1. Last Chance for Tax Evaders: Govt Announces New Disclosure Scheme
The Government on Friday said any unaccounted cash or deposit in a bank account before 1 April 2017 can be disclosed under the new disclosure scheme PMGKY that comes with 50 percent tax and penalty.
Addressing a press conference on Friday, Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia said:
Unaccounted cash can be disclosed under PMGKY that comes with 50 percent tax and penalty starting from tomorrow till 31st March, 2017.
The Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) provides for 50 percent tax and surcharge on declarations of unaccounted cash deposited in banks. Declarants also have to park a quarter of the total sum in a non-interest bearing deposit for four years.
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2. Bombay HC Allows Tata Group Firms to Hold EGMs
The Bombay High Court on Friday allowed Tata Group companies’ proposed Extraordinary General Meetings (EGMs) to go ahead as per schedule but with the caveat that if the EGMs resulted in the ouster of independent director Nusli Wadia, then the seat should be kept vacant till a final order was passed in the matter.
P Chidambaram, who appeared on behalf of Tata Sons, agreed to this condition.
The court was hearing a petition filed by four minority shareholders which sought to restrain the promoters from going ahead with voting at the EGMs next week on a resolution seeking removal of Wadia as an independent director of Tata Motors Ltd, Tata Steel Ltd and Tata Chemicals Ltd.
Source: Livemint
3. RBI Incentivises Debit Card Use by Lowering Merchant Discount Rate Charges
To encourage digital transactions, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday decided to slash Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) charges on payments made through debit cards and do away with levies on small transactions through mobile phones and Internet from 1 January to 31 March.
The MDR for debit card payments, including for payments made to government, will be capped at 0.25 percent for transactions up to Rs 1,000 and 0.5 percent between Rs 1,000-2,000, RBI said in a notification.
The existing MDR cap is 0.75 percent for transactions up to Rs 2,000 and 1 percent for over Rs 2,000. However, there is no RBI cap on MDR on credit card payments. RBI said reduced charges will “come into effect from 1 January 2017 and shall be applicable till 31 March 2017”.
Source: PTI
4. Sensex Ends Lower, Nifty Below 8,150; Bharti Airtel Top Loser
The benchmark indices ended the Friday's session lower as markets looked to settle down after the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday issued an outlook that was more hawkish than expected.
The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 26,489, down 30 points, while the broader Nifty50 closed at 8,139, down 14 points.
In the broader market, BSE Midcap index closed little changed, while BSE Smallcap index lost 0.25 percent.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, remained negative. On the BSE, 1,486 shares declined and 1,122 shares rose. A total of 167 shares were unchanged.
(Source: Business Standard)
5. Padmanabhan to Lead Tata Power if Mistry is Voted Out
In a curious development, the Tata Power board met on Friday to appoint S Padmanabhan, head of group HR of Tata Sons, as an additional director, without withdrawing Cyrus Mistry’s nomination as chairman.
Ahead of the 26 December Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) of Tata Power, where promoters hold 33 percent stake, it was necessary to induct a “suitable person” on the board for him to take over as interim chairman, replacing Mistry, in case Tatas win the vote, a source said.
Padmanabhan, an old Tata hand, is likely to be named the interim chairman of Tata Power if Mistry is voted out at the EGM as director on 26 December, it is learnt.
Source: Business Standard
6. Vodafone Calls TRAI’s Rs 1,050 Cr Penalty ‘Arbitrary’
Telecom major Vodafone India Ltd told the Delhi High Court that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's recommendation to the Centre to impose Rs 1,050 crore penalty on it for not giving inter-connectivity to Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd was an "arbitrary" decision.
TRAI has recommended imposition of a fine of Rs 50 crore for each of the 21 circles of Vodafone, except in Jammu and Kashmir, coming to a total of Rs 1,050 crore.
Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva did not pass any orders after TRAI's lawyers sought time till 19 December to take instructions on the steps taken by the authority after it issued a show cause notice to Vodafone on 27 September.
Vodafone has claimed that the entire process adopted by TRAI was "arbitrary" as Reliance announced Jio offer on 5-6 September and had thereafter made payment for "augmentation of interconnection links" on 25 September after which there was a 90-day period to provide interconnectivity.
Source: PTI
7. Telecom Hiring Dips on Cash Crunch, Jio Entry
Hiring in India’s telecom industry has slumped by up to 40 percent in 2016 as carriers cut back on recruitments to conserve cash in the midst of a brutal price war unleashed by Reliance Jio Infocomm’s entry. Operators and recruiters say the sector will continue to be cautious on adding to the staff count over the next six months to a year to tide over severe financial stress.
The fall in hiring is complemented by a sharp drop in attrition as telcos optimally utilise existing staff for their core telecom business.
Any hiring is focused on marketing and sales at junior levels targeted towards adding or retaining subscribers, besides new areas of business, including digital payments and Internet of Things (IoT), say companies such as Vodafone India and Idea Cellular.
Consequently, increments for the year ending 31 March 2017 are set to be lower than last year’s average of around 9 percent, say experts. “There has been a 30-40 percent drop in hiring in 2016 compared to last year and we expect a similar trend for the next few quarters,” said Vivek Mehta, executive director for recruitment firm ABC Consultants.
Source: Economic Times
8. E-Transactions For Govt Services Shoot up by 33 Percent to Cross 1,000 Cr in 2016
Transactions for availing government services electronically have increased by 33 percent to cross 1,000 crore this year, the Electronics and IT Ministry said today.
“Achieving 1,000 crore e–transactions in 2016 is an indication of the speed of digital transformation in the Government, and also an indication of the adoption of digital medium for transactions by citizens as an easy and convenient method of consuming e-Governance services,” IT Secretary Aruna Sundararajan said in a statement.
eTaal, the web portal for dissemination of e-transactions statistics of national and state level e–governance projects, indicates the total number of e–governance transactions in India for the year 2016 has crossed 1,000 crores, the statement said.
Source: PTI
9. NTPC, Nalco to Set up Power, Aluminium Plants For Rs 36,000 Crore
State-owned power producer NTPC Ltd and aluminium producer National Aluminium Co Ltd (Nalco) on Friday signed a deal to jointly set up a 2.4 giga watt (GW) power plant and one million tonne aluminium production facility in Odisha with an investment of Rs 36,000 crore, the companies said in a statement.
The proposed power plant at Gajmara will comprise three units of 800 mega watts (MW) each and will source coal from the mines operated by Nalco. The plants will have Nalco’s factory at Angul as a power customer.
Formal joint venture and power purchase agreements will be in place by the end of the current financial year, the companies said in the statement issued after the deal was signed.
Source: Livemint
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