1. Universal Minimum Wage: Govt Introduces Bill Aimed to Benefit Over 40 Cr Unorganised Sector Workers
The Government introduced in the Lok Sabha ‘The Code on Wages’ bill which seeks to empower the Centre to fix a “universal minimum wage” aimed to benefit over 40 crore unorganised sector workers.
‘The Code on Wages’ Bill to consolidate and amend the laws relating to wages and bonus was introduced in the House by Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya. The bill seeks to amalgamate four laws – Payment of Wages Act 1936, Minimum Wages Act 1948, Payment of Bonus Act 1965 and Equal Remuneration Act 1976. Dattatreya said:
It is for simplification, rationalisation and making it less cumbersome. No way workers’ right is being infringed… It is going to bring in a historical change in the wages for workers and universal minimum wages will be implemented for the first time in India.
Source: PTI
2. Govt Notifies Timeline for Filing of Tax Returns Under GST
The government has notified the timeline for furnishing final tax returns for July and August under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime. The GST Council, chaired by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and comprising state counterparts, had in June allowed businesses extended timeline for filing final GST returns in forms GSTR-1, GSTR-2 and GSTR-3 for July and August.
In the interim period, businesses have to file GSTR-3B which is a summary of self-assessed tax liabilities with consolidated details of outward supplies and input credit. The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) has now notified the dates for filing the GST returns forms.
As per the notification, outward supplies in Form GSTR-1 for the month of July will have to be filed between 1-5 September. For August, it is to be filed between 16-20 September.
Source: PTI
3. Multiplicity of GST Rates Is a Challenge, Says Former RBI Deputy Governor Rakesh Mohan
Former RBI Deputy Governor Rakesh Mohan on Wednesday said the GST rollout was a colossal task achieved after over a decade, but the multiplicity of rates still remained a challenge. “GST has been achieved after a decade. Multiple rates is an issue,” Mohan said at the ‘Economics and Governance’ event organised by Penguin publishers.
The Goods and Services Tax has tax-slabs of 5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent. Gold is at a special rate of 3 percent. In addition to the tax rates, there is also a cess rate on luxury and sin goods like high-end cars, aerated drinks and tobacco and tobacco products which results in further variations in effective rates of taxation under the new indirect tax regime.
Source: IANS
4. Casual Taxpayer Registration Goes Live on GST Network Portal
GST Network said it has started the facility for registration of casual taxpayers – those who conduct businesses occasionally. A casual taxpayer is a person who occasionally undertakes business transactions in a state/Union Territory where he/she has no place of business.
Goods & Services Tax Network (GSTN) Chairman Navin Kumar said that the registration as ‘casual taxpayer’ will be valid for 90 days.
A tax payer will also have the option to extend the registration duration once for a maximum of 90 days before the expiry of the initial period for which registration was granted.
“A taxpayer must go for registration as casual taxpayer at least 5 working days prior to the commencement of business,” Kumar said.
Source: Financial Express
5. RBI Halves Dividend Payout to Govt to Rs 30,659 Crore
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Thursday that it would pay Rs 30,659 crore as a dividend to the government, less than half the surplus it transferred the previous year, potentially affecting the government’s fiscal math this financial year.
In the budget for 2017-18, finance minister Arun Jaitley had pegged dividend income from RBI, public sector banks and financial institutions at Rs 74,901 crore. With public sector banks still struggling to make profits because of the heavy stressed asset load on their balance sheets, the bulk of this dividend would have been expected from RBI.
Economists said lower returns from the central bank’s foreign asset holdings and the costs of demonetisation – printing new currency notes and managing the increasing liquidity in the banking system – were possible reasons for a fall in RBI’s profits.
Source: Livemint
6. Ola Raises Rs 231 Crore From Tekne Private Ventures
SoftBank-backed cab-hailing firm Ola (ANI Technologies Ltd) has raised over Rs 231 crore from Tekne Private Ventures through issue of preference shares.
The Ola funding deal involves allotment of 1,71,173 fully and compulsorily convertible preference shares for a total consideration of Rs 231.44 crore, according to the ANI Technologies’s regulatory filings with the corporate affairs ministry.
About 1.23 lakh shares were allotted to US-based Tekne Private Ventures III LP for Rs 167.15 crore and 47,548 shares worth Rs 64.28 crore were issued to Tekne Private Ventures I Master from Cayman Islands.
The said shares were allotted on 7 June 2017, the documents showed.
Source: PTI
7. SpiceJet’s Revenue Rises For Seventh Straight Quarter, Tops Estimates
Spicejet Ltd’s revenue rose for the seventh straight quarter, surpassing analyst estimates, due to a 93 percent passenger load factor for the quarter-ended June. Standalone revenue of the budget airline rose nearly 23 percent to Rs 1,870 crore compared to the same quarter last year, according to the company’s exchange filing. A BloombergQuint poll had pegged the top line at Rs 1,788 crore.
Net profit rose 17.4 percent to Rs 175 crore on a year-on-year basis, in line with the estimated Rs 179 crore.
The strong performance was on account of a strong passenger load factor and increase in passenger yields, the latter growing by 9 percent during the quarter. Average load factor stood at 94.07, the company said in a statement.
Source: BloombergQuint
8. GAIL Q1 Profit Misses Estimate But Margin Expands
State-owned gas processing and distribution company GAIL India Ltd’s profit missed analyst estimates after the company’s net sales fell across all its segments. Net profit rose to Rs 1,026 crore in the April to June quarter compared to the Bloomberg consensus estimate of Rs 1,043 crore, GAIL said in a stock exchange filing on Thursday. This is not comparable to last quarter’s bottomline which took a hit on account of a Rs 788 impairment charge.
Net sales declined 15.4 percent to Rs 11,570 crore, missing the estimate of Rs 13,061 crore.
Source: BloombergQuint
9. RBI Issues Final Guidelines For Tri-Party Repo Transactions
The Reserve Bank of India on Thursday issued final guidelines on tri-party repo transactions as part of its attempt to develop financial market in India.
The central bank, in its guidelines, said that tri-party repo may be traded over-the-counter (OTC) including on electronic platforms, or on stock exchanges. The RBI defined it as:
Tri-party repo is a type of repo contract where a third entity (apart from the borrower and lender), called a Tri-Party Agent, acts as an intermediary between the two parties to the repo to facilitate services like collateral selection, payment and settlement, custody and management during the life of the transaction.
A couple of key features of the RBI’s guidelines are: a) Tri-party repo may be traded using any trading process authorised under these directions by the RBI, including bilateral or multilateral, anonymous or otherwise, quote driven or order driven; b) All tri-party agents will require authorisation from the RBI.
Source: BloombergQuint
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