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/