Economy - Electronic Gurudev

Mar232017 by Team - The Digital IndianNo Comments

Finance Bill relaxes corporate funding to political parties, but is it really evil?

Economy, Opinion

The Lok Sabha approved a proposal by the government as part of amendments to the Finance Bill, 2017 that relaxes conditions for corporate funding to political parties. One of the major points of controversy surrounding the move is the confidentiality provided to corporate and removal of limit on funding as regards to proportion of profit previously limited at 7.5 per cent. On the face of it, the move seems to make the political funding system more opaque. However, diving deep, it actually makes sense to remove these restrictions as it allows accounted money from corporate to flow into the political system rather than unaccounted money that finds its way into the system dubiously filtered through multiple channels. The move may fare better on merit in comparison to the previous system in...

Feb182017 by Team - The Digital IndianNo Comments

New SEBI Chief’s tenure cut short

Economy

Senior IAS officer Ajay Tyagi appointed new SEBI chief 12 Feb 2017 Senior bureaucrat Ajay Tyagi has been appointed as the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). Tyagi, a 1984-batch IAS officer from Himachal Pradesh cadre, is an additional secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs and manages the capital market division. He will assume the mantle of UK Sinha, whose twice-extended service tenure since 2011 ends on March 1. What is SEBI and what does it do? Fact SEBI is the regulator for all finance and investment markets in India. Set up in 1992, it has the power to regulate and approve by-laws of stock exchanges, inspect books of players, compel selected companies to get listed and even handle the registration of brokers. More about the n...

Feb112017 by Team - The Digital IndianNo Comments

Steps taken sufficient are enough to address P-note concerns: Sebi

Economy

Sebi today said steps taken by it on P-notes are “sufficient enough” to address the concerns of SIT on black money, but the regulator is open to further suggestions, even as it asserted that consistent tightening of norms have made these instruments less attractive. “The consistent tightening of Offshore Derivative Instrument (ODI) norms by Sebi has not only been through increased compliances but also improved transparency,” the regulator said after its board meeting where the issue was also discussed. Over the years, foreign portfolio investments through ODIs, popularly known as Participatory Notes (P-notes), has come down significantly. The regulator said the simultaneous liberalisation in registration process of foreign portfolio investors has made the P-notes “less attractive vi...

Feb112017 by Team - The Digital IndianNo Comments

Long-gestation projects responsible for high NPAs: Urjit Patel

Economy

RBI governor Urjit Patel says problem of NPAs was earlier also but it is only recently issue was being recognized. New Delhi: RBI Governor Urjit Patel today attributed the banks grappling with high bad loans to legacy issues saying they are mostly on account of credit facility provided for long-gestation projects before 2011-12. He further said the problem of non-performing assets (NPAs) was earlier also but it is only recently that the issue is being recognized. Patel said that sectors in which bad loans have emerged over the years pertain to long-gestation projects, which were mostly funded before 2011-12. “Therefore, …by definition, this proportionate amount is a legacy issue, although the recognition and reporting of these have taken place only recently,” the RBI Govern...

Feb112017 by Team - The Digital IndianNo Comments

Chandrasekaran all ready to light up the lives of our future generations with Tata Power

Economy

Tata Power Company on Friday announced the appointment of Natarajan Chandrasekaran as the Chairman and Additional Director of the company. He will take the charge on February 11. Chandrasekaran is the Chairman designate of Tata Sons Limited and currently the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director (MD) of Tata Consultancy Services(TCS). “Vide their letter dated February 10, 2017, Tata Sons has exercised the authority under the Company’s Articles of Association and nominated N Chandrasekaran as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Company with effect from February 11, 2017,” As per news, Tata Power said in a BSE filing “I am honoured to be appointed as the Chairman of the Board of this historic organization which has been serving the nation for the past 100 years ...

Feb22017 by Team - The Digital IndianNo Comments

Aadhaar-enabled payment system will be cheaper than cards

Economy

An Aadhaar-enabled payment system will be launched soon, finance minister Arun Jaitley announced in his Budget speech for the financial year (FY) 2017-18. Aadhar Pay is the merchant version of Aadhaar-enabled payment system. The Aadhaar Pay app lets consumers pay without any physical payment instrument. It runs on the Android platform and has to be installed by merchants. To use it, merchants need to first download the Aadhaar Pay app and then register to start using it. After registration, the merchant’s mobile phone needs to be linked to an Aadhaar biometric reader. Once the merchant has this infrastructure in place, the consumers can start transacting. To make a payment, the consumer has to just enter her Aadhaar number. The fingerprint is the password for the transaction. To use...

Feb12017 by Team - The Digital IndianNo Comments

Operation ‘Clean Money’: begins; 18 lakh people to get IT notice if deposits don’t match income

Economy

The Income Tax department has identified 18 lakh people who have made ‘suspicious’ cash deposits post demonetisation, including those having deposited over Rs 5 lakh, and will send emails and SMSes seeking explanation about their source of funds. These people will have to reply within 10 days to avoid any notice from the tax department or further enforcement action. The department today launched ‘Operation Clean Money’ project under which CBDT, with data analysis and profiling of assessees, will send e-communications to people whose cash deposits post November 8 note ban do not match their income. “Operation Clean Money/Swachh Dhan Abhiyan is a programming software which will be used to get answers on all the deposits made and after preliminary answers from the people. Then...

Feb12017 by Team - The Digital IndianNo Comments

Announcements for Aadhaar-Pay, BharatNet and other Digital India Initiatives in Union Budget 2017

Economy

The Union budget 2017-2018 put the focus firmly on the idea of Digital India with the government announcing more steps for increasing digital payments in the country, along with a boost to the optical fibre network in rural areas to improve internet connectivity and access. Here’s a look at the top Digital India-related announcements from the Budget 2017-2018. Aadhaar Pay Aadhaar Pay, which is a merchant version of Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AEPS), will be launched shortly. According to the Finance Minister, “This will be specifically beneficial for those who do not have debit cards, mobile wallets and mobile phones.” The government has set a target of 2,500 crore digital transactions for 2017-18 through UPI, USSD, Aadhar Pay, IMPS and debit cards. Additionally the govern...

Feb12017 by Team - The Digital IndianNo Comments

Highlights of Union Budget 2017-18

Economy

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented theUnion Budget 2017, his fourth annual budget, today. Here are the highlights of this year's budget: ►Income Tax rate cut to 5 pc for individuals having income between Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 5 lakh ►10 pc surcharge on individual income above Rs 50 lakh and upto Rs 1 cr to make up for Rs 15,000 cr loss of due to cut in personal I-T rate ►15 pc surcharge on income above Rs 1 cr to continue ►Of 3.7 cr individuals who filed tax returns in 2015-16, 99 lakh showed income below exemption limit ►Direct tax collection not commensurate with income and expenditure pattern ►Revenue deficit reduced to 2.1 pc from 2.3 pc for 2016-17 ►Govt pegs fiscal deficit target at 3.2 per cent for 2017-18 and 3 per cent for next year. ► Monetary policy ...

Jan292017 by Team - The Digital IndianNo Comments

Policies of USA shall not effect Indian IT, pharma firms

Economy

Indian IT, Biotech and pharma industries will not be impacted due to Donald Trump’s policies as the US is expected to continue “the commerce-related attitude” towards the country, Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers H N Ananth Kumar today said. “Prime Minister has already had a telephonic conversation with the US President (Trump). As per the relations we have been having with the US, I don’t think there will be any change in the attitude of the US in terms of commerce-related issues. I also don’t think, there will be any problem for the Indian IT, BT and pharmaceutical industries,” Kumar said. He was replying to a query on Trump’s policy of protectionism at a news conference to announce the “Indian Pharma” and “India Medical Devices-2017” international conference schedu...