Reserve Bank of India

09.02.2017

Banking

Interest rates for Small Savings Schemes

MANU/RMIC/0006/2017

Please refer to circular DGBA.GAD.881/15.02.005/2016-17 dated October 13, 2016 on the above subject. The Government of India, had vide their Office Memorandum (OM) No.F.No.1/04/2016-NS.II dated December 30, 2016 advised the rate of interest on various small savings schemes for the fourth quarter of the financial year 2016-17. The contents of this circular may be brought to the notice of the branches of your bank operating Government Small Saving Schemes for necessary action. These should also be displayed on the notice boards of your branches for information of the subscribers to these Schemes.

Tags : Saving schemes Interest rates

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Press Information Bureau

08.02.2017

Commercial

Mandate to Govern E-Commerce Industry

MANU/PIBU/0135/2017

Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology is mandated to assist in the promotion of e-commerce. As regards trade related issues, the subject of 'Internal trade' has been allocated to Ministry of Consumer Affairs. Further, issues relating to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the country are administered by Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion.

Information Technology Act 2000 provides legal recognition for the transactions carried out by means of electronic data interchange and other means of electronic communication, commonly referred to as "Electronic Commerce", which involve the use of alternatives to paper based methods of communication and storage of information. The e-commerce companies have to comply with the Companies Act and other applicable laws of the country. Such companies with FDI can operate only in activities which are specifically permitted as per the 'Consolidated FDI Policy Circular of 2016', which is available at the website of Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion at www.dipp.nic.in. Further, activities of e-commerce companies inter alia involve compliance of Shops and Establishment Act of the State concerned.

Furthermore, Consumer Protection Act, 1986, has been enacted to better protect the interests of the consumers. It covers all goods and services and all mode of transactions including e-commerce. Under the provision of said Act, a three tier quasi-judicial mechanism, called Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission/ Forum, has been set up at the district, State and National levels to provide simple, quick and inexpensive redressal to consumer disputes.

Tags : Promotion E-commerce Assistance Mandate

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Press Information Bureau

07.02.2017

Direct Taxation

Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) signs four more unilateral Advance Pricing Agreements (APAs)

MANU/PIBU/0126/2017

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance has entered into four more unilateral Advance Pricing Agreements (APAs) yesterday. The four APAs signed pertain to the Manufacturing, Financial and Information Technology sectors of the economy. The international transactions covered in these agreements include Contract Manufacturing, IT Enabled Services and Software Development Services. With this, the total number of APAs entered into by the CBDT has reached 130. This includes 8 bilateral APAs and 122 Unilateral APAs. In the current financial year, a total of 66 APAs (5 bilateral APAs and 61 unilateral APAs) have already been entered into. The CBDT expects more APAs to be concluded and signed before the end of the current fiscal. The APA Scheme was introduced in the Income-tax Act in 2012 and the "Rollback" provisions were introduced in 2014. The scheme endeavours to provide certainty to taxpayers in the domain of transfer pricing by specifying the methods of pricing and determining the prices of international transactions in advance. Since its inception, the APA scheme has evinced a lot of interest from taxpayers and that has resulted in more than 700 applications (both unilateral and bilateral) being filed so far in about five years. The progress of the APA Scheme strengthens the Government's resolve of fostering a non-adversarial tax regime. The Indian APA program has been appreciated nationally and internationally for being able to address complex transfer pricing issues in a fair and transparent manner.

Tags : Agreement Signing Advance pricing

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Press Information Bureau

07.02.2017

Banking

Conversion of Kisan Credit Cards into Rupay Cards

MANU/PIBU/0130/2017

Under revised Kisan Credit Card (KCC) Scheme issued by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), withdrawal through ATM/Debit Cards has been allowed as one of the delivery channels for the drawal of the drawing limit for the current season/year. The Government has been closely monitoring the progress of conversion of Kisan Credit Cards (KCCs) to RuPay ATM cum Debit Kisan Credit Cards (RKCCs). The Government has now decided that NABARD will coordinate the conversion of operative/live KCCs into RKCCs by Cooperative Banks and Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) in a mission mode. Conversion of KCCs into RKCCs will facilitate the farmers in undertaking financial transactions on digital platform. The use of RKCCs may increase the frequency of funds accessed by the farmer as there will be ease in withdrawing cash as and when required. This periodic withdrawal of small amounts will help in reducing the interest burden on the farmers and enable them to access credit as per their needs.

Tags : Credit card Rupay card Conversion

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Press Information Bureau

07.02.2017

Banking

Involvement of bank officials in money laundering during post monetization

MANU/PIBU/0128/2017

Enforcement Directorate has intimated that bank employees have been found indulging in money laundering and other unfair practices during the phase of demonetisation and that the investigations have been initiated under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 against certain bank officials of various banks during post demonetization. The act provides for attachment of property as well as prosecution of the accused involved in money laundering. Further, as part of their staff accountability mechanisms, on the basis of prima facie involvement in irregularities relating to demonetisation, Public Sector Banks (PSBs) are so far reported to have placed 156 officials under suspension and to have transferred 41 officials. PSBs are also reported to have filed 26 cases with Police/CBI wherever criminal cases are involved. In respect of Private Sector Banks, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has informed that 11 employees have been placed under suspension where bank employees have been found involved in 'irregular exchange of transaction' of Specified Bank Note (SBN) during the phase of demonetization. RBI has further informed that the banks have initiated internal investigation and complaints have been filed with police/CBI. Whenever a complaint against a bank official(s) is received and any irregularities are found or observed on the part of Banks' official (s), the Banks initiate action as per their extant rules and commensurate punishment is awarded to the delinquent employees based on the seriousness of the wrongdoings as per Bank's disciplinary rules.

Tags : Bank officials money laundering Investigation

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Press Information Bureau

07.02.2017

Banking

Declaration of Black Money by Tax Payers

MANU/PIBU/0125/2017

There is no official estimation of percentage of black money held in India in cash. In the last financial year (2015-16) 648 disclosures involving undisclosed foreign assets worth Rs. 4164 crore were made in the one-time three months' compliance window ending 30th September 2015, under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015. The amount collected by way of tax and penalty in such cases was about Rs. 2476 crore.

The Government has taken several measures to effectively tackle the issue of black money, particularly black money stashed away abroad. Such measures include policy-level initiatives, effective enforcement actions on the ground, putting in place robust legislative and administrative frameworks, systems and processes with due focus on capacity building and integration and mining of information through increasing use of information technology. Recent major initiatives in this regard include:

(i) Constitution of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Black Money under Chairmanship and Vice-Chairmanship of two former Judges of Hon'ble Supreme Court,

(ii) Constitution of Multi-Agency Group (MAG) consisting of officers of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) for investigation of recent revelations in Panama paper leaks,

(iii) Proactive engagement with foreign governments to facilitate and enhance the exchange of information under Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements (DTAAs)/Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEAs)/Multilateral Conventions and furthering global efforts to combat tax evasion/black money, inter alia, by joining the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement in respect of Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) and having information sharing arrangement with USA under its Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA),

(iv) Enactment of the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015' to specifically and more effectively deal with the issue of black money stashed away abroad,

(v) Enabling attachment and confiscation of property equivalent in value held within the country where the property/proceeds of crime is taken or held outside the country by amending the Prevention of Money-laundering Act, 2002 through the Finance Act, 2015,

(vi) According high priority to the cases involving black money stashed away abroad for investigation and other follow-up actions including prosecutions in appropriate cases.

Tags : Black money Declaration Tax payers

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Press Information Bureau

06.02.2017

Service

Expansion of EPF Ambit

MANU/PIBU/0120/2017

To bring in more employees from public and private sector into the ambit of Employees' Provident Fund Organization (EPFO), an Employees' Enrolment Campaign, 2017 has been launched for the period 01.01.2017 to 31.03.2017. Under the campaign, an employer, whether already covered or yet to be covered, can enroll employees who remained un-enrolled for any reason between 01.04.2009 and 31.12.2016 by making a declaration of such employees during the campaign period. Such declaration shall be valid only in respect of employees who are alive as on 1st January, 2017 and no proceedings under section 7A of the Employees' Provident Funds & Miscellaneous Provisions (EPF & MP) Act, 1952 or under paragraph 26B of the Employees' Provident Funds (EPF) Scheme, 1952 or under paragraph 8 of the Employees' Pension Scheme, 1995 have been initiated against their establishment or employer, as the case may be, to determine the eligibility for membership of such employees. Making Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) contribution optional for employees, inter-alia, envisages amendment to the EPF & MP Act, 1952 and Schemes framed thereunder which has not been done. Further, it has not been decided to raise the present wage ceiling for coverage under the EPF& MP Act, 1952.

Tags : Expansion EPF Enrolment Campaign Launch

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Press Information Bureau

06.02.2017

Labour and Industrial

Rationalisation of Labour Laws

MANU/PIBU/0122/2017

Reforms in labour laws are an ongoing process to update legislative system to address the need of the hour and to make them more effective and contemporary to the emerging economic and industrial scenario. The Second National Commission on Labour which submitted its Report in 2002 had recommended that the existing Labour Laws should be broadly grouped into four or five Labour Codes on functional basis. Accordingly, the Ministry has taken steps for drafting four Labour Codes on Wages; Industrial Relations; Social Security & Welfare and Safety and Working Conditions, by simplifying, amalgamating and rationalizing the relevant provisions of the existing Central Labour Laws. These initiatives will reduce the complexity in compliance due to multiplicity of labour laws and facilitate setting up of enterprises and thus creating the environment for development of business and industry in the country and generating employment opportunities without diluting basic aspects of safety, security and health of workers.

Conventions of International Labour Organization (ILO), on ratification create legally binding obligation for ratifying country. Ratification of a convention is a voluntary process. India ratifies a convention only when our national laws and practices are in full conformity with the Convention. So far, India has ratified 45 Conventions and 1 Protocol.

Tags : Labour laws Reforms Rationalisation

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Press Information Bureau

06.02.2017

Civil

Steps Taken to Encourage Use of Digital Payment at Petrol Stations

MANU/PIBU/0123/2017

The Minister of State (I/C) for Petroleum & Natural Gas Shri Dharmendra Pradhan informed the Lok Sabha in a written reply today that the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has taken the following steps/actions to encourage consumers for use of digital payment methods at various petrol pumps in the country to promote cashless transactions -

(i) 0.75 % discount is being given to consumer on the purchase of fuel at the Petrol Pumps of the Oil Marketing Companies. The discount is being given in the form of cash back in the bank account of the consumers.

(ii) Consumer awareness campaigns are being organized at petrol/CNG outlets across the country.

(iii) Dealers' meetings have been conducted at field level.

(iv) Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoP&NG) through OMCs is monitoring the provision of digital payment methods at Retail Outlets (ROs)/LPG Distributorships on daily basis. There has been a significant expansion of digital payment infrastructure at retail outlets.

(v) A large number of ROs are now having the POS terminals and E-wallet payment facilities. Various E-wallet service providers have also been asked to set up the counters at the outlets to create customer awareness.

(vi) Standard printed materials such as Standees, Leaflets etc. have been developed in Hindi, English & Regional Language and displayed prominently at ROs/LPG distributorships.

Tags : Digital payments Promotion

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Press Information Bureau

06.02.2017

Direct Taxation

India and Austria Sign a Protocol amending the India-Austria Double Taxation Avoidance Convention

MANU/PIBU/0121/2017

India and Austria signed a Protocol amending the existing Convention between the two countries for Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to Taxes on Income here today. The Protocol was signed by Shri Sushil Chandra, Chairman CBDT on behalf of India and Mr. Georg Zehetner, Charge d' Affaires, Embassy of Austria on behalf of Austria. The Protocol will broaden the scope of the existing framework of exchange of tax related information which will help curb tax evasion and tax avoidance between the two countries and will also enable mutual assistance in collection of taxes.

Tags : Protocol Signing Double Taxation Avoidance

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