#CBEC issues Clarification on Service of #SCN

The Central Board of Excise and Customs has issued clarification relating to waiver of issuance of SCN and conclusion of proceedings in Service tax and Central Excise dated 18th August, 2015.

Please click on the below link to access the Notification.

Link 

RBI Circular : Detection of Counterfeit Notes

RBI/2015-16/162
DCM (FNVD) No. 776/16.01.05/2015-16

August 27, 2015

The Chairman / Managing Director /
Chief Executive Officer
All Banks

Madam / Sir,

Detection of Counterfeit Notes

Please refer to our Circular DCM (FNVD) No. 5840/16.01.05/2012-13 dated June 27, 2013 on “Detection and Reporting of Counterfeit Notes”. The procedure for detection of counterfeit notes has been reviewed in consultation with the Government and it has been observed that certain modifications are required for bringing improvement in reporting of counterfeit notes and facilitating maintenance of records by banks. Accordingly, the changes in the instructions are advised as under:

2. Detection

i. Over the Counter

Banknotes tendered over the counter should be examined for authenticity through machines and such of these determined as a counterfeit one, shall be stamped as “COUNTERFEIT NOTE” and impounded as detailed in Annex I. Each such impounded note shall be recorded under authentication, in a separate register.

ii. Bulk Receipts at Back Office / Currency Chest

Procedure as at 2 (i) is to be followed where notes are received directly at the back office / currency chest through bulk tenders.

3. When a banknote tendered at the counter of a bank branch or treasury is found to be counterfeit, an acknowledgement receipt in the format (Annex II) must be issued to the tenderer, after stamping the note as in Paragraph 2 ibid. The receipt, in running serial numbers, should be authenticated by the cashier and tenderer. Notice to this effect should be displayed prominently at the offices / branches for information of the public. The receipt is to be issued even in cases where the tenderer is unwilling to countersign it.

4. No credit to customer’s account is to be given for counterfeit notes, if any, in the tender received over the counter or at the back-office / currency chest.

5. In view of the revision in the system of detection of counterfeit notes by banks, the following changes may be noted with respect to existing compensation and penalty for non-detection of counterfeit notes:

5.i. Compensation

The instructions on compensation to banks at 25% of the notional value of counterfeit notes detected and reported and the system of lodging claims for compensation by Forged Note Vigilance Cell of banks stand withdrawn.

5.ii. Penalty

Penalty at 100% of the notional value of counterfeit notes, in addition to the recovery of loss to the extent of the notional value of such notes, will be imposed under the following circumstances:

a) When counterfeit notes are detected in the soiled note remittance of the bank.

b) If counterfeit notes are detected in the currency chest balance of a bank during Inspection / Audit by RBI.

6. All other instructions relating to examination of notes before issuance over the counter, top up of ATMs, reporting to police and other authorities, infrastructure etc. to enable detection as well as liaison with the authorities, remain unchanged.

7. These instructions come into immediate effect.

Yours faithfully,

(Uma Shankar)
Principal Chief General Manager

Encl: As above

---

Annex I

Format of the stamp for impounding

A stamp with a uniform size of 5 cm x 5 cm with the following inscription may be used.

COUNTERFEIT BANKNOTE IMPOUNDED

COUNTERFEIT BANKNOTE IMPOUNDED
BANK / TREASURY/ SUB-TREASURY
BRANCH
SIGNATURE
DATE

---

Annex II

Format – Acknowledgement Receipt to be issued to the tenderer of counterfeit notes

Name of the Bank / Treasury/ Sub-treasury:
Address:

Serial Number of the Receipt:
Date:

The note (s) described below received from…………………………….(Name and Address of the tenderer) is/are counterfeit and has/have therefore been impounded and stamped accordingly.

Serial number of the note deemed as counterfeit	Denomination	Parameter on which the note is deemed as counterfeit

Total number of counterfeit notes:

(Signature of the Tenderer)

(Signature of the counter staff)

Security and Risk Mitigation Measures for Card Present and Electronic Payment Transactions

RBI/2015-16/163

DPSS.CO.PD.No.448/02.14.003/2015-16

August 27, 2015

All Scheduled Commercial Banks including RRBs /

Co-operative Banks / State Co-operative Banks /

Central Co-operative Banks / Authorised Card Payment Networks

Dear Madam / Sir,

Security and Risk Mitigation Measures for Card Present and Electronic Payment Transactions – Issuance of EMV Chip and PIN Cards

A reference is invited to our circular DPSS (CO) PD No.2112/02.14.003/2014-15 dated May 07, 2015 on the captioned subject wherein directives were issued that with effect from September 01, 2015 all new cards issued – debit and credit, domestic and international – by banks shall be EMV Chip and Pin based cards.

2. In this regard, representations have been received from various banks expressing difficulties in meeting this timeline on account of existing stock of magnetic stripe only cards with their branches. Further, banks have also indicated that more time is required for completion of certification process for issuance of EMV Chip and Pin cards.

3. Accordingly, it has been decided to grant extension of time for issuance of EMV Chip and Pin cards as under:

Sr. No.	Type of Card/s	Time extended upto
(i)	Cards issued under the Prime Minister Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) / Basic Savings Bank Deposit Account (BSBDA) / other Government schemes	September 30, 2016
(ii)	All cards other than (i) above	January 31, 2016

4. During this extended period, in case of specific requests from customers for issuance of EMV Chip and Pin cards, banks should promptly comply with the request. Besides, all cards issued for international usage will necessarily be EMV Chip and Pin cards, as already advised.

5. As regards migration of existing magnetic stripe only cards to EMV Chip and Pin cards, banks may initiate necessary steps to progressively migrate on their own accord so as to ensure that all active cards issued by them are EMV Chip and Pin based by December 31, 2018. The issuing banks may please note that the magnetic stripe cards issued would have to be replaced by December 31, 2018 irrespective of the validity period of the card and accordingly banks may have to take proactive steps to ensure that the deadlines are adhered to without fail.

6. This directive is issued under Section 10(2) read with Section 18 of Payment and Settlement Systems Act 2007 (Act 51 of 2007).

Yours faithfully

(Nanda S Dave)

Chief General Manager

#Negotiable #Instruments (Amendment) Bill, 2015 brings important #amendment shortly

This is the third major amendment in recent times to the Negotiable Instruments Act 1881, prompted by dishonour of cheques in lakhs, shaking the credibility of the instrument, confidence of stakeholders and choking courts.

Present Amendment:

The amendment adopts the basic principles laid down by the Supreme Court in the above case regarding jurisdiction of courts and improves upon it in the light of the representations made by various stakeholders, including industry associations and financial institutions. Complications had arisen because a cheque was issued in one place on one bank, and presented in another place to another bank. The payer company might be in one corner of the country and the payee might be in another. The payee therefore had to chase the accused in distant places and even if he won, appeals would be filed in another court and arguments will continue for years. The Supreme Court found that even high courts had differed on the question of the choice of courts which should try the case. The present amendment removes such legal obstacles and speeds up the trial.

Procedure:

The new provision states that the holder of the cheque can file a criminal complaint before a magistrate where he resides and tendered the cheque. He need not go to the place where the cheque was issued or other courts. After this clarification, there is a single place to file the complaint. Litigation expenses will come down, and the drawers of cheques, including company directors will be more careful while signing such cheques. The government feels that these procedural changes will be fair to both parties.

Status of the cases already pending:

According to the newly introduced Section 142A of the Act, all cases which were pending in any court, whether filed before it or transferred to it shall go before the court having jurisdiction under the new procedure.

Other important change in the amendment:

The new law also cures a deficiency in the definition of “a cheque in the electronic form”. The law as it stood presumed drawing of a physical cheque and signature. With the advance in technology it needed to be updated. Therefore, it is explains that “a cheque in the electronic form” means a cheque drawn in electronic form by using any computer resource and signed in a secure system with digital signature (with or without biometrics signature) and asymmetric crypto system or with electronic signature. The Negotiable Instruments Act draws colour from definitions of technical expressions from the Information Technology Act, 2000.

National Company Law Tribunal #NCLT Constitution may get delayed

The government is likely to get delayed in notifying the provisions concerning the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) and its appellate body (NCLAT).

Till date, around 60 per cent of the Companies Act, 2013 — which has a total of 470 sections and seven schedules — has been notified and enforced. Most of the remaining provisions of the Act are related to NCLT, a body which would replace the existing Company Law Board (CLB), the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) and assume the high court’s power on clearing mergers and acquisition (M&As) and amalgamation.

On May 14, the Supreme Court, in a case filed by the Madras Bar Association, upheld the constitutional validity of NCLT and NCLAT under the Companies Act, 2013. However, the court deemed the selection process of the members of NCLT and NCLAT under the applicable provisions of the new Companies Act as unconstitutional. As a result, the government will need to align the Companies Act, 2013, with the decision of the Supreme Court.

The government requires parliamentary approval to make necessary amendments or it can do the same by exercising the powers vested in it under Section 470 of passing the Removal of Difficulty Orders as per the process laid down therein.

In view of the above procedure, the actual constitution of NCLT, NCLAT may get delayed.

SEBI invites EPFO Pension Funds to invest in the Stock Market

The apex retirement fund regulator EPFO have began to invest in capital markets for the first time ever, however, the regulator SEBI has invited for similar investments by other pension funds as well.

Welcoming the EPFO decision to invest five per cent of its incremental deposits into capital markets through Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), other pension funds should also look at investing in markets.

“This is a very good development that 5 per cent of the Employee Provident Fund Organisation’s incremental deposits will come into capital markets.

EPFO has a huge corpus of about Rs 6.5 lakh crore, out of which it has an incremental deposit of about Rs 1 lakh crore.While Labour Ministry also issued a notification in April to allow EPFO to invest a part of its funds in stock markets, a similar notification for private provident funds was issued in June. However, trustees of individual funds would need to take a final decision before investing in the stock market.

The EPFO expects that it has a huge potential of becoming the largest domestic investor in terms of making investments in the stock market in the years to come.

#SEBI #Circular #Substantial #Acquisition of #Shares and #Takeovers Regulations, 2011

SEBI CIRCULAR

CIR/CFD/POLICYCELL/3/2015, August 05, 2015

To

All Recognised Stock Exchanges

All Registered Merchant Bankers

Dear Sir/Madam,

Sub: Formats under SEBI (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations, 2011(Regulations).

1. The formats for the reports/disclosures to be filed under the Regulations have been prescribed by SEBI vide circular No SEBI/CFD/DCR/SAST/ 1/2011/09/23 dated September 23, 2011, SEBI/CFD/DCR/SAST/ 2/2011/10/20 dated October 20, 2011and CIR/CFD/POLICYCELL/11/2013 dated October 21, 2013.

2. In order to ensure that adequate disclosures are made to help investors in taking an informed decision, it has been decided to modify the formats for disclosures under regulation 31of the Regulations.

3. The format for disclosuresunder regulation 31(1)/(2)of the Regulations is placed as Annexure-1.

4. A copy of this circular and the above stated formats are available on SEBI website at www.sebi.gov.in under the categories “Legal Framework” and “Takeovers”.

5. This Circular shall come into force with immediate effect.

Yours faithfully,

Amit Tandon

Deputy General Manager

+91-22-26449373

amitt@sebi.gov.in

To visit the complete circular, please click the below link:

Formats under SEBI (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations, 2011(Regulations)

#FAQs on #Delisting of #Securities Released by #SEBI

1. What is meant by delisting of securities?

The term “delisting” of securities means permanent removal of securities of a listed company   from a stock exchange. As a consequence of delisting, the securities of that company would       no longer be traded at that stock exchange.

2. What is the difference between Voluntary delisting and Compulsory delisting?

Compulsory delisting refers to permanent removal of securities of a listed company from a stock exchange as a penalizing measure at the behest of the stock exchange for not making submissions/comply with various requirements set out in the Listing agreement within the time frames prescribed. In voluntary delisting, a listed company decides on its own to permanently remove its securities from a stock exchange.

3. What is the exit opportunity available for investors in case a company gets delisted?

SEBI (Delisting of Securities) Guidelines, 2003 provide an exit mechanism, whereby the exit price for voluntary delisting of securities is determined by the promoter of the concerned company which desires to get delisted, in accordance to book building process. The offer price has a floor price, which is average of 26 weeks average of traded price quoted on the stock exchange where the shares of the company are most frequently traded preceding 26 weeks from the date public announcement is made. There is no ceiling on the maximum price.

In case of infrequently traded securities, the offer price is as per Regulation 20 (5) of SEBI (Substantial Acquisition and Takeover) Regulations. For this purpose, infrequently traded securities is determined in the manner as provided in Regulation 20 (5) of SEBI (Substantial Acquisition and Takeover) Regulations.

4.    Does a company listed at BSE/NSE have to provide exit offer to shareholders in case it delists from stock exchanges other than BSE and NSE?

No, the company does not have to provide exit offer to shareholders because it continues to be listed on the BSE / NSE which have nationwide reach and shareholders can exit any time they decide to so by way of selling shares in NSE/ BSE.

GST Bill May be Delayed upto 2017

The Narendra Modi-government may wait for the Budget session to get the Constitution Amendment Bill for introduction of Goods and Service Tax passed. The Bill has not been listed for consideration yet.

If the Constitution Amendment Bill does not get passed during the current session, the chances of implementing the GST from April 1 next year will be bleak. In such a situation, the new indirect tax system would be in a place only a year later, that is April 1, 2017, as such a taxation system cannot be implemented in the middle of a fiscal year.

A Constitution Amendment Bill needs order in the House to get passed.But continuous disruption has virtually stopped legislative business in both the Houses and the situation is unlikely to change during the remaining nine sittings of the Monsoon session.

There is a hope that the conditions would improve sooner or later but the same cannot be assured as things are not under control in the current sessions so the bill might get delayed because of these unexpected obstacles.

Sourcing Norms for Single-Brand Retail Likely to be Reviewed #FDI

The rules and regulations with respect to the single brand retailing as a part of the Foreign Direct Investment(FDI) are likely to be reviewed as the Modi led government opposed FDI in multi-brand retail, seems to be planning to remove hurdles for international single-brand retailers, which are allowed up to 100 per cent FDI.

Even as some top international brands want to open fully owned businesses in India, mandatory sourcing norms have turned out to be the biggest hurdle for those into niche categories.

At present, though up to 100 per cent FDI is allowed in single-brand retail, only 49 per cent can come through the automatic route. The sourcing norms, which allow upto 51per cent FDI, stipulate that companies source from India 30 per cent of the value of goods purchased, preferably from micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), village and cottage industries, artisans and craftsmen.

The sourcing rules were also reviewed by the previous government but the same was a total failure as there were a lot of obstacles involved for the foreign set ups to set up fully owned single brand retail businesses in India but the new Modi led government is planning that instead sourcing inputs from India, it would impart specialised and niche manpower training, set up centres of excellence (CoEs) and conduct community-based work programmes beyond their corporate social responsibility.

#SEBI Eases the #Delisting #Regulations

The Securities and Exchange Board of India has made the delisting norms easier by bringing out changes such as the promoters  either will have to ensure that at least 25 per cent of minority shareholders participate in such a process or can demonstrate that the entire 100 per cent investors have been approached to ensure that a good percentage of the minority shareholders participate in the delisting process.

Also, in case the acquirer or the merchant banker sends the letter of offer to all shareholders and provide a detailed account regarding the status of delivery of offer letter, the same would be considered as a deemed compliance with the provision the Delisting Regulations,

The regulator further has listed out that in case the acquirer and merchant banker is “unable to deliver offer letter to all shareholders by modes other than speed post or registered post, efforts should be made by them to deliver the letter of offer. In that case, a detailed account regarding the status of delivery of letter of offer, which shall also be considered as a deemed compliance.

At times the delisting process takes a lot of time which extends to more than a year, so the timeline for delisting to take effect has also been reduced to approximately around 76 days from 137 days.

Thus now it will become more easy for the companies who opt for delisting in terms of complying with the more simple and easy delisting regulations.

Govt. nod not Required for 49% #FPI #FDI

With a view to strengthen the Foreign Investment policy, the Government has allowed 49% Foreign Portfolio Investment in many sectors through Automatic route  in many of the sectors which include pharmaceuticals, single brand retail, insurance, pension etc. which allows the composite foreign investment caps in all the sectors barring private banking and defence sectors.

Earlier, these sectors had lower caps for the automatic route. For instance, in the insurance and pension sectors, FPI of up to 26 per cent was allowed through the automatic route, while in pharma, any investment would require the government’s prior permission.

The government allowed composite caps for the sectors, instead of the earlier practice of separate caps for FDI and FPI as now there will be complete fungibility across all the sectors and Foreign Institutional Investors as now upto 49%will be allowed automatically.

As the government made foreign investment fungible, foreign investments would include FDI, FPI, investment from non-resident Indians and foreign venture capital investment.

#CBDT Releases E-filing Utility for ITR 3, ITR 4 & ITR 7 #Download now

CBDT has finally enabled e-filing utility for ITR 3, ITR-4 and ITR-7 for Assessment Year 2015-16.

To download the forms please access the link given below:

https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/