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Corporate Updates 24 April 2014

April 24, 2014 Leave a Comment

RBI: 

RBI through its Notification bans repayment of domestic loans through ECBs as it observed that banks are extending non-fund based credit facilities like guarantees/stand-by letter of credits/letter of comforts etc. on behalf of JV/WOS/WoSDS for purposes which are not connected with their business, rather, in certain cases, used to avail foreign currency loans for repayment of Rupee loans. Banks are also advised to ensure effective monitoring of the end use of such facilities and its conformity with the business needs of such entities. It is further clarified in case of Indian Companies that, if the ECB is availed from overseas branches/subsidiaries of Indian banks, the risk remains within the Indian banking system and repayment of Rupee loans availed of from domestic banking system through ECBs extended by overseas branches/subsidiaries of Indian banks will, henceforth, not be permitted.

MINISTY OF FINANCE:

Ministry of Finance has invited Suggestions from the Industry and Trade Associations for General Budget 2014-15 regarding changes in direct and indirect taxes, changes in the duty structure, rates and broadening of tax base on both direct and indirect taxes giving economic justification for the same. Suggestions may also be given for simplification and rationalization of duties and taxes.

Filed Under: Finance, News & Updates, RBI

Corporate Updates 23 April 2014

April 23, 2014 Leave a Comment

MCA: 

MCA clarifies that all Rules published under Companies Act, 2013 are effective from 1st April, 2014 and MCA has released Statement of Notification of Rules on its website clarifying the above. This puts to rest the doubts that had arisen for certain rules which were mentioned to be applicable from the date of publication in official gazette, however, the same were not yet published in the official gazette till date.

RBI:

RBI make clarification via its Circular on the extant FDI policy for pharmaceutical sector which has now been decided with immediate effect that the existing policy would continue with the condition that ‘non-compete’ clause would not be allowed except in special circumstances with the approval of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) of the Government of India. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) up to 100 per cent is permitted under automatic route for greenfield investments and FDI up to 100 per cent is permitted under Government approval route for brownfield investments (i.e. investments in existing companies) in pharmaceuticals sector.

Filed Under: MCA, News & Updates, RBI

Corporate Updates 22 April 2014

April 22, 2014 Leave a Comment

CBDT: 

CBDT has issued guidelines for laying down Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for Verification/Correction of Arrear Tax Demand by the Assessing Officers. Now, the taxpayers can get their outstanding tax demand reduced/deleted by applying for rectification along with the requisite documentary evidence of tax/demand already paid. The SOP is expected to mitigate the long standing grievances of taxpayers by way of reduction/deletion of tax demands as it has special provisions for dealing with the tax demand upto Rs. 1,00,000/- in the case of Individuals and HUFs in order to accommodate certain extra ordinary situations.

DIPB: 

Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPB), has issued Consolidated FDI Policy which is effective from 17-04-2014. The present consolidation subsumes and supersedes all Press Notes / Press Releases / Clarifications / Circulars issued by DIPP, which were in force as on April 16, 2014 and reflects the FDI Policy as on April 17, 2014. Anything done or any action taken or purported to have been done or taken under the rescinded Press Notes / Press Releases / Clarifications / Circulars prior to April 17, 2014, shall, in so far as it is not inconsistent with those Press Notes / Press Releases / Clarifications / Circulars, be deemed to have been done or taken under the corresponding provisions of this circular and shall be valid and effective.

Filed Under: CBDT, DIPB, News & Updates

Corporate Updates 21 April 2014

April 21, 2014 Leave a Comment

LLP: 

RBI makes amendment in the Foreign Exchange Management (Transfer or Issue of Security by a Person Resident outside India) Regulations, 2000 and it has now been decided that Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) formed and registered under the Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008 shall be eligible to accept Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from a person resident outside India or an entity incorporated outside India, subject to the conditions given in Annexure – I. The instructions issued in this circular shall be effective retrospectively from May 20, 2011. However, reporting requirement of FDI in LLP shall come into force from the date of issue of instructions by the Reserve Bank in this regard. The LLP which have received foreign investment in terms of FIPB approval between May 20, 2011 to the date of this circular shall comply with the reporting requirement in respect of FDI within 30 or 60 days, as applicable, from the date of the notification. To download & view the notification, please Click Here.

SERVICE TAX: 

Service Tax Return (ST-3) for Oct ’13 to March’14 period is now available for e-filing by the assessees in both offline and online version. The last date for filing the returns for the said period is 25th April, 2014. All assessees can file return online or use the offline utility by downloading the latest version from http://acesdownload.nic.in/ or from ‘DOWNLOADS’ Section of ACES website. For details on how to e-file in ACES or any further information/assistance, you may visit www.aces.gov.in or contact your jurisdictional Service Tax Officer. Please file your returns in ACES well in advance to avoid rush and inconvenience at the last moment.

Filed Under: LLP, News & Updates, Service Tax

Corporate Updates 19 April 2014

April 19, 2014 Leave a Comment

SEBI:
SEBI has revised Clause 49 & 35B of the listing agreement to align with the provisions of the Companies Act, 2013, adopt best practices on corporate governance and to make the corporate governance framework more effective. The revised Clause 49 that would be applicable to all listed companies with effect from October 01, 2014. However, the provisions of Clause 49(VI)(C) as given in Part-B shall be applicable to top 100 listed companies by market capitalisation as at the end of the immediate previous financial year. Further, the revised Clause 35B would be applicable to all listed companies and the modalities would be governed by the provisions of Companies (Management and Administration) Rules, 2014.

RBI:

RBI through its Notification has advised all Banks for Differential Rate of Interest for Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) while pricing their loans than the other borrowers. However, banks should note that such differential rate of interest is not below the Base Rate of the bank. Banks should take into account the incentives available to them in the form of the credit guarantee cover of the Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) and the zero risk weight for capital adequacy purpose for the portion of the loan guaranteed by the CGTMSE and provide differential interest rate for such MSE borrowers, than the other borrowers.

Filed Under: News & Updates, RBI, SEBI

Corporate Updates 17 April 2014

April 17, 2014 Leave a Comment

Labour Laws: 

In the case Kakali Ghosh Versus Chief Secretary, Andaman & Nicobar Administration And Ors. (Supreme Court), Civil Appeal No. 4506 Of 2014, Date- 15.04.2014, the Hon’ble Supreme Court has held that the woman government employee’s having minor children below 18 years can avail Child Care Leave (CCL) for maximum period of 730 days at a stretch i.e. during the entire service period for taking care of upto two children. The care of children is not for rearing the smaller child but also to look after any of their needs like examination, sickness etc. As per Sub Rules (3) and (4) of Rule 43-C of the Central Civil Services (Leave) Rules, 1972 it is clear that CCL even beyond 730 days can also be granted by combining other leave if due with CCL to any women employee.

RBI: 

RBI amends FDI norms for Pharmaceuticals and empowers Government to specify terms and to incorporate appropriate conditions for FDI in brownfield cases, at the time of granting approvals and ‘Non-compete’ clause would not be allowed except in special circumstances with the approval of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board. FDI in Greenfield will be 100% Automatic and in Brownfield with 100% Government approval. To view and download the notification, please Click Here.

Filed Under: Labour Laws, News & Updates, RBI

Corporate Updates 16 April 2014

April 16, 2014 Leave a Comment

Stamp Duty (Proposed): 

The finance ministry has proposed uniform stamp duty rates on transactions of securities across states. For this, it has prepared a draft Bill to amend the Indian Stamp Act, 1989. In the draft, the ministry has suggested a stamp duty rate of 0.0001 per cent of the value of transaction on the sale of currency derivatives through off- market transactions. The draft provides for payment of the duty by the seller of the security through a new system, where exchanges will collect the duty and pass it on to state governments, thereby reducing their administrative costs. Currently, state government machinery collects the duty and not exchanges. In some states, the buyer pays the duty, while in some others the seller.

SEBI: 

It has observed by SEBI that the companies listed in Annexure ‘A’ have established connectivity with both the depositories viz NSDL and CDSL. The stock exchanges may consider as Companies are eligible for shifting from Trade for Trade Settlement (TFTS) to Normal Rolling Settlement subject to the conditions that at least 50% of other than promoter holdings as per clause 35 of Listing Agreement are in dematerialized mode before shifting the trading in the securities of the company from TFTS to normal Rolling Settlement and there are no other grounds/reasons for continuation of the trading in TFTS. To view & download, Please Click Here.

Filed Under: News & Updates, SEBI, Stamp Duty

Corporate Updates 15 April 2014

April 15, 2014 Leave a Comment

PPF: 

The Central Government vide NOTIFICATION NO. GSR 225(E) [F.NO.2/7/2012-NS-II], DATED 13-3-2014 fixes an amount of initial minimum subscription of Rs. 100 for every individual desirous of subscribing to PPF for the first time either on his own or on behalf of a minor of whom he is the guardian. Earlier there was no minimum fixed amount of deposit for opening of PPF account. Further, online/electronic payments in PPF Account have been allowed if account holder is maintaining account with a Bank or Post Office working on Core Banking Platform.

RBI: 

The Reserve Bank of India on 10th April 2014 placed on its website Draft Report on Working Group on Pricing of Credit. Comments/feedback on the recommendations of the draft report may be sent by May 16, 2014 by email or by post to the Principal Chief General Manager, Reserve Bank of India, Department of Banking Operations and Development, Mumbai-400001.

Filed Under: News & Updates, PPF, RBI

Corporate Updates 14 April 2014

April 14, 2014 Leave a Comment

Secretarial Standards: 

In terms of Section 118 (10) of the the Companies Act, 2013, every Company shall observe Secretarial Standards with respect to General and Board Meetings specified by the ICSI constituted under section 3 of the Company Secretaries Act, 1980, and approved as such by the Central Government. In light of this, the Secretarial Standards with respect to Board and General Meetings i.e. SS-1, SS-2, SS-5 and SS-7 are mandatory required to be followed. ICSI has released exposure drafts for SS-1, SS-2, SS-5 and SS-7 for comments of members. To view & download the Secretarial Standards, please Click Here.

MCA: 

Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has issued Public Notice No. MCA21/28/2014-eGov dated 11th April, 2014 informing stakeholders that the all new E-Forms will be available for upload with effect from 28th April, 2014 instead of 14th April, 2014 as notified earlier on 28th March, 2014. To view & download the copy of the Notification, click here.

Filed Under: Company Law, MCA, News & Updates

Corporate Updates 12 April 2014

April 12, 2014 Leave a Comment

SEBI: 

In order to protect the interests of investors in security market and to promote the development, SEBI has Partially Modified the circular MRD/DP/22/2013 dated July 08, 2013, and has restore the initial and extreme margins for USD-INR contracts to pre July 08, 2013 rates which was increased to 100% by SEBI in consultation with RBI. Provisions of this Circular will be implemented with effect from April 15, 2014.

Reserve bank of India: 

RBI has decided to create a separate category of NBFCs, with the name, Non-Operative Financial Holding Company (NOFHC). A company seeking registration as an NOFHC shall first have received an in-principle approval for setting up a commercial bank from the Reserve Bank. The application for registration of NOFHC shall be made with the requisite information and documents to Reserve Bank of India, DBOD, Central Office, Mumbai. The Certificate of registration for the NOFHC will be issued by DNBS, Reserve Bank of India. For detailed circular, please click here.

Filed Under: News & Updates, RBI, SEBI