plan on Saturday, will need to get approval by March 2019, in line with the government’s policy to weed out exemptions and bring down the corporate tax rate to 25%. Startups approved until March 31, 2019, will enjoy the benefit for up to five years. The government has proposed that a high-level, inter-ministerial committee should vet startup proposals to validate the innovative nature of the business for granting tax-related benefits. The details of the tax benefits will be announced in the budget.
“The benefit will be available for three years over a five-year period, “a senior government official told ET. If a startup claims the benefit in the first year and does not have a profit in the next two years, it will not lose out on the exemption. If profits are made in the fourth and fifth year, they will still be eligible for the tax break.
“All startups incorporated in India not prior to five years as per the definition of startup and starting the operations before 2019 can get this benefit for three years,“ said Amitabh Kant, secretary in the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, which piloted the startup initiative.
With the deadline for seeking exemption set for March 2019, the scheme will effectively run till March 2024, a period of eight years from now.
“This fiscal exemption shall facilitate growth of business and meet the working capital requirements during the initial years of operations, “according to the action plan document.
The policy imposes only one condition on startups claiming the benefit, apart from seeking approval from the appropriate body and meeting eligibility criteria: it should not distribute dividend while getting the tax exemption.
Tax-friendly Regime Need of the Hour for Startup Investors
The devil is in the details. The tax incentive package for startups will be clear in the Budget. But open-ended tax breaks won’t be possible as the government has already signalled a phasing out of exemptions to lower the corporate tax rate. Investments in unicorns would typically be long-term. So, it makes eminent sense to spare investors from paying capital gains tax when they sell their unlisted shares in startups after holding them for over a year. A tax-friendly regime will encourage many of them to relocate to India from, say, Singapore. The government, as promised, should end its Inspector Raj to boost the startup ecosystem.
Japan posted a current account surplus for the 17th consecutive month in November, providing support for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s efforts to boost the world’s third-largest economy.
The excess in the widest measure of the nation’s trade was 1.14 trillion yen ($9.7 billion) in November, up from 440.2 yen billion a year earlier, the Finance Ministry said Tuesday in Tokyo. The median estimate of 23 economists surveyed by Bloomberg was for a surplus of 895 billion yen.
The surplus was supported by a rise in income from investments abroad by Japanese companies as well as a gain in services, which came with an influx of tourists after the yen weakened. The boost helps an economy that has been hurt by a slowdown in exports including to China, Japan’s biggest trading partner.
“The wider current account surplus bodes well for Japan’s economy,” said Junko Nishioka, chief economist for Japan at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. in Tokyo. “Going forward, Japan will likely hold onto the surplus trend.”
Declining oil prices and recent gains in the yen, which may push down import prices and improve the trade balance, is expected to help Japan maintain the current-account surplus in coming months, Nishioka said.
The primary income surplus was 1.54 trillion yen in November, the largest on record for November, according to the report. The services balance had a surplus of 61.5 billion yen, helped by charges for the use of intellectual property rights and travel.
FTA with EU: India to take up ‘stock-taking exercise’ for a free trade agreement with the EU later this month, after a gap of three years, and pitch for greater market access in services..
India will undertake a “stock-taking exercise” for a free trade agreement with the EU later this month, after a gap of three years, and pitch for greater market access in services once the stage is set for further negotiations, a senior commerce ministry official said.
Before engaging in serious formal talks on the EU-India Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA), a “stock-taking exercise” will be undertaken, as some contours of the earlier negotiations have to be altered, keeping in view the changes that have taken place since the talks were stuck in 2013, Arvind Mehta, additional secretary in the commerce ministry, told FE.
For instance, India has further liberalised many sectors for foreign investments, including some of the areas where the EU had interests, over the past three years. For instance, the FDI cap in insurance has been raised to 49% from 26% and 100% FDI is allowed in telecoms. In private sector banking, full fungibility of foreign investment is now permitted and accordingly FIIs/FPIs/QFIs can now invest up to a sectoral limit of 74%, with certain conditions.
While India feels the flexibilities shown by it in further opening up to foreign investments should be considered positively by the EU, it also expects some reciprocal measures by the 28-member bloc to address its concerns, especially on data privacy and market access in the services sector. However, there will be no binding commitments until India’s core concerns are addressed suitably, Mehta said. The BTIA negotiations cover boosting goods and services trade as well as investment.
India seeks a data secure status because the high compliance cost with EU’s data protection laws will hit small and medium enterprises (SMEs) of India and make them un-competitive.
Mehta said India will be betting for a trade facilitation agreement (TFA) in services at the World Trade Organisation — similar to the TFA in goods — that would focus on liberalised visa regime, long term visas for business community and freer movement of professionals for the greater benefit of both India and the world. India will pursue it vigorously in negotiations for the BTIA as well as Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. RCEP is a proposed FTA between the Asean members and the six states with which it has forged FTAs, including India.
India is keen on services, as they account for over a half of its GDP. The EU is India’s largest trade partner, accounting for close to 15% of trade in both goods and services. It is a major market for Indian textiles, garments, pharmaceuticals, gems and jewellery and IT. The EU is also the largest source of FDI inflows to India, accounting for over one-fourth of the total. However, India ranks only ninth among the EU’s top trade partners, making up for just about 2% of its total merchandise goods in 2014.
BTIA talks were to be revived last year, but the EU’s surprise ban on 700 products of GVK shocked India, which then called off the negotiations. Prior to that, the negotiations centred around India’s demand for.
The EU is interested in further liberalisation of FDI in multi-brand retail and insurance, and closed sectors like accountancy and legal services. The underutilised private banking space in India is another draw. India’s intellectual property regime (IPR), which is unlikely to allow ever-greening of patents, remains a concern for European pharma majors. Moreover, the EU has been seeking a cut in the high import duties on assembled vehicles and wines and spirits. In case of assembled vehicles, the import duties remain in the range of 60-75%.
The Cabinet today approved conversion of MUDRA Ltd, an NBFC, into MUDRA Bank and also setting up of a Credit Guarantee Fund for loans disbursed under the Pradhan Mantri Micro Units Development Refinance Agency (MUDRA) Yojana.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi cleared creation of a Credit Guarantee Fund for MUDRA loans and to convert MUDRA Ltd into MUDRA Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) Bank as a wholly owned subsidiary of SIDBI, an official statement said.
“The MUDRA (SIDBI) Bank will undertake refinance operations and provide support services with focus on portal management; data analysis etc apart from any other activity entrusted or advised by Government of India,” it said.
The Credit Guarantee Fund is expected to guarantee more than Rs 1 lakh crore worth of loans to micro and small units in the first instance, it said, adding it will help in reducing risk taken by banks and financial institutions in case of default under the scheme.
A Credit Guarantee Fund for MUDRA Units (CGFMU) for guaranteeing loans – sanctioned under the scheme with effect from April 8, 2015 – will be set up.
The National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company Ltd (NCGTC Ltd), a wholly-owned company of Government of India, constituted under the Companies Act to manage and operate various credit guarantee funds, shall be the Trustee of the Fund, it said.
The guarantee would be provided based on a portfolio basis to a maximum extent of 50 per cent of amount in default in the portfolio.
Three products available under the PM MUDRA Yojana are Shishu, Kishor and Tarun to signify the stage of growth and funding needs of the beneficiary micro unit or entrepreneur.
Shishu covers loans up to Rs 50,000 while Kishor covers above Rs 50,000 and up to Rs 5 lakh. Tarun category provides loans of above Rs 5 lakh and up to Rs 10 lakh.
MUDRA Bank and a Credit Guarantee Fund was proposed to be set up with a refinance corpus of Rs 20,000 crore and a corpus of Rs 3,000 crore respectively in the Budget 2015-16.
As a precursor to the launch of the Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana (PMMY) in April 2015, MUDRA Ltd was set up as a corporate subsidiary of SIDBI in March 2015.
The RBI has allocated Rs 20,000 crore and the first tranche of Rs 5,000 crore has been received by MUDRA as refinance.
If you missed your 120 days ITR-V verification deadline, there is good news. The income tax department has extended the verification deadline till 31st January.
If you missed your 120 days ITR-V verification deadline, there is good news. The income tax department has extended the verification deadline till 31st January.
Although it has not been officially notified yet, taxpayers have been receiving this information via email from the I-T department. However, you won’t be able to e-verify. Like old times, will have to physically mail the signed ITR V to CPC Bangalore.
“The electronic verification option gets switched-off automatically after 120 days of the taxpayer filing the return. However, the extended deadline to physically submit the ITR-V is open for all,” says Archit Gupta, founder and CEO, Cleartax.in. The 120 days countdown begins from the date the taxpayer submits their income tax returns forms.
The tax department had extended the filing deadline to September 7 this years. So, people who had filed on the last date still have a window of one day to e-verify. Post that you too will have to mail the ITR-V. The last date to do so will still remain 31st January.
Many individuals who, who had e-verified their return using Aadhar or Net banking, are receiving reminder letters from the CPC at Bangalore to physically send their ITR-V acknowledgement forms on or before the 31st of January, 2015.
“Those trying to e-verify their return once again with reference to the above are getting the message “No returns pending for e-verification” when they try to do so,” says Varun Advani, COO, makemyreturns.com. CAs advice them to re-send their ITR-Vs physically to the department before the deadline to aviod any further problems.
France will help India develop Chandigarh, Nagpur and Puducherry as smart cities. Agence Française de Developpement (French Development Agency) signed memoranda of understanding with the government of Union territory of Chandigarh, and government of Union territory of Puducherry and the Maharashtra government here on Sunday in the presence of French President Francois Hollande and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
