1. Cash Transactions Over Rs 2 Lakh to Be Made Illegal
The government on Tuesday proposed to ban all cash transactions above Rs 2 lakh, instead of Rs 3 lakh announced in the budget.
The proposal was part of the 44 amendments to the Finance Bill moved by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in Lok Sabha. The large number of changes sought by the government attracted criticism from the opposition benches with some calling it unprecedented.
Jaitley has proposed amendments to the Companies Act, mandating disclosure of election-related donations in company books besides making such donations compulsorily by cheque, bank draft or through electronic means. The step was part of reforms announced in the budget to make election funding more transparent.
(Source: Times of India)
2. Snapdeal in Talks With Flipkart, Paytm for Potential Sale
Online marketplace Snapdeal, which has been struggling to raise fresh funds, is in preliminary talks with two of its biggest rivals – Paytm E-Commerce Pvt Ltd and Flipkart India – for a potential sale that could value the company at less than the total equity raised by parent Jasper Infotech Pvt Ltd, according to three people aware of the development.
SoftBank, which has invested roughly $900 million of the $2 billion or so raised by Snapdeal, is leading the sale talks, the three said on condition of anonymity.
Since the talks are still at a nascent stage, SoftBank is expected to inject up to $50 million as bridge money till a deal is closed, one of the people said.
(Source: Livemint)
3. Aadhaar May Soon Be Mandatory to File Income Tax, Obtain PAN
India’s biometric data-based unique identification number, Aadhaar, may soon become mandatory for filing income tax returns and obtaining a permanent account number (PAN).
This is among the 40 amendments the government has proposed to the Finance Bill, 2017, which is expected to come up for parliament’s consideration on Wednesday. BloombergQuint has accessed a copy of the proposed amendments from the office of a Member of Parliament.
If this proposed amendment is passed, the mandatory use of Aadhaar to file income tax returns will become effective from 1 July 2017, the document says.
The government has also proposed that taxpayers provide their Aadhaar numbers to the Income Tax Department before 1 July, failing which their PANs will become invalid.
(Source: BloombergQuint)
4. Amazon India to Continue Focus on Every Geographic Segment
Global e-commerce giant Amazon said it would continue to focus on every geographic segment of India’s online retail market just days after homegrown rival Flipkart earmarked the country’s vast rural hinterland and smaller cities as its future growth markets.
“Our ambition in India is to become everything for everyone,” said Amit Agarwal, head of Amazon in India. “We don’t think that way (whether the time has come in India’s e-commerce market to target particular segments of customers). We believe customers, wherever they are in India, should be able to buy and get products delivered to them.”
Economic Times had reported last week that Bengaluru-based Flipkart witnessed a spike in orders from Tier II cities in the second half of 2016, with that segment currently accounting for about two-thirds of total sales.
(Source: Economic Times)
5. Indian Firms Borrowed $2.23 Billion From Foreign Sources
Indian firms’ borrowing from foreign sources stood at $2.23 billion in February 2017, RBI data showed on Tuesday.
In February 2016, the domestic companies had raised more than $1.35 billion from overseas markets through external commercial borrowings (ECBs).
The two sets of numbers, however, are not comparable as the new data include money raised through rupee denominated bonds (RDBs) in overseas markets.
During the month, the Indian firms raised $1.01 billion through ECBs, using both automatic and approval routes. The rest of $1.22 billion came through the RDB channel.
(Source: Business Standard)
6. Finance Ministry Rejects Apple’s Demands For Tax Exemptions
The government has rejected demands for tax exemptions by Apple for setting up a manufacturing facility in India, arguing that such concessions to a company are not possible.
The finance ministry has refused to concede the demand for slashing customs duties on completely-knocked-down and semi-knocked-down units of devices that are to be assembled in India.
However, on the same day the company’s primary assembler, Taiwan-based Foxconn, sought support for exporting mobile phones. It also reiterated its demand for removing customs duties on imported components.
(Source: Business Standard)
7. D-Mart Listing Makes Radhakishan Damani Richer Than Anil Ambani
Retail entrepreneur Radhakishan Damani leapfrogged storied business family tycoons to emerge among the top 20 Indian billionaires on Tuesday as investor craze for consumer stocks drove retail chain Avenue Supermarts to the best listing-day performance in 13 years.
Damani raced past Anil Agarwal, Anil Ambani and Rahul Bajaj to become the 17th richest Indian largely based on the first-day performance of Avenue Supermarts, Bloomberg and Economic Times data analysis shows. Avenue owns DMart, one of India's most profitable retail chains.
Avenue's shares listed at Rs 604.40, a whopping 102 percent premium to the issue price of Rs 299. The stock rose as much as 117 percent to an intraday high of Rs 650, giving the company a market cap of Rs 40,000 crore.
(Source: Economic Times)
8. Media, Entertainment Industry Sustains Growth Rate in 2016
The Indian media and entertainment industry in 2016 was able to sustain a healthy growth on the back of strong economic fundamentals and steady growth in domestic consumption coupled with growing contribution of rural markets across key segments.
These factors aided the industry to grow at 9.1 percent on the back of advertising growth of 11.2 percent, despite demonetisation shaving off 150 to 250 basis points in terms of growth across all sub-segments at the end of the year.
The ‘FICCI - KPMG Media & Entertainment Industry Report 2017’ was launched here on Tuesday.
Compared to 2016, the industry is projected to grow at a faster pace of 14 percent over the period of 2017-21, with advertising revenues expected to increase at a CAGR of 15.3 percent.
The year 2017 is likely to witness a marginally slower rate of 13.1 percent as the economy recovers from the lingering effects of demonetisation and initial uncertainties arising from GST implementation.
Source: Hindu Businessline
9) Travel in Rajdhani, Shatbadi at Mail/Express Fare From 1 April
Come April and a passenger can avail the opportunity of travelling in Rajdhani or Shatabdi trains even if he or she has booked tickets in other mail/express trains for the same destinations.
Railways is launching a new scheme from 1 April under which waitlisted passengers can get confirmed accommodation in the next alternative train if they opt for the option while booking their tickets. As per the scheme, there would be no extra charges taken from the passenger or any refund provided for the difference of fare.
Known as ‘Vikalp’, the alternative train accommodation scheme aims to utilise vacant berths in many premier trains including Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Duronto and other special service such as Suvidha trains in all major routes.
(Source: Financial Express)
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