Press Information Bureau

06.07.2017

Company

Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India invites comments from public on the Regulations notified under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016

MANU/PIBU/0708/2017

The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (Code) is a modern economic legislation. Section 240 of the Code empowers the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) to make regulations subject to the conditions that the regulations: (a) carry out the provisions of the Code, (b) are consistent with the Code and the rules made thereunder; (c) are made by a notification published in the official gazette; and (d) are laid, as soon as possible, before each House of Parliament for 30 days.

The IBBI has evolved a transparent and consultative process to make regulations. It has been endeavour of the IBBI to effectively engage stakeholders in the regulation making process. The process generally starts with a working group making draft regulations. The IBBI puts these draft regulations out in public domain seeking comments thereon. It holds a few round tables to discuss draft regulations with the stakeholders. It takes advice of its Advisory Committee. The process culminates with the Governing Board of the IBBI finalising regulations and the IBBI notifies them. This process endeavours to factor in ground reality, secures ownership of regulations and makes regulations robust and precise, relevant to the time and for the purpose.

Public consultation enables collective choice and hence plays an important role in evolution of regulatory framework. The participation of the public, particularly the stakeholders and the regulated, in the regulatory process ensures that the regulations are informed by the legitimate needs of those interested in and affected by regulations.

Usually, a regulator prepares draft regulations and presents these to the stakeholders to revalidate its understanding of the issue the said regulations seek to address, and the appropriateness of such regulations to address the issue. Based on the inputs from the stakeholders, the regulator finalizes the regulations with modifications, as may be warranted. The IBBI has been essentially following this approach and will continue to do so.

Despite the best of efforts and intentions, a regulator may not always have the understanding of the ground realities, as much and as early as the stakeholders and the regulated may have, particularly in a dynamic environment. The stakeholders could, therefore, play a more active role in making regulations. They may contemplate, at leisure, the important issues in the extant regulatory framework that hinder transactions and offer alternate solutions to address them, in addition to responding urgently to draft regulations proposed by the regulator. This is akin to crowd sourcing of ideas. This would enable every idea to reach the regulator. Consequently, the universe of ideas available with the regulator would be much larger and the possibility of a more conducive regulatory framework much higher.

Keeping in view the above, the IBBI invites comments from public, including the stakeholders and the regulated, on the regulations already notified under the Code. The comments received between 4th July, 2017 and 31st December, 2017 shall be processed together and following the due process, regulations will be modified to the extent considered necessary. It will be the endeavour of the IBBI to notify modified regulations by 31st March, 2018 and bring them into force on 1st April, 2018. It is clarified that this is in addition to the extant approach of inviting public comments on draft regulations before notifying them.

For providing comments, please follow the process as under:

(i) Visit IBBI website;

(ii) Select 'Public Comments;

(iii) Provide your Name, and Email ID;

(iv) Select the stakeholder category, namely,

a. Corporate Debtor;

b. Creditor to a Corporate Debtor;

c. Insolvency Professional;

d. Insolvency Professional Agency;

e. Insolvency Professional Entity;

f. Academics;

g. Investor; or

h. Others.

(v) Select the regulations, you wish to make a comment upon, from the dropdown menu, as under:

a. Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (Model Bye-Laws and Governing Board of Insolvency Professional Agencies) Regulations, 2016;

b. Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (Insolvency Professional Agencies) Regulations, 2016;

c. Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (Insolvency Professionals) Regulations, 2016;

d. Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (Insolvency Resolution Process for Corporate Persons) Regulations, 2016;

e. Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (Liquidation Process) Regulations, 2016;

f. Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (Information Utilities) Regulations, 2017;

g. Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (Voluntary Liquidation Process) Regulations, 2017;

h. Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (Fast Track Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process) Regulations, 2017; or

i. Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (Inspections and Investigations) Regulations, 2017.

Kindly note that the selected regulations can be found by clicking the pdf icon right next to the 'select regulations' option.

(vi) Select the kind of comments you wish to make, namely,

a. General Comments; or

b. Specific Comments.

(vii) If you have selected 'General Comments', please select one of the following options:

a. Inconsistency, if any, between the provisions within the regulations (intra-regulations);

b. Inconsistency, if any, between the provisions in different regulations (inter-regulations);

c. Inconsistency, if any, between the provisions in the regulations with those in the rules;

d. Inconsistency, if any, between the provisions in the regulations with those in the Code;

e. Inconsistency, if any, between the provisions in the regulations with those in any other law;

f. Any difficulty in implementation of any of the provisions in the regulations; and

g. Any provision that should have been provided in the regulations, but has not been provided; or

h. Any provision that has been provided in the regulations, but should not have been provided.

And then write comments under the selected option.

(viii) If you have selected 'Specific Comments', please select regulation number and then sub-regulation number, and write comments under the selected regulation / sub-regulation number.

(ix) You can make comments on more than one regulations, or more than one regulation / sub-regulation number, by clicking on more comments and repeating the process outlined above from point 8(v) onwards.

(x) Click 'Submit', if you have no more comments to make.

Illustration

9. If you are a creditor to a corporate debtor and wish to make a specific comment on the sub-regulation 1 of regulation 6 relating to Eligibility for appointment of Liquidator as specified in the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (Voluntary Liquidation Process)Regulations, 2017. The steps that you need to follow are:

i. Visit IBBI website, www.ibbi.gov.in;

ii. Select "Public Comments";

iii. Provide your Name and Email ID.

iv. Select the stakeholder category, which in this case is "Creditor to a Corporate Debtor"

v. Select the regulations, which in this case is "Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (Voluntary Liquidation Process) Regulations, 2017;

vi. Select 'Specific Comments';

vii. Select the regulation / sub-regulation number, which in this case is "Regulation 6" and "Sub Regulation (1)";

viii. Write comment in the box "Comments";

ix. If you wish to make comment on another regulation, or another regulation number of the same regulations, repeat the process from 'v.' onwards by clicking the icon 'More Comments';

x. Click 'Submit', after you have made all comments.

Tags : Regulations Comments Invitation

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Press Information Bureau

06.07.2017

Indirect Taxation

Ministry of Food Processing Industry establishes GST facilitation cell to guide industry about GST regime

MANU/PIBU/0710/2017

The Ministry of Food Processing Industries has established a four member GST Facilitation Cell at its office to guide the industry about the new tax regime. The members of the GST Facilitation Cell can be accessed through Toll Free No 1800111175 or on #AskonGSTFPI. Further details can be accessed from http://www.mofpi.nic.in

The ministry has created a GST cell for the purpose of implementation and facilitating the rollout of GST with immediate effect. The GST facilitation cell will provide all possible support for the rollout of the levy to the major industry and business associations related to MoFPI. This cell will serve as the first point of contact to address any issue being faced by any sector related to the ministry. The GST cell will be equipped with the complete knowledge of the relevant GST Act, rules, rate structure etc. The cell will be headed by Shri Bijaya Kumar Behera, Economic Advisor and Shri G Srinivasan, senior marketing officer, Shri S N Ahmed, Assistant Director, Shri Bikram Nath, Assistant Director as its Members.

The Ministry is in the process of organising several programmes for the industry to sensitise associates about GST, and has also planned to conduct seminars to disseminate information about the new tax regime. Press Information Bureau has also created a special webpage on GST http://pib.nic.in/gst which will be a one stop platform for all information on the new tax regime. It contains press releases issued till date on the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in both Hindi and English languages. The webpage also contains various presentations, FAQs etc on GST.

Tags : GST facilitation cell Establishment

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Reserve Bank of India

06.07.2017

Banking

RBI discusses New Frontiers on Statistical Methods and Information Base at its 11th Statistics Day Conference

MANU/RPRL/0112/2017

The Reserve Bank celebrated its '11th Annual Statistics Day Conference' on July 04, 2017 on the Theme 'New Frontiers on Statistical Methods and Information Base for Central Banks'. The Statistics Day Conference is an annual feature in the Reserve Bank's calendar after the Government of India designated the birthday of (Late) Prof. P. C. Mahalanobis as the "Statistics Day", in 2007. Distinguished academicians and practitioners participated in the Conference.

In his inaugural address, Dr. Urjit R. Patel, Governor, highlighted the momentous contribution made by Prof. Mahalanobis in the field of theoretical and applied statistics and his exemplary role in development of the Indian statistical system. The Governor observed that there is a continuous effort to improve measurement, modelling and prediction of economic outcomes and developments. He stressed the "information base" part of the theme of the Conference since the collection and analysis of detailed data aid in designing better targeted responses in a variety of settings in practice and policy. The Governor also acknowledged that the present times are interesting for economic analysis and it is useful to deliberate and reflect on key areas of special interest such as understanding global spill-over effects, estimating and forecasting in the presence of high volatility and structural breaks, analysing the impact of macroeconomic developments on distributional aspects, developing new information bases, and optimising the available information to improve the robustness of estimates.

Dr. Viral V. Acharya, Deputy Governor delivered the Theme Talk: A Case for Public Credit Registry in India. He noted that statistical techniques are an integral part of economic analysis and this fact is also reflected in the good share of "method awards" in the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. Dr. Acharya said that India's progress has been quite satisfactory under the G20 Data Gap Initiatives towards collection of better information and improved measurement of the build-up of risk in the financial sector, cross-border financial linkages, and vulnerability of domestic economies to shocks. As his primary message, Dr. Acharya emphasised the need for setting up a Public Credit Registry - an extensive database of credit information - for analysing, addressing and preventing in future the twin balance-sheet problems of banking and corporate sector. Reviewing the supervisory and statistical databases relating to bank credit, he said that linking them with financial results of the corporate sector and employing unique borrower-level identifiers could lead to incisive research and insights on monetary policy transmission to the real economy. The creation of a large public credit registry will help the supervisor to monitor delinquencies more effectively, bring in efficiency in the credit market by helping the lenders in appraisals and monitoring of the loan portfolio, and help the cause of financial inclusion of the small businesses and individuals by allowing them to establish their reputation via the registry.

Dr. Martine Durand, Chief Statistician and Director, OECD Statistics Directorate, delivered the keynote address on 'Economic Statistics for Policy and People - A Compass for the Next Two Decades'. She stressed upon the statistical challenges for quantitative measurement of the prevailing economic and policy environment. She hypothesized whether a measurement constraint on contribution of digitalization to the economy could provide an explanation for the lower growth in productivity in most of the OECD countries in the recent years. Her talk centred on measuring inclusive and sustainable growth and developing statistics to deduce accurate relationship among the economic variables. Discussing the limitations of GDP as a measure of well-being, she said that a broader perspective is necessary to understand the economy holistically. Reflecting on the statistical agenda going forward, Dr. Durand, in her address, highlighted challenges relating to (a) the impact of digitalisation on productivity; (b) globalisation in the context of supply chains and cross-border flows of intangibles and financial linkages; (c) economic disparities and vulnerabilities from a household perspective; and (d) economic well-being and environmental sustainability.

Prof. Chetan Ghate, of the Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi and member of Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) delivered a special lecture on The Indian Business Cycle. He discussed the phases and constituents of business cycle in India and the other emerging market economies. He also pointed out that, in the Indian context, a model with counter-cyclical government expenditures, pro-cyclical interest rates, counter-cyclical current account, and higher relative consumption volatility with suitable calibration may be more appropriate. He suggested that the framework for macro-economic stability should have a rigorous model of business cycle incorporating augmented labour market and asymmetric effects of monetary policy.

Prof. N. Balakrishna of Cochin University of Science and Technology delivered a special lecture on Statistical Modelling of Volatility in Financial Time Series. He discussed alternative statistical models such as observation-driven and parameter-driven models, used for analysing financial time-series. He emphasised the parameter-driven models with stochastic volatility in equity and foreign exchange markets where the volatility sequences are generated by suitable non-negative Markov sequences.

The panel discussion on the conference theme "New Frontiers on Statistical Methods and Information Base for Central Banks" was chaired by Dr. Dilip M. Nachane, Professor Emeritus, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR) and a member of the erstwhile Technical Advisory Committee on Monetary Policy (TACMP) of the Reserve Bank. The panel featured Dr. Dharmakirti Joshi, Chief Economist, CRISIL; Dr. Samiran Chakraborty, Chief Economist for India, Citibank; and, Ms. Pranjul Bhandari, Chief India Economist, HSBC. Prof. Nachane discussed modelling issues in central banking and touched upon key issues affecting the DSGE models. The panelists discussed contemporary issues such as shortcomings in data related to employment, growth and inflation, conveying that a possible way forward may be through now-casting models and alternative indices to supplement GDP figures. The panel observed that the growing digital economy in the country could be leveraged for getting more real-time information on the macroeconomy. The Panel also emphasised the importance of statistical models in policy making. It stressed that regular compilation and release of seasonally adjusted macroeconomic series, monetary conditions index, sacrifice ratio, productivity estimate, etc., would aid deeper analysis of the economy.

Earlier, Shri Chetan Bhagat, noted author and a former investment banker, delivered the Pre-conference talk on 'Managing Change' where he emphasized through a tour of his own career as an "authorpreneur" that receptiveness, adaptiveness and pro-activity are key to positive change. He said that while individuals can work on their core strength areas, change in social culture is more effective in bringing about an overall improvement to the society.

Tags : Discussion Statistical Methods Conference

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Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority

05.07.2017

Insurance

Pricing in case of Put or Call options in JV Agreements

MANU/IRDA/0025/2017

The Reserve Bank of India had, vide amendment Notification No. FEMA 294/2013-RB dated 12th November, 2013, permitted the optionality clause (put and call options) in contracts. In this context some insurers had approached the Authority seeking clarification as to whether the existing contracts with optionality clauses, entered prior to the notification of the above amendment were in compliance with the FEMA stipulations.

The Government of India, in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India, has clarified that any Agreement with "options" entered into prior to 12th November, 2013 is in contravention of Regulation 2(ii) of the Foreign Exchange Management (transfer or Issue of Securities by a person Resident outside India) regulations, 2000. It has also been reiterated that all existing contracts should be in compliance with the pricing guidelines issued by the RBI under the FEMA Regulations.

In view of the above, all insurers who have Joint Venture Agreements with foreign entities should examine whether they have option clauses therein and ensure that they are in compliance with the FEMA Regulations, including those regarding pricing. Insurers are advised to furnish a confirmation of compliance with the above, to the Authority.

Tags : JV Agreements Options Pricing

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Press Information Bureau

04.07.2017

Indirect Taxation

GST rate for specified items for Physically Challenged Persons

MANU/PIBU/0699/2017

Some questions are raised about GST rates fixed for specific devices for physically challenged persons. This matter is explained here in below.

Assistive devices and rehabilitation aids for physically challenged persons, listed below, have been kept at the concessional 5% GST rate:

1) Braille writers and braille writing instruments;

2) Handwriting equipment like Braille Frames, Slates, Writing Guides, Script Writing Guides, Styli, Braille Erasers;

3) Canes, Electronic aids like the Sonic Guide;

4) Optical, Environmental Sensors;

5) Arithmetic aids like the Taylor Frame (arithmetic and algebra types), Cubarythm, Speaking or Braille calculator;

6) Geometrical aids like Combined Graph and Mathematical Demonstration Board, Braille Protractors, Scales, Compasses and Spar Wheels;

7) Electronic measuring equipment such as Calipers, Micrometers, Comparators, Gauges, Gauge Block Levels, Rules, Rulers and Yardsticks;

8) Drafting, Drawing Aids, Tactile Displays;

9) Specially adapted Clocks and Watches;

10) Orthopaedic appliances falling under heading No.90.21 of the First Schedule;

11) Wheel Chairs falling under heading No.87.13 of the First Schedule;

12) Artificial electronic larynx and spares thereof;

13) Artificial electronic ear (Cochlear implant);

14) Talking books (in the form of cassettes, discs or other sound reproductions) and large-print books, braille embossers, talking calculators, talking thermometers;

15) Equipment for the mechanical or the computerized production of braille and recorded material such as braille computer terminals and displays, electronic braille, transfer and pressing machines and stereo typing machines;

16) Braille Paper;

17) All tangible appliances including articles, instruments, apparatus, specially designed for use by the blind;

18) Aids for improving mobility of the blind such as electronic orientation and obstacle detecting appliance and white canes;

19) Technical aids for education, rehabilitation, vocational training and employment of the blind such as Braille typewriters, braille watches, teaching and learning aids, games and other instruments and vocational aids specifically adapted for use of the blind;

20) Assistive listening devices, audiometers;

21) External catheters, special jelly cushions to prevent bed sores, stair lift, urine collection bags;

22) Instruments and implants for severely physically handicapped patients and joints replacement and spinal instruments and implants including bone cement.

Most of the inputs and raw materials for manufacture of these assistive devices/equipments attract 18% GST. The concessional 5% GST rate on these devices/equipments would enable their domestic manufacturers to avail Input Tax Credit of GST paid on their inputs and raw materials. Further, the GST law provides for refund of accumulated Input Tax Credit, in cases, where the GST rate of output supply is lower than the GST rate on inputs used for their manufacture. Therefore, 5% GST rate on these devices/equipments would enable their domestic manufacturers to claim refund of any accumulated Input Tax Credit. That being so, the 5% concessional GST rate on these devices/equipment would result in reduction of the cost of domestically manufactured goods, as compared to the pre-GST regime.

As against that, if these devices/equipments are exempted from GST, then while imports of such devices/equipments would be zero rated, domestically manufactured such devices/equipments will continue to bear the burden of input taxes, increasing their cost and resulting in negative protection for the domestic value addition.

In fact, the 5% concessional GST rate on such devices/equipments will result in a win-win situation for both the users of such devices, the disabled persons, as well as the domestic manufacturers of such goods. It is for this reason that the Council has kept these items in 5% rate slab.

Tags : GST rate Specified items Physically Challenged Persons

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Ministry of Finance 

04.07.2017

Customs

Issues related to furnishing of Bond/ Letter of Undertaking for Exports

MANU/GSCU/0001/2017

1. Various communications have been received from the field formations and exporters on the issue of difficulties being faced while supplying the goods or services for export without payment of integrated tax and filing the FORM GST RFD -11 on the common portal (www.gst.gov.in), because of which exports are being held up.

2. Whereas, as per rule 96A of the Central Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017, any registered person availing the option to supply goods or services for export without payment of integrated tax shall furnish, prior to export, a bond or a Letter of Undertaking. This bond or Letter of Undertaking is required to be furnished in FORM GST RFD-11 on the common portal. Further, Circular No. 26/2017- Customs dated 1st July, 2017 has clarified that the procedure as prescribed under rule 96A of the said rules requires to be followed for the export of goods from 1st July, 2017.

3. Another issue being raised by various stakeholders is that the Bond/Letter of Undertaking is required to be given through the proper officer which is to be furnished to the jurisdictional Commissioner as per sub-rule (1) of rule 96A of the said rules. Taking cognizance of the fact that a large number of such Bonds/Letter of Undertakings would be required to be filed by the registered exporters who would be located at a distance from the office of the jurisdictional Commissioner, it is understood that the furnishing of such bonds/undertakings before the jurisdictional Commissioner may cause hardship to the exporters.

4. Thus, in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (3) of section 5 of the CGST Act, 2017, it is hereby stated that the acceptance of the Bond/Letter of Undertaking required to be furnished by the exporter under rule 96A of the said rules shall be done by the jurisdictional Deputy/Assistant Commissioner.

5. Further, in exercise of the powers conferred by section 168 of the said Act, for the purpose of uniformity in the implementation of the said Act, the Bond/Letter of Undertaking required to be furnished under rule 96A of the said rules may be furnished manually to the jurisdictional Deputy/Assistant Commissioner in the format specified in FORM RFD-11 till the module for furnishing of FORM RFD-11 is available on the common portal. The exporters may download the FORM GST RFD-11 from the website of the Central Board of Excise and Customs (www.cbec.gov.in) and furnish the duly filled form to the jurisdictional Deputy/Assistant Commissioner.

6. The above specified provisions shall be applicable to all applications which have been filed on or after 1st July, 2017. It is requested that suitable trade notices may be issued to publicize the contents of this circular.

7. Difficulty, if any, in the implementation of the above instructions may please be brought to the notice of the Board. Hindi version would follow.

Tags : Bond Furnishing Exports

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Press Information Bureau

04.07.2017

Indirect Taxation

Department of Consumer Affairs allows change in MRP on unsold stock prior to implementation of GST till 30th September 2017

MANU/PIBU/0698/2017

Shri Ram Vilas Paswan says change in MRP can be done by stamping, putting sticker or through online printing. On account of implementation of GST w.e.f. 1st July, 2017, there may be instances where the retail sale price of a pre-packaged commodity is required to be changed. In this context, Shri Ram Vilas Paswan, Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution has allowed the manufacturers or packers or importers of pre-packaged commodities to declare the change retail sale price (MRP) on the unsold stock manufactured/ packed/ imported prior to 1st July, 2017 after inclusion of the increased amount of tax due to GST if any, in addition to the existing retail sale price (MRP), for three months w.e.f. 1st July 2017 to 30th September, 2017. Declaration of the changed retail sale price (MRP) shall be made by way of stamping or putting sticker or online printing, as the case may be.

It is also clarified that 'for reducing the Maximum Retail Price (MRP), a sticker with the revised lower MRP (inclusive of all taxes) may be affixed and the same shall not cover the MRP declaration made by the manufacturer or the packer, as the case may be, on the label of the package'.

Use of unexhausted packaging material/wrapper has also been allowed upto 30th September, 2017 after making the necessary corrections.

Consumer protection has always been a major thrust area of Government.

The Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011 are framed to regulate the pre-packaged commodities. Rule 6 of the said rules provides that every package shall bear thereon the following declarations:

(i) Name and address of the manufacturer/ packer/ importer;

(ii) Common or generic name of the commodity contained in the package;

(iii) Net quantity, in terms of standard unit of weight or measure or in number;

(iv) Month and year of manufacture/ pack/ import;

(v) Retail sale price in the form of Maximum Retail Price (MRP) Rs..... Inclusive of all taxes;

(vi) Consumer care details.

Tags : MRP Change Unsold stock

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Press Information Bureau

02.07.2017

Indirect Taxation

GSTN unveils excel template for to help taxpayers perform easy data entry offline before uploading on the GST portal

MANU/PIBU/0679/2017

Goods and Services Network (GSTN) has unveiled a simple excel based template that will facilitate the taxpayers in preparing and filing their monthly returns with maximum ease and minimal cost.

The excel template is a part of GST Council's approach to make tax compliance highly easy and convenient for taxpayers and also reduce the time of compliance to improve ease of doing business. This excel workbook template can be freely downloaded from the GST Common portal (www.gst.gov.in), and can be used by taxpayers to collate all invoice related data on a regular basis.

The Excel format can be used by businesses to start maintaining their data. The taxpayer can prepare the details of his outward supply on weekly or any other suitable regular interval which can then be uploaded on GST portal on or before the 10th of subsequent month. The GSTR1 excel template workbook can be used to prepare the data for GSTR 1 return without connecting to internet in offline mode. This also benefits taxpayers in remote areas where Internet connectivity might not be good.

The template comprises of eight worksheets. Summary of key values in each worksheet has been provided at the top to help taxpayers easily reconcile the data entered in the worksheets with that recorded in his accounting system/books to accurately prepare the return. Based on data entered in the Excel sheet, offline tool will prepare a file which will have to be uploaded by the taxpayer on GST Portal to create GSTR-1. Only while uploading the file on the GST portal, Internet connectivity will be required.

Tags : Excel template Data entry Unveil

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