Cooperative banks to be brought under RBI supervision

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Government banks, including 1,482 urban cooperative banks and 58 multi-state cooperative banks, are now being brought under the supervisory powers of the RBI.
RBI’s powers will also apply to the cooperative banks as they apply to scheduled banks.

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday decided to bring all co-operative banks under the Reserve Bank of India through an ordinance. This was announced by Union information and broadcasting minister Prakash Javadekar during a virtual press conference.

“Government banks, including 1,482 urban cooperative banks and 58 multi-state cooperative banks, are now being brought under supervisory powers of Reserve Bank of India (RBI),” Javadekar said today. These banks will come under the supervision of RBI with immediate effect from date of President’s approval on the ordinance.

After the Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Banks fiasco last year, the Union Cabinet in February amended Banking Regulation Act to strengthen the cooperative banks in the country. During Budget 2020, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also announced that cooperative banks will be brought under the ambit of RBI.

There are more than 8.6 crore depositors in over 1,500 urban and multi-state cooperative banks across the country. “Depositors’ money amounting to ₹4.84 lakh crore in the cooperatives banks will stay safe,” Javadekar said while announcing the decision.

The government also announced to provide 2% interest subvention to borrowers under the ‘Shishu’ category of the flagship Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana (PMMY). Under the Shishu category, collateral free loans of up to ₹50,000 will be given to beneficiaries.

“The Union Cabinet has approved the scheme for interest subvention of 2% to Shishu loan category borrowers under PMMY, outstanding as on March 31, 2020, for a period of 12 months to eligible borrowers,” Javadekar said.

Launched in 2015, the Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana provides loans up to ₹10 lakh to non-corporate, non-farm small/micro enterprises. These loans are classified as MUDRA loans under PMMY. Commercial banks, RRBs, small finance banks, MFIs and NBFCs provide MUDRA loans.

In the wake of coronavirus outbreak, the central government decided to extend the tenure of the OBC Commission by six months, Union minister Prakash Javadekar said. The government also announced ₹15,000-crore infrastructure fund to provide interest subvention of up to 3% to private players for setting up of dairy, poultry and meat processing units.

“A fund worth ₹15,000 crore has been approved by the Cabinet that will be open to all and will help in increasing milk production, boost exports and create 35 lakh jobs in the country,” Javadekar told.

Source: Economic Times

Continued

Income Tax Refunds of Rs. 26,242 crores issued since 1st April 2020: CBDT

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Income-tax refund of Rs 14,632 crore to 15,81,906 assesses and corporate tax refund amounting to Rs 11,610 crore to 1,02,392 assesses have been processed during this period, the CBDT said in a statement.

Income Tax Deptt. has issued refunds of Rs. 26,242 crores since 1st April 2020 to 16.84 lac individual/ corporate assessees. Further, the refund process has been geared up for necessary action to match the Aatma Nirbhar Bharat initiative (COVID-19) announced by PM/ FM recently.

CBDT Press Release dt. 22 May 2020

Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has issued tax refunds worth Rs. 26,242 crore to 16,84,298 assessees since 1st April, 2020 to 21st May, 2020.

Income Tax refunds amounting to Rs. 14,632 crore have been issued to 15,81,906 assessees and corporate tax refunds amounting to Rs. 11,610 crore have been issued to 1,02,392 assessees during this period.

It is stated that the refund process has been further expedited and refunds are being issued at a greater pace since the Union Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman’s announcement made in the Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan last week. CBDT has released a sum of Rs. 2050.61 crore in the previous week ended on 16th May, i.e., between 9th to 16th May, 2020 to 37,531 income tax assessees and a sum of Rs. 867.62 crore to 2878 corporate tax assessees. During this week, i.e. between 17th to 21st May, 2020, yet another 1,22,764 income tax assessees were refunded Rs. 2672.97 crore and 33,774 corporate tax assessees including trusts, MSMEs, proprietorships, partnerships, etc. were issued refunds worth Rs. 6714.34 crore, taking the total amount refunded to Rs. 9387.31 crore in the case of 1,56,538 assessees.

Read the Press  Release

Relief for MSMEs! Insolvency proceedings threshold increased to Rs 1 crore from Rs 1 lakh

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IBC
Also coronavirus related debt would be excluded from the definition of “default” under the insolvency and bankruptcy code (IBC)

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday raised the minimum threshold to initiate insolvency proceedings to Rs 1 crore from the earlier Rs 1 lakh.

In addition, with an eye on further enhancement of ease of doing business, the government announced suspension of fresh initiation of insolvency proceedings up to one year.

Also corona virus related debt would be excluded from the definition of “default” under the insolvency and bankruptcy code (IBC). “No fresh insolvency proceeding will be initiated up to 1 year.

At the moment MCA has extended this by 6 months, we intend to extend this by another 6 months. For MSMEs a special insolvency framework will be notified under section 240-A of IBC.

The minimum threshold to initiate insolvency proceedings raised to Rs 1 crore from the earlier Rs 1 lakh, which largely insulates MSMEs,” she added.

The Finance Minister, in her fourth presser on Saturday, had announced structural reforms in sectors such as coal, minerals, civil aviation, power distribution, defence production, space, and atomic energy sector.

The reforms were unveiled as a part of the government’s efforts to make India ‘Aatmanirbhar‘ (self-dependent).

Sitharaman has already announced four phases of relief measures to support agriculture, MSMEs, migrant workers, individuals, coal mining, defence, aviation sector, among others amid the ongoing corona virus-induced lock down.

Source: Business Today

Govt. extends Due Dates of all Income Tax Returns for FY 2019-20

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Atmanirbhar economic package: ITR deadline extended to Nov 30, 2020 for FY 2019-20 and tax audit from September 30, 2020 to 31st October 2020.”

The Central Government has extended the all due dates of all Income Tax Returns for the Financial Year 2019-20 amid COVID-19 outbreak.

Due date of all income-tax return for FY 2019-20 will be extended from 31st July, 2020 & 31st October, 2020 to 30th November, 2020 and Tax audit from 30th September, 2020 to 31st October, 2020.

The Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also said that, All pending refunds to charitable trusts and non-corporate businesses & professions including proprietorship, partnership, LLP, and Co-operatives shall be issued immediately.

The Date of assessments getting barred on 30th September, 2020 extended to 31st December, 2020 and those getting barred on 31st March, 2021 will be extended to 30th September, 2021.

The Period of Vivad se Vishwas Scheme for making payment without an additional amount will be extended to 31st December, 2020.

FM Nirmala Sitharaman announces Rs 1.7 lakh crore relief package for poor

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FM Sitharaman announces Rs 1.7 lakh crore ‘PM Gareeb Kalyan Scheme’

The government announced a Rs 1.7 lakh crore relief package aimed at providing a safety net for those hit the hardest by the Covid-19 lockdown, along with insurance cover for frontline medical personnel. About 800 million people will get free cereals and cooking gas apart from cash through direct transfers for three months. The 21-day lockdown began on March 25.

The Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana includes higher wages under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Act (MGNREGA), Rs 1,000 ex-gratia payment to nearly 30 million poor senior citizens, widows and disabled as well as insurance coverage of as much as Rs 50 lakh each for about 2 million healthcare workers battling the disease.

States have been asked to use the Building and Construction Workers Welfare Fund to provide relief to construction workers and the first installment of Rs 2,000 under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Yojana will be frontloaded to reach 87 million farmers in April.

Immediately
“We’ve immediately responded within 36 hours of the lockdown. We’ve first reached out to the poorest of the poor, who need help,” finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said while announcing the programme on Thursday.

The package will be rolled out immediately.

“We will think about the others… will gradually address if there’s more to attend to,” she said, when asked about  a stimulus plan for companies, many of which have had to cease production, cut salaries or lay off employees because of the economic pain.

Industry and experts welcomed the announcements, even as the market responded positively with the Sensex closing at 29,947 points, up nearly 5% from Wednesday’s close.

“It’s a very well-defined package, reinforcing government’s intent that no one should be deprived of basic facilities in today’s stressed times,” said State Bank of India Chairman Rajnish Kumar. “We are hopeful of more calibrated responses in coming weeks as the impact of the pandemic unfolds.”

Under the package, the government will provide 5 kg of wheat or rice and 1 kg of pulses free every month for the next three months. Besides, 204 million women Jan Dhan account holders will get Rs 500 per month for the next three months. MGNREGA wages will rise to Rs 202 a day from Rs 182 to benefit 136.2 million families.

The measures will benefit the most vulnerable sections of society, said ITC chairman Sanjiv Puri.

Such “critical and large-scale interventions” are the need of the hour, he said. “These timely measures… will go a long way in providing support to farmers, daily wage earners, SHG (self-help group) women and poor senior citizens during such an unprecedented situation.”

ORGANISED SECTOR
The government said it will pay the entire provident fund contribution of those who earn less than Rs 15,000 per month in companies having less than 100 workers as they are at risk of losing their jobs. That amounts to 24% of basic pay–12% from the employee and 12% from the employer. This will be paid by the government for three months.

“This would prevent disruption in their employment,” a finance ministry statement said.

In addition, the Employees’ Provident Fund Regulations will be amended to include the coronavirus pandemic as grounds for allowing a non-refundable advance of 75% of the corpus or three months of wages, whichever is lower, from their accounts.

INDUSTRY DEMAND
India Inc sought help for distressed businesses across sectors such as tourism, hospitality, automobiles and aviation, besides micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), where cash flows are down to a trickle amid mandatory adherence to tax and statutory payments.

“We hope that the RBI will soon bring in relief measures for distressed businesses including a moratorium on debt repayments and redefinition of non-performing assets,” said Confederation of Indian Industry director general Chandrajit Banerjee.

He added that the government could be more aggressive in its spending with an overall fiscal stimulus at 2.5-3% of GDP if disruptions continue for the next three months.

“Other segments of society, who are also looking forward to measures such as EMI waivers, as also extension of loan scheme tenures among ot others, economic package shall be on wait and watch mode,” said Niranjan Hiranandani, president of Assocham.

Large unlisted companies face quicker disclosure rule

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Large unlisted companies may have to make quarterly or half-yearly filings, like their listed counterparts, as the government is considering amendments to the Companies Act to mandate more frequent disclosures in the aftermath of the IL&FS collapse.

The ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) is expected to prescribe a threshold for the disclosure requirement as it does not want to burden all companies, as a bulk of them are small companies, sources told TOI. The idea is to track the systemically important companies, which pose a risk to the entire system. “It will be an enabling amendment and MCA will decide on timing and extent of disclosures later,” said a source.

The assessment in the government is that there is a massive lag, often up to 18 months related to annual filings by companies, many of which have been non-compliant in the past. An entity like the beleaguered IL&FS was not on the radar till it collapsed and MCA is hoping that periodic disclosures would reduce the chances of such failures going undetected. Currently, companies are required to annually file the consolidated financial statement, balance sheet, profit & loss account, annual returns, directors’ report and certified true copy of board resolution with the designated RoC.

The proposal to increase disclosures is expected to be part of a set of amendments to be taken up by a group of ministers chaired by home minister Amit Shah, with defence minister Rajnath Singh, finance & corporate affairs minister Nirmala Sitharaman, commerce & industry minister Piyush Goyal and law & justice minister Ravi Shankar Prasad among the nine members of the committee, sources told TOI.

The ministerial panel, referred to as alternate mechanism by the Narendra Modi administration, will largely look at the recommendations of the company law panel, which submitted its report. While MCA was pushing for the introduction of the Bill during the recently concluded Winter Session, the legislation will now be placed before the Parliament as soon as it is cleared by ministers. The ministry is hoping to introduce the Bill during the budget session.

Source: Times of India